JAMIEL DEVERNAY-LAURENCE
Founder & Director
"Jamiel is a bold leader who keeps people and their well-being at the centre - this is what drives him with business innovation, creativity, and artistic expression. The result is he has touched lives and will continue to do so."
Ian Houston
GlobalScot President Scottish Business Network Americas
BIO
Jamiel Devernay-Laurence is a Producer of dance-based experiences for stage, screen, events, in education and professional development. Through entrepreneurship, Jamiel brings his creations to life through JAMIEL LAURENCE CREATION - collaboratively platforming and curating the work of other artists and harnessing his professional network drawn from his experience as a Performer, Choreographer, Creative Director, Venue Director, and award-winning Filmmaker.
In April 2023, Jamiel was appointed as the Executive Artistic Director of 3GEE’s Productions and has been commissioned to deliver multiple performances of his unique vision for a new dance platform – BALLET NIGHTS
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After a career as a soloist of Scottish Ballet (2009 – 2021) and having received several Scottish Ballet commissions for unusual gala events, celebration pieces, a national tour of Wee Hansel & Gretel, and many of his own small independent productions, Jamiel turned his hand to emerging mobile capture technologies in 2018 to achieve ever more ambitious outcomes on screen. With a focus on Scottish youth culture, Jamiel created mobile works that punch well above their weight, and began receiving support from several technology corporations, going on to receive commissions from organizations and trusted brands including BBC ARTS, BBC Scotland, Google, Scottish Ballet, OneDanceUK, 3Tone Records, The Peter Darrell Trust, The John Byrne Award, Celtic Connections, Edinburgh Fringe, Dance International Glasgow, Ballet Ireland, The Queen’s Jubilee, Cardiff Castle, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Dance School of Scotland, Rubicon Dance Company, Cardiff City Council and more.
Responding to the pandemic in 2020, Jamiel launched the #FundFreelanceDance crowdfunding initiative, raising over £13,000, providing services to over 1300 participants worldwide - returning dance artists and their supporting artists and services back to the studio safely, back to their craft and back working on paid engagements.
Jamiel became the Creative Director and inaugural choreographer for the 1-year dance company project at Rubicon Dance, Cardiff, in 2021, facilitating Welsh-trained graduate dancers achieving paying dance jobs in Wales for the first time. Under his tenure, Jamiel created the company's first highly acclaimed full-length production, The Nutcracker premiering in December 2021, a Nutcracker Bach schools tour delivered to over 780 primary and high school students, the company's first digital immersive audience experience, 16:1, and the inaugural TRIPLE BILL featuring a triple world premiere of new work marking the milestone for the Graduate Company project as a success.
In 2021, Jamiel produced the inaugural BALLET NIGHTS, introducing a new show concept and format to the existing UK audience for dance alongside fostering a new, East London audience being introduced to Classical Ballet, Neo-Classical, and Contemporary dance for the first time.
Jamiel was appointed as Project Manager for the Lanterns Studio Theatre since its launch in 2011, and over the past decade has provided venue services to the biggest stage and production companies in the world, including The Really Useful Group, Disney, Cameron Mackintosh Productions, New Adventures, The National Theatre, Playful Productions, Jamie Wilson Productions, BBC, Michael Harrison Entertainment, Regent Park Open Air Theatre and more.
In November 2022, Jamiel independently produced his uniquely Welsh version of The Nutcracker for Cardiff Castle’s first Spiegeltent festival – set in a giant city centre circus tent – which saw the city's first queues for a dance-based production since the pandemic.
In October 2022 he was appointed as the producer of the inaugural Messums Dance Film Festival 2023, Wiltshire.
In January 2023, the JAMIEL LAURENCE CREATION production house officially set sail, launching a class-leading intensive series, currently delivering new and exciting services for dancers at all stages of their careers.
DANCE
Born in London, Jamiel began developing his choreographic work in parallel with his 12-year career as a Soloist of Scottish Ballet (2009 -21) – where he danced the work of emerging, established and legacy choreographers including Ashton, Macmillan, Bruce, Darrell, Page, Pastor, Bourne, Pite, Dawson, Hampson, Caniparoli, Elo, Lopez Ochoa, Pickett, De Frutos, Arias, Laplane, Whitley, and Lawrence.
During his time at the company, Jamiel was selected for the prestigious SB:CREATES choreographic platform mentored by Kerry Nicholls, and would go on to create work for Scottish Ballet Gala’s, events, engagement programmes and culminating in working as the Assistant Choreographer to CEO & Artistic Director Christopher Hampson on the "Wee Hansel & Gretel" production - touring to theatres across Scotland at all scales and forming a key component of the BAhons at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Jamiel is a passionate teacher and coach, delivering company classes, and teaching for organizations including New Adventures, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Scottish Ballet Associates, #FundFreelanceDance, and for professionals working on Jamiel Laurence Creation projects at The Lanterns Studio Theatre, London. With a focus on developing both professional and student dancers towards achieving their potential, Jamiel continues to evolve his own teaching and coaching practice, through the launch of his new intensive series.