Artistic director Sharon Watson talks to Viv Hardwick about the crisis facing the 30-year-old Phoenix Dance Company.

TOP contemporary dance company Phoenix is 30 years old this year, but is wrestling to fulfil the role it was founded to perform.

The Leeds-based organisation arrives in Newcastle next week knowing that the talent pool of black dancers is at its lowest, at a time when dance couldn’t be more popular.

Artistic director Sharon Watson, who has just moved Phoenix into a shared £12m home with Northern Ballet, says: “I’m confident that, as a company, we offer the best of the best. We don’t expect dancers to stay with us for ever because, I feel, what we teach should be out there.”

Asked how well black performers like her are represented at top level in dance, she jokes: “I think I’m an alien in that respect. I’m a black female, good grief, where do they come from? And I have a family and enjoy my job. I do believe there is a question to be raised about diversity within our sector.

“I wonder about the entry level for young black and Asian people and whether they get through the door at the beginning stages. And now it’s getting very expensive to train and generally the demographic doesn’t allow these families to access funds to get into the right schools. The cycle is getting more visible. “Phoenix was, many moons ago, an all-black company, but I struggle now to see any black and Asian youngsters in the audition process. They are not coming through and I need quality rather than making the judgement by skin colour.”

A difficult moment indeed for a woman planning a brighter future for her company.

“We still have a new company image about us. We are in the process of planning something special for the anniversary.

Unfortunately it’s so special we don’t know what it is yet. But it is the 11th of the 11th when we’ll be celebrating.

“Two years in, I still feel like a relatively new artistic director considering the journey I expect myself to be on. My vision is to, hopefully, keep the company going for another 30 years,” says Watson who admits the recent cut in Arts Council funding was a bit perplexing.

“But we are still able to create work and we haven’t had to let anyone go. We now have to look at creative ways of making money, but the cuts will have an impact on the touring and it could mean we will have to rein some of that in,” she adds.

Fortunately, for Newcastle, it’s the smaller rural touring that’s more at risk than the four pieces of choreography on show this time.

“We do feel that no sooner have we moved into a £12m building that we can no longer use the facilities properly. It’s like being given the opportunity to get your relay team out there and then they take away one of the runners. The pressure on the three remaining team members becomes intangible and doesn’t make any sense.

“I’d like to have moved into third gear but I still feel okay, second gear is still good. I still want to make my mark on this company. It’s just going to take longer,” says Watson.

So what retains her interest in the North-East?

“Audience loyalty is what we truly appreciate and even more so now than ever. We’ve always had great audiences and there’s always the possibilities of our work extending beyond Newcastle across the region. We also have close associations with Dance City and several schools in the area,” says Watson.

What is her opinion about the amount of dance-related competitions and competitors that are flooding our TV screens at the moment?

“It does concern me because there is the statement that everybody can dance. I truly believe everybody can dance and the feelgood factor is there for one and all to share. I think it is like athletes. Not everybody can become an elite athlete. It is not elitist to have that in contemporary dance and use people at the top of their game and not everyone can do it. I wouldn’t feel happy to think that people assume everyone can do it.

“The trouble is my kids love programmes like Britain’s Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance. But they do ask the right questions and I think they are not going to accept average as the best,” says Watson, who worries about the gap between the growing commercial demand for dance and what’s expected from contemporary companies.

• Phoenix Dance Company, Thursday, May 19 and Friday, May 20, Northern Stage, Newcastle. Tickets: £6-£19.50. Box Office: 0191-230-5151 northernstage.co.uk