One of the most celebrated and respected dance artists of today, in just over 22 years Akram Khan has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the arts in the UK and abroad. Khan’s work is recognised as being profoundly moving, in which his intelligently crafted storytelling is effortlessly intimate and epic. The Financial Times described him as an artist “who speaks tremendously of tremendous things”. As a choreographer, Khan has developed a close collaboration with English National Ballet. He created the short piece “Dust”, part of the Lest We Forget programme, which led to an invitation to create his own critically acclaimed version of the iconic romantic ballet “Giselle”. “Creature” is Khan’s latest work for English National Ballet.

Born in Barcelona, Estela is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, rehearsal director and certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method. She began dancing at her local school Escola de Dansa Madó and moved to London in 2001 to continue her training at Central School of Ballet. Upon graduation she went onto dance with Cannes Jeune Ballet Rosella Hightower (2004-2006) and IT Dansa (2006-2008), before joining Rambert (2008 to 2014). Throughout this time she created roles and performed works by many internationally acclaimed choreographers such as Jiří Kylián, Nacho Duato, Christopher Bruce, Carolyn Carlson, Jo Stromgren, Lucinda Childs, Itzik Galili, Alexander Ekman, Rafael Bonachela, Barak Marshall, Marguerite Donlon.

Since 2014 she has worked as a performer and rehearsal director across dance, film, theatre and opera, collaborating with Akram Khan, Shobana Jeyasingh, Marcos Morau | La Veronal, Boris Charmatz | Terrain, Didy Veldman, Russell Maliphant, New Movement Collective, Miguel Altunaga, Avatâra Ayuso, Alice Oswald, Paula Paz, among notable others.

In April 2019 she was invited by the Merce Cunningham Trust to perform in the worldwide presentation Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event in celebration of Cunningham's 100th birthday at Barbican Theatre in London.

Estela has received commissions and Arts Council England funding to present her own choreographic work across a variety of theatres, public spaces and online platforms in the UK and Spain, closely collaborating with dance artists Ariadna Montfort (Batsheva Ensemble, La Veronal) and Thomasin Gülgeç (Rambert, Russell Maliphant, Akram Khan Company).

She is a passionate teacher, establishing bonds with The Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School, Acosta Dance Foundation and Swindon Dance. Some other teaching credits include: Rambert, New Adventures, Scottish Dance Theatre, Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, London Contemporary School, Prix de Lausanne, Beijing International Summer School, European Dance Centre Paris, ENBYouthCo.

Erina Takahashi was born in Kushiro, Japan and trained at the Kushiro Ballet Academy under the direction of Kou Yano, and then the English National Ballet School. In 1996 she joined English National Ballet and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2000 and Lead Principal 2007. From autumn 2024, Erina has joined the Artistic Team as Repetiteur alongside her Lead Principal role. In 1992 Erina was the winner of the Chubu Newspaper Company Award (Chubu All Japan Ballet Competition) and winner of Best Female Newcomer at the 2001 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. She is also Patron of New English Ballet Theatre. Her repertoire includes performing the lead roles in Manon (MacMillan), Swan Lake and Swan Lake in-the-round (Deane), Sleeping Beauty (MacMillan), Romeo & Juliet (Nureyev), Giselle (Skeaping), Cinderella (Corder), Coppélia (Hynd), Nutcracker (Hampson, Eagling), Le Corsaire (Holmes), Etudes (Lander), La Bayadère, Raymonda (Rojo), Paquita, Double Concerto (Hampson), Square Dance, Who Cares? and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (Balanchine), The Rite of Spring (MacMillan, Ek), The Snow Queen (Corder), A Million Kisses to my Skin and Four Last Songs (Dawson), Voluntaries (Tetley), Les Sylphides, Don Quixote pas de deux, Impromtu (Deane), Perpetuum Mobile (Hampson), Alice in Wonderland (Deane) Petite Mort (Kylian), In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated (Forsythe), No Man’s Land (Scarlett), M-Dao (Wang), Akram Khan’s Giselle, La Sylphide, Approximate Sonata 2016 (Forsythe), Cinderella (Wheeldon), Laid in Earth (Cherkaoui).