Loughlan Prior

Guest Choreographer

Described by Dance Aotearoa New Zealand as ‘A creative tour de force’, Loughlan Prior is an award-winning choreographer working in New Zealand and internationally. Loughlan was appointed to the position of Choreographer in Residence at the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2018 and has been the Creative Director of Prior Visual, a project-based film collective, since 2014. Together with composer Claire Cowan, he is the Artistic Director of Lo|Co Arts, a performance ensemble devoted to the seamless melding of choreographic and compositional practice. After graduating from the New Zealand School of Dance in 2009, Loughlan joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet and rose to the rank of Soloist, performing landmark works by William Forsythe, Jiri Kylián, and Alexander Ekman. He began creating choreographic works alongside his performance career and became the first recipient of the Ballet Foundation of New Zealand’s Harry Haythorne Choreographic Award in 2015. He was awarded Creative New Zealand’s Tup Lang Choreographic Award in 2016 and traveling to Toronto to stage his work at the Assemblée Internationale. In 2019 Loughlan created Hansel and Gretel, his first full-length production for the RNZB, with a specially commissioned score by Claire Cowan and designs by stage and screen legend Kate Hawley. “Hansel and Gretel is a wonderful production with imaginative choreography and a creative team at the top of their game.” - The Dominion Post. In the same year, Loughlan created The Appearance of Colour for the Queensland Ballet’s innovative Bespoke program. Loughlan’s works have been performed in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Germany, USA, and Canada and he has created numerous live and digital works for a diverse range of local Kiwi companies and creative partners, including iD Fashion Week, Te Papa National Museum, WGT LUX Light Festival, Tempo Festival, Zambesi, New Zealand String Quartet and TV3’s Dancing with the Stars. His dance films have enjoyed screenings at the New Zealand International Film Festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Centre, BalletX Beyond, #60secondsdance Denmark, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, and the Short Film Corner of the Cannes Film Festival.