Janis Claxton
Janis Claxton was an Australian choreographer based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Early life
Claxton started dance training in Brisbane at the age of 3, and went on to gain a BA in Performing Arts at Queensland University of Technology. As a young dancer, she worked with Erick Hawkins, whom she continually cited as an influence and upon whose techniques she built much of her practice.Career
In 2003 she formed Janis Claxton Dance in Bristol, then moved to Scotland in 2005. In 2008 her Herald Angel Award-winning Enclosure 44-Humans, part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, involved her and other dancers in a site-specific work at Edinburgh Zoo where they performed for 11 days in an animal enclosure. Since 2009 Claxton spent much of her time in China performing, teaching and working on cultural projects.In 2013 she was awarded an International Creative Entrepreneur placement in China.
Pop Up Duets
Her award-winning POP-UP Duets was described as "the choreographic stand-out" of the 2016 Edinburgh Festivals. It comprised a series of 5-minute love duets performed in the galleries of the National Museum of Scotland.In 2018, Janis Claxton Dance embarked on a world tour of POP-UP Duets . Although London remained elusive, Claxton received international recognition, with venues including Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and the Lincoln Centre in New York.