The Team

The Team

Meet the team behind ArtsUnboxed, the revolutionary new way of making and sharing dance by Greenwich Dance

ArtsUnboxed logo with green background

Rachel Evans

Producer

Melanie Precious. A head shot of a woman with blonde hair wearing a blue shirt

Melanie Precious

Chief Executive Officer & Creative Director

Melanie can be accused of being a jack of all trades. She has been in her time a professional dancer, critic for Dance Europe, website administrator, box office supervisor, Front of house usher, property developer, wannabe interior designer, landlady, blogger, podcaster, strategy manger, head of department, creative producer, freelancer, dance teacher, evaluator, costume character, party entertainer and mum of two gorgeous boys (no cats).

Melanie joined Greenwich Dance as CEO after two years as Creative Producer with Luca Silvestrini’s Protein having previously worked on organisational and artist development, learning and participation for a number of dance organisations including Sadler’s Wells, Hofesh Shechter Company, ZooNation, DanceEast, and The Place. She is a trustee at Alexander Whitley Dance Company.

ArtsUnboxed was dreamed up on a beach in Southwold when she was probably meant to be doing something like relaxing.

Lucy White headshot

Lucy White

Communications & Digital Consultant

Lucy has been working in arts marketing for nearly 20 years, 12 of which were at Sadler’s Wells where she led the marketing for their in house productions and touring shows. She loves being freelance because she gets to work with so many wonderful people across the sector. Lucy lives in North London with her husband and their cat Audrey. In her spare time, she is a trustee on the board of Hornsey Town Hall Trust and an honorary member of Muswell Hill Photographic Society.

Lucy leads on marketing for ArtsUnboxed and Greenwich Dance.

Robert James headshot in black and white

Robert James

PR Consultant

Robert has been working in press and communications in the arts for over 13 years now. Before going freelance he worked as PR Manager at the Science Museum, Head of Communications at English National Ballet, Press Officer at Sadler’s Wells and Account Manager at Arthur Leone PR, an arts and heritage PR agency. Since being freelance he has fully immersed myself in the dance world, working with a range of established organisations, emerging artists and vocational dance schools. He is truly passionate about dance and feels privileged to be able to do something he loves for a living!

Robert leads on PR for ArtsUnboxed and Greenwich Dance.

Rajpal Pardesi head shot

Rajpal Pardesi

Senior Producer, ArtsUnboxed

Raj has worked across Dance, Theatre, Music and Festivals for over 30 years. A cat dad, Chair of Directors with Body Politic, Executive Director with Soul City Arts and Festivals & Programme Manager with Remarkable Productions which presents the award-winning London Mela.

Kajsa Sundström. A headshot of a blonde woman smiling at the camera

Kajsa Sundström

Artist Support Producer

Kajsa is a producer, dance artist and yoga teacher originally from Stockholm, but now based in South East London. She has previously worked for arts organisations such as the José Limón Dance Foundation & The Place, and is currently working as a producer for the dance company Bodies in Action. She has danced professionally in the US, the UK as well as across Scandinavia. She loves to bring more dance to more people. Kajsa does not have any pets, but would dog or cat sit at any given opportunity.

Lou Cope head shot

Lou Cope

Dramaturg

Lou Cope is a UK-based dance & theatre dramaturg who has worked across the UK, Europe and in the Middle East. She is the founder of CoAD – The Centre of Applied Dramaturgy and specialises in collaborative practice.

Recent/current collaborations include: Garry Stewart & Australian Dance Theatre, Aakash Odedra, Gary Clarke, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet; Rhiannon Faith, Stopgap Dance.

Lou also offers Practice Dramaturgy – working with artists outside of productions, and has a podcast called Downtime.

Past collaborations include: Phoenix Dance Theatre; Scottish Dance Theatre; les ballets c de la b; Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Damien Jalet.

Lou has been on hand to help the artists think through their work, understand their audience and consider how to ensure their best creative practice can reach the end-user in as complete and meaningful way as possible.

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Alex Covell

Access & Inclusion Consultant

A passionate advocate and ally of disabled and neurodivergent artists, Alex is skilled in devising political performance for non-theatre settings. Alex works at FESTIVAL.ORG as the Access Producer on outdoor arts and events, including the pioneering Greenwich+Docklands International Festival and as lead Access Officer for the Without Walls Network.

Before joining FESTIVAL.ORG, Alex worked at Access All Areas, one of the UK’s leading learning disabled theatre companies as Projects Coordinator. Her 10+ years experience working within disability and community arts has ranged from running immersive schools workshops with M-SET to access work with Graeae and Diverse City. An experienced applied theatre practitioner and facilitator, Alex has also worked with a variety of community groups ranging from toddlers to elderly people. Alex gained a first class degree from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in Drama, Applied Theatre and Education, she is dedicated to continued learning and is currently studying BSL.

Alex worked closely with Annie Edwards on the ArtsUnboxed project to support the artists and the team to be creative around access and inclusive practices. We have been so impressed by each artist’s commitment to developing new and innovative ways to offer their work to a wider community.

Annie Edwards headshot

Annie Edwards

Shadowing Inclusion Consultant

Annie is a disabled dance artist and performer, specialising in contemporary and hip hop dance. Her professional career spans years and a variety of companies, such as ZooNation, Candoco Dance Company and Theatre Rites, and independent artists alike. She is a graduate from London Contemporary Dance School and has toured around the UK and Europe. Alongside her dance career she has developed a passion for activism and disability advocacy that informs and directs her own practices, as well as providing support and advice for other projects.

For ArtsUnboxed she has collaborated with Alex Covell under mentorship in order to support the artists in making their boxes inclusive and accessible for disabled audiences and creators.