NALA

Darshan Singh Bhuller – Artistic Director Choreographer Teacher Dancer Film Director and Editor
Darshan was introduced to dance by the pioneering teacher Nadine Senior MBE at the Harehills Middle School and then by Intake High School under guidance of John Auty. Both these teachers nurtured and inspired countless individuals from Leeds. In 1977 at the age of 16 Darshan attended the London School of Contemporary Dance, only made possible by being awarded a local educational authority grant, a significant point from that progressive era. At LSCD, Darshan studied under the pioneering wave of American Graham-based teachers such as Director of LSCD, Jane Dudley, William Luther, Noemi Lapsezon, Juliet Fisher, Kazuko Hirabayashi and many more.
Eventually Darshan became a longstanding member of the world-renowned London Contemporary Dance Theatre from 1979 to 1994, under Artist Director Robert Cohan, as a dancer, then rehearsal director, choreographer and teacher. Cohan became a major guiding presence and eventually collaborator with Darshan on several works. Through these years with LCDT and his continuous performances, Darshan benefited enormously from being part of a repertory company, being exposed to many international choreographers and styles within the contemporary umbrella.
He also danced as a member of Siobhan Davies Dance Company in 1991 - 1992 and was a dancer and Assistant to the Director of Richard Alston Dance Company from 1994 to 1996.
In 1990 Darshan and his wife Sallie Estep formed Singh Productions, a initially to focus on making short dance films and eventually touring stage works. Darshan had directed numerous dance and music films since 1985, including The Fall (nominated for BFI innovation award) featuring Celeste Dandeker who eventually founded Candoco Dance Company, Jane Dudley’s Harmonica Breakdown for BBC2 and What About Sky (MTV, ITV Chart Show). In 2004, he completed the biographical film, Robert Cohan: Another Place, comprising in depth interviews and unparalleled access to archive material. Darshan was awarded a grant from Dancer’s Career Development fund to study at the Metropolitan Film School in January 2007. Jayne Lee's Dance Down River and a documentaries of Shuffle It Right, Something to Do, Roughcut and All American Alston by Richard Alston were launched in 2010, 2012 & 2013 respectively.
In 2016, he directed a documentary film on former dancer Patrick Harding-Irmer Das Model, the Dancer and Lola.
In 2022 Darshan directed, edited and choreographed a short film, NALA, danced by PeiJu Chien-Pott, which has accumulated nine Awards and two Honourable Mentions in twenty-four international Film Festivals.

His full length stage works produced for UK tours by Singh Productions include Planted Seeds, Recall and Caravaggio: Exile and Death with support from the Arts Council of England.
Darshan’s long and fruitful relationship with Phoenix Dance Company started as early as the year they were formed in 1981. Since then he has been invited by all the company artistic directors in its history to choreograph work and has contributed over 13 works to its repertory. Darshan was appointed Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre in February 2002. Immediately he began reshaping, beginning with rebranding the company to Phoenix Dance Theatre. Under his direction the company moved into larger scale venues and refocused itself as a multi-cultural company. He commissioned eight new works from established and young choreographers, sourced two existing pieces for company revivals and personally choreographed three new pieces, as well as restaging two of his previous works, including the full-length Planted Seeds.
During his five years with Phoenix, he revitalised the reputation of the company on the national and international stage earning Company Prize for Outstanding Repertoire (Modern) in the 2006 Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards. After a successful US tour in May 2006, he stepped down as Artistic Director, returning in 2014 to stage Mapping and again in 2022 to restage Heart of Chaos for Phoenix Dance Theatre’s 40th anniversary tour of the U.K.
Darshan has created and directed works for numerous international companies including London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Rambert Dance Company, Scottish Dance Theatre, CandoCo, Nordic Dance Theatre, CeDeCe, Zero Culture and for Companhia de Bailado Contemporaneo (Portugal), Nimbus (USA) and Martha Graham 2 Dance Company (USA). In 2012, Darshan was invited to be the choreographer for Prometheus Awakes by Graeae, UK's leading disabled theatre company and La Fura Dels Baus, a Spanish based large-scale outdoor theatre company. In 2014 he directed and choreographed Rites of War an aerial dance theatre piece for Gravity & Levity, meanwhile creating Mapping and Dew Point 68 for Nimbus Dance in New York City.
Schools for which he has created work include Northern School of Contemporary Dance, London School of Contemporary Dance, Danshögskolan in Sweden and English National Ballet School, London Studio Centre, Millennium Dance, Rambert School of Ballet & Contemporary Dance, Terence Lewis Contemporary Dance Company (Mumbai), Franco Dragone’s company in Macau China, New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida State University, Alvin Ailey School, Marymount Manhattan Collage Dance Company and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York City.
During the summer of 2022 Darshan was invited by Peter Askim, Artistic Director of The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, to mentor the Composers & Choreographer’s Course based at the Gibney Studios in New York City.
Collaborations with other artists, choreographers, musicians and filmmakers spanning his 40 years in theatre include working alongside Director Micha Bergese to choreograph and direct the Opening Ceremony for the Millennium Dome in 2000. As Assistant Director and Choreographer for Shaolin Wheel of Life, an international production with the masters of Kung Fu, Darshan had the honour to meet and work with the Abbot and the Zen Buddhist Monks of the ancient Shaolin Temple of China. Barrington Pheloung, who composed music for Inspector Morse, worked with Darshan on the music for Shaolin Wheel of Life.
Darshan was Choreographer for the opening section of the immensely popular Bollywood awards in Yorkshire IIFA 2007. Darshan also collaborated with admired singer- songwriter, John Martyn in 1993 in London Contemporary Dance Theatre's, Fall Like Rain. Jocelyn Pook who worked with Stanley Kubrick on Eyes Wide Shut composed the music for Darshan's 2003 Requiem. Graham Dean, a successful painter and friend, collaborated with Darshan on films such as Breaking The Surface, 1985. Music from composer Barry Guy often crops up in Darshan's work, notably in Breaking the Surface, and Caravaggio: Exile and Death.
Film and digital visuals have long been a feature of Darshan’s stage work. His collaborations with other Digital Artists spanned from the UK with Kit Monkman & Tom Wexler to Paul Kaiser & Marc Downie in New York. In 2018 Darshan was invited by film director Kit Monkman as Movement director on the feature film Macbeth. In the following year, he directed and edited film material for choreographer Virginie Mecene’s live full length work, Homenaje à Martha Graham danced by PeiJu Chien-Pott.
From 2011 to 2013 Darshan served as a board member for CanDoCo Dance Company (UK).
2023 Darshan became a Co Director for the Sir Robert Cohan Dance Legacy CIC which will provide benefits to a broad community of people interested in the art of contemporary dance and the legacy of Sir Robert Cohan, CBE.