Daniel Squire was born in Halifax, UK. He studied dance at White Lodge and at the Rambert school, concurrent with working as a percussionist in several semi-professional orchestras in Yorkshire and London. He then worked as a dancer with Michael Clark and Matthew Hawkins, as well as appearing as Tadzio in Britten’s Death In Venice at Glyndebourne.

    After moving to the Big Apple, Daniel worked for many years with Merce Cunningham, performing around the world in theatres including Palais Garnier & Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Staatsoper unter den Linden & Schiller Theater (Berlin), the Roundhouse, the Barbican, Tate Modern (London), Festival Theatre (Edinburgh), Kennedy Center (DC), New York State Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Rose Theater & City Center (NYC); with musicians including Radiohead, John Paul Jones, Sigur Rós, Takehisa Kosugi & Sonic Youth.

    He was a core member (actor, videographer, musician) of Marisela La Grave's inter-media group Magnetic Laboratorium  for many years, and has worked with, (among others), Philippe Parreno, John Kelly, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Paulina Olowska. In 2013/14 he was Curator for the Dance Program for the exhibit Dancing Around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

    In 2018—19 he was deeply involved in the Merce Cunningham Centennial, including staging work for Merce's 100th birthday at Barbican, staging Merce's work for the Royal Ballet, Dance On Ensemble, Trinity Laban and elsewhere.

    He is on faculty at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, whilst working on several projects which will be announced here in due course.

Highlights

November, 2019:—

Daniel staged three versions of Cunningham Centennial Solos for Richard Aslton Dance Company's final "At Home" season at The Place Theatre in London. In the final version, Daniel danced alongside Siobhan Davies. A review can be found here.

October, 2019:—

Daniel staged Merce Cunningham's 1964 work Cross Currents for the Royal Ballet, which was performed on 10th and 11th October in London (details here) and 22nd—26th October in Paris (details here).

August, 2019:—

Daniel staged a re-imagining of Merce Cunningham's 1963 work Story for Dance Ensemble which takes its title from each city in which is appears. The premiere, Berlin Story, was at Volksbühne in Berlin. Material for the piece consisted of much of the original choreography, with Dance on Ensemble members creating additional material under Daniel's guidance. A promotional video of the work can be seen here.

April, 2019:—

Daniel was the primary stager for Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event at London's Barbican. The performance took place on 16th April, 2019 and featured dancers from many companies and backgrounds. More info here…

June, 2018:—

Daniel performed a half-hour free improvisation with guitarist Thurston Moore and drummer Steve Noble at London's Roundhouse, for an audience of 1,700, as part of a benefit concert for Hoping for Palestine. The evening included sets by Patti Smith and The Libertines.

September, 2014:—

Daniel created three new works for POCTA CUNNINGHAMOVA…

У / Я   — a duet for Nicole Morel and Squire;

These then were the perverse – perverse's the werd – steps he deveyesed — a solo work for Squire;

Anyroad — a group piece, performed by Morel and dancers from the Ballet of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre;

performances took place in Ostrava (24th September) and Prague (28th September).

August, 2013:—

Daniel created a new work — univalse to witness — for himself and 19 Czech dancers (including 15 from the  Ballet of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre) which was performed on 30th August, as part of Ostrava Days. Music was by John Cage, performed by the Ostravská Banda, conducted by Petr Kotik.

Other:—

May/June 2019:—

Daniel staged a series of four MinEvents featuring Merce Cunningham's choreography for BA2 students at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, as part of Historical Project, in May/June 2019.

August/September, 2018:—

Daniel arranged and staged three Merce Cunningham MinEvents for Step Up Dance, which were performed at Dance Limerick; Firkin Crane, Cork; and Dance House, Dublin.

May/June, 2018:—

Daniel staged four more Trinity Laban MinEvents at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, as part of the second-year BA students' Historical Projects. Four performances of differing MinEvents took place in the Bonnie Bird Theatre on 14th and 15th of June with live music performed and composed by Trinity Laban composition students, with Décor by Nico Lou Monnheim Carrasquilllo, a student at UCL: Slade School of Fine Art.

May/June, 2017:—

Daniel staged four more Trinity Laban MinEvents at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, as part of the second-year BA students' Historical Projects. Four performances of differing MinEvents took place in the Bonnie Bird Theatre on 15th and 16th of June with live music performed and composed by Trinity Laban composition students under the guidance of Dominic Murcott, with Décor by Sarah Batey, a student at UCL: Slade School of Fine Art.

July, 2016:—

Daniel taught during the summer schools of both Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance and the Rambert School of Ballet & Contemporary Dance.

May/June, 2016:—

Daniel staged four more Trinity Laban MinEvents at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, as part of the second-year BA students' Historical Projects. Four performances of differing MinEvents took place in the Bonnie Bird Theatre on 9th and 10th of June with live music performed and composed by Trinity Laban composition students under the guidance of Dominic Murcott.

May, 2016:—

Daniel curated the music performances for a TED@BCG event in Paris. Performers included MaJiKer and Naufal Mukumi.

March—April, 2016:—

Along with Julie Cunningham, Daniel ran a two-week workshop through a Fellowship from the Merce Cunningham Trust. The workshop was held in London, was free for participants, (students from various vocational HE establishments and young professionals), who had the opportunity to perform sections from Merce Cunningham's Fluid Canvas (2002) at the Rambert building on the South Bank.

December, 2015:—

Daniel taught a three-day workshop using Merce Cunningham's repertory to Foundation-year students at Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. The workshop culminated with a showing for the students and staff of the school.

October—December, 2015:—

Daniel lead CUNNINGHAM FRIDAYS at Sadler's Wells. A Cunningham Technique® class, followed by a workshop based on the work, ideas, and collaborators of Merce Cunningham — aimed at beginners and elementary-level dancers.

September, 2015:—

Daniel joined the faculty of the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, primarily as a Cunningham Technique teacher

May/June, 2015:—

Daniel staged four Trinity Laban MinEvents at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in May/June, 2015, as part of the second-year BA students' Historical Projects. Four performances of differing MinEvents took place in the Bonnie Bird Theatre on 11th and 12th of June.

February, 2015:—

Daniel led a three-day Cunningham Repertory Workshop for students of the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

December, 2014:—

Daniel led a three-day Cunningham Repertory Workshop for Foundation-Year students at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

August, 2014:—

Daniel performed on tour with Michael Clark Company in animal/vegetable/mineral in Hamburg (Kampnagel), Berlin (Haus der Berliner Festspiele) and Helsinki (Finnish Ooppera).

June/July, 2014:—

Daniel was awarded—along with Banu Ogan—a 2014 Merce Cunningham Trust fellowship to work on Merce's 1997 dance Scenario at City Center in New York with student and professional dancers. The workshop took place from 23rd June to July 3rd, with a showing on July 3rd.

May/June, 2014:—

Daniel performed on tour with Michael Clark Company in animal/vegetable/mineral in Norwich, Bruges, Inverness, Aberdeen, and Stirling.

April/May, 2014:—

Daniel was in residence in Captiva, Florida, at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation's arts retreat, for two weeks with Michael Clark and Julie Cunningham, for the creation of a new film/video by Michael Clark and Charles Atlas.

April, 2014:—

Daniel taught Cunningham Technique, repertory, and a chance-procedure composition workshop to students at Falmouth University.

February/March, 2014:—

Daniel assisted Banu Ogan, staging Merce Cunningham's 1997 masterwork Scenario in Düsseldorf for Deutsche Oper am Rhein. The  premiere took place on 28th March 2014.

October/November, 2013:—

Daniel performed with Michael Clark Company at the Lowry Theatre, in Salford, (23rd October) and at the Barbican in London (21st—30th November).

October, 2013:—

Daniel resumed work with Jack Webb and  Rosalind Masson on the project Quartet. Residencies took place at Labor Gras in Berlin and Dance Base in Edinburgh, followed by performances at Glasgow's Tramway; the work will tour internationally in 2014. See below (February – August, 2012) for more details.

September, 2013:—

Daniel taught technique and rhythm manifestation, worked as rehearsal assistant for John Scott (for a piece on students), and performed in Scott's work Actions at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

July, 2013:—

Daniel performed as part of Aye Aye Rabbit (Deerhoof's Greg Saunier, ShyHunters' Indigo Street, 101 Crustaceans' Ed Pastorini) at Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn on July 27th.

June, 2013:—

Daniel taught for two weeks (for the second year running) at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain. He created two works, Nouveau Pom and White Broccoli, on 20 students in the modern dance program.

May, 2013:—

Daniel performed as part of Aye Aye Rabbit (Deerhoof's Greg Saunier, ShyHunters' Indigo Street, 101 Crustaceans' Ed Pastorini) at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn on May 24th.

May, 2013:—

Daniel was been awarded a Merce Cunningham Trust fellowship to revive the 1963 Cunningham/Rauschenberg/Ichiyanagi masterwork Story. A workshop took place in New York City with showings at City Center.

April, 2013:—

Daniel taught at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance for one week.

April, 2013:—

Daniel performed in the exhibit The Bride and the Bachelors at London's Barbican Art Gallery on April 20th and 21st.

March—April, 2013:—

Daniel performed with John Scott, Ashley Chen, Cheryl Therrien, and Philip Connaughton in The White Piece with Irish Modern Dance Theatre, at La Mama, NYC: March 14th–17th, 21st–24th; and in Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland, on April 27th.

March, 2013:—

Daniel taught at the University of Florida in early Spring, 2013, for two weeks, and choreographed a solo "bespoke" for a graduating BFA student.

February, 2013:—

Daniel taught Cunningham Technique® classes and staged the Merce Cunningham dance Cross Currents in the Department of Modern Dance at The University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The piece will be performed 6 times in late February, early March.

October, 2012—January, 2013:—

Daniel was Curator for the Dance Program, for the exhibit Dancing around the Bride: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Marcel Duchamp at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exhibit was open from October 25th, 2012 until January 21st, 2013. Fifteen former Merce Cunningham Dance Company members performed Events and intermittent Solos, Duets, Trios, Quartets, and Quintets, during the run of the exhibit, in the Dorrance Galleries. Daniel acted as rehearsal director, stager, and performer as well as Curator.

        For a New York Times reviews, click here and here

        For an article in Vogue, click here

November—December, 2012:—

Daniel taught Cunningham Technique® classes at Bard College for the second half of the fall semester.

November, 2012:—

Daniel staged Lublin Event for the International Dance Theatres Festival in Lublin, Poland, on behalf of the Merce Cunningham Trust. Five former Merce Cunningham Dance Company members performed a 60-minute piece, accompanied by music composed, and performed, by John King and Krzysztof Knittel, on November 8th, 2012.

September—October, 2012:—

Daniel taught at Playwrights Horizons Theater School (NYU/Tisch School of the  Arts) for the first half of the fall semester.

September, 2012:—

Daniel taught a Chance Composition Masterclass to Juniors and Seniors in Boston Conservatory of Music's undergraduate program.

February – August, 2012:—

Daniel mentored the first phases of the project Quartet, with Choreographer-Dancers Jack Webb and Rosalind Masson. A two-week residency took place at Dance Base in Edinburgh in July with Squire, Masson and Webb all present, followed by a two-week residency in New York City at Chez Bushwick and Eden's Expressway, in August.  Videos of the NYC showing are available here. The project continues...

July 2012:—

Daniel taught Cunningham Technique® classes and a Cunningham repertory workshop at Dance Base in Edinburgh.

June, 2012:—

Daniel taught dance technique, repertory, and composition to teenagers at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute for two weeks in June. He also performed a 23-minute Cunningham Event solo, with music performed by Shelley Burgon and reading by Regina Saisi—whilst  OSAI photography students roamed the stage capturing images of his the proceedings—followed by an interactive narration of his dance life, at the Performing Arts Center at Quartz Mountain. A news video in which Daniel is highly featured can be seen here.

June, 2012:—

Daniel performed alongside Aye Aye Rabbit at Littlefield in Brooklyn on June 6th.

Winter/Spring, 2012:—

Daniel taught dance to teenagers, as a guest at The Dalton School in NYC.

May, 2012:—

Daniel taught a weekend Cunningham Technique® workshop and Cunningham repertory at Dance Complex in Cambridge, MA.

May, 2012:—

Daniel performed his latest dance work FORCE L'YAKOT, along with Ellen Cornfield, at the Gershwin Hotel in Manhattan. He also performed in Cori Kresge's piece Receptivity on the same programme.

April, 2012:—

Daniel performed in the Atrium and Sculpture Garden of the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, in Paulina Olowska's Alphabet.

April, 2012:—

Charles Atlas' film of Merce Cunningham's Ocean, which was shot in a granite quarry in Minnesota in September of 2008 screened for one week as part of the Whitney Biennial.  The ninety-minute epic dance by Merce Cunningham, with Music by David Tudor and Andrew Culver (after John Cage). For the NYTimes review, click here.

March/April, 2012:—

Daniel taught at Brown University, preparing the students for their end-of-year performances of a Merce Cunningham MinEvent.

2000—March 2012:—

Daniel taught regularly at the Merce Cunningham Studio for twelve years, until the closure of the studio. He will continue to teach elsewhere.

March, 2012:—

Daniel performed in 4 Walls/Doubletoss Interludes alongside other former Merce Cunningham Dance Company dancers & esteemed Russian pianist Alexei Lubimov at Baryshnikov Arts Center. Jee Leong Koh, in her blog Song of a Reformed Headhunter, wrote: "The dancers were not all equal. Some, I thought, were slotting their bodies and limbs into shapes they first saw in space with their eyes. Daniel Squire, who danced as a full-time senior dancer for Cunningham when he was alive, was different. He fully inhabited the dance. There was physical intelligence as well as strength in his movements. Conviction too."

March, 2012:—

Daniel taught modern dance to students at Playwrights' Horizons Theater School/NYU

February, 2012:—

Daniel took part in a four-part workshop with directors Daniel Fish, Michael Sexton, David Herskowitz and directors of Fiasco.

December, 2011:—

Paris premiere of Charles Atlas' film of Merce Cunningham's Ocean, which was shot in a granite quarry in Minnesota in September of 2008. The ninety-minute epic dance by Merce Cunningham, with Music by David Tudor and Andrew Culver (after John Cage).

November, 2011:—

Daniel taught Cunningham Technique® classes to Australia's Sydney Dance Company, during their season at the Joyce Theater in New York this November.

November, 2011:—

Daniel was the videographer for Stefanie Nelson's dancework Prolegomena at Triskelion Arts in Brooklyn.

November, 2011:—

Daniel taught at Chapman University in Orange, California, for one week, prior to the students' performances of a Merce Cunningham MinEvent (which he set on them in January, 2011. (See below for details).

October, 2011:—

Daniel performed with John Kelly at New York Live Arts (Oct 19th—29th) and at  MASS MoCA (Oct 15th) in Find My Way Home.

October 8th, 2011:—

London Premiere Screening (at the Barbican) of Charles Atlas' film Ocean, which was shot in a granite quarry in Minnesota in September of 2008. The ninety-minute epic dance by Merce Cunningham, with Music by David Tudor and Andrew Culver (after John Cage).

October, 2011:—

Daniel set a Merce Cunningham MinEvent on students at Brown University. Performances were October 14th—16th. For an article about the project, click here.

August, 2011:—

Daniel performed with IMDT in Actions as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from August 5th—21st, 2011. Four star  **** reviews from The Herald and from The Skinny plus three stars *** from Broadway Baby.

June—July, 2011:—

Daniel took part in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts' two-month intensive course Acting Shakespeare which ran throughout June and July in London and culminated in a performance of Love's Labour's Lost, directed by Nick Hutchinson, in which he played Don Adriano de Armado.

May, 2011:—

Daniel taught Cunningham Technique® classes at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and at Rambert Dance Company in May, 2011.

April 16th, 2011:—

Daniel acted (supporting role) in Jill Awbrey's feature-length film Pretty Broken Things. Currently in post-production, the film is intended for the 2012 film festival circuit.

April 11th, 2011:—

Daniel's first showing of excerpts from his new play I, Edward II took place at The Barrow Group.

April 4th, 2011:—

Baryshnikov Arts Center screened eyeSpace (2006) a dance work by Merce Cunningham. eyeSpace features a set by artist Daniel Arsham.

March, 2011:—

Daniel performed in Carla & Lewis: The Ecocide Project which opened on  March 10th — directed by Josh Hoglund and Fritz Ertl, written by Shonni Enelow, with Una Chaudhuri as Dramaturg. It was performed at Incubator Arts Project in the East Village (Manhattan).

February 7th, 2011:—

Baryshnikov Arts Center screened Pond Way (1998), (along with Sounddance); both of which are dance works by Merce Cunningham. Pond Way features music by Brian Eno.

January 10th, 2011:—

New York Premiere Screening of Charles Atlas' film Ocean, which was shot in a granite quarry in Minnesota in September of 2008. The ninety-minute epic dance by Merce Cunningham, with Music by David Tudor and Andrew Culver (after John Cage).

January 3rd — January 14th, 2011

Daniel set a Merce Cunningham MinEvent on Dance Major students at Chapman University, in Orange, California. The performances of this work will be in April and November of 2011. There are two casts, with a total of 26 dancers—each performing Cunningham work for their first time. The Chapman MinEvent is a 29-minute work, featuring sections from Merce's works Scramble (1967), Signals (1970), Un Jour ou Deux (1973), Canfield (1969), Changing Steps (1973) and ROARATORIO (1983). It will be accompanied by compositions from John Cage and others, to be performed live by music students of Chapman University.

For information on Chapman's dance department, click here.

For more on Merce Cunningham and minEvents, click here.