Karen is currently a PhD student of the Watching Dance Project at the University of Manchester as well as a dancer/dance educator.
Her main interests lie in the training of dancers and, in particular, how supplementary training helps to improve dancers' knowledge of their body and to improve performance. She obtained her MSc in Dance Science at Trinity Laban, London in 2006 and continued to work in the Dance Science Department after her studies, and still assists with Laban's research projects. She is also interested in how dancers acquire kinesthetic sensibilities, which ties in with her PhD project investigating the experience of kinesthetic empathy.
Karen participates in somatic practice training to support the teaching of dance and is interested in how this affects embodied knowledge and dance performance.
Born into a family of dance, Karen was introduced to the art form at the tender age of four. This led to studying and performing in Birmingham and London progressing to a career in dance over the last 15 years. She has worked closely with Rosie Kay, Artistic Director of Rosie Kay Dance Company, in different capacities and has co-ordinated numerous professional and community dance projects.
Karen has taught dance over the last 15 years in the community and in education, is currently a teacher on The Lowry's Centre for Advanced Training Programme (CAT) teaching 12-18 year olds and leads the Manchester Tap Rhythm Project, which is part of a nationally co-ordinated project, where she teaches, choreographs and performs for regular events. Karen has taught on the Safe and Effective Dance Practice Certificate and the Diploma in Dance Teaching and Learning (For Children and Young People) developed by Trinity College, Trinity Laban and International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS). She is an active member of IADMS and has presented at the 2008 IADMS conference in Ohio. She regularly attends dance science events to further her professional development.
Karen assesses trainee teachers for the Royal Academy of Dance, has lectured at Roehampton University, and is a visiting lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, Edge Hill University, Trinity Laban and the Royal Academy of Dance in London.
She works as a freelance dance educator and dance science consultant based in Manchester.