Biography

Catherine has developed her passion for the arts by embracing a ‘go walkabout’ reality; the idea that we must lose our self in order to find our self, which she believes is a constant cycle. Always challenging the old she makes way for the new; the continuum between which fuels her creativity. By embracing human vulnerability she finds new ways to connect with herself and others through her art, in turn feeding her fascination with the human psyche and the many voices it speaks through artistic expression.

Beginning her journey as a dancer, Catherine completed her formal training at the London College of Dance, in affiliation with Middlesex University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Performance and her ISTD teaching qualification in the Cecchetti Classical Ballet Method. She is a recipient of the Madge Atkinson Award for Choreography and has been working professionally as a teacher, choreographer and performer since 2000, sharing her knowledge and passion for dance through workshops, classes and performances within the UK and Australia.

In 2004 Catherine founded AlexZanDance; a company which later developed into one of Buckinghamshire’s highly sought-after Schools of Dance. She directed the Company right up until she moved to Australia in late 2009. The work she was developing for AlexZanDance and later the support and guidance she gained from her husband Sean Blakemore, encouraged her to embrace trial and error in the acquisition of new skills in further disciplines that she felt would enhance her work and help shape her visions. At first she began experimenting with video and visual projection during live performance and in 2006 was using multimedia presentations to support much of her choreography for AlexZanDance.

As an independent artist Catherine continues to embrace a very multi-disciplinary approach to her work. Most recently she has worked with Hallmark Records of Pickwick International, developing a video project for the commercial advertising of their Top of the Pops music and she gradually continues to be inspired by video, audio, photography and film.

It is through an extensive period of lower back injury rehabilitation that Catherine’s passion for painting has evolved. Her work is closely interlinked to the way in which she choreographs; driven by an instinctive connection to the energy carried within imagery, emotion and feelings deep inside the body. Once just a hobby, she has now begun selling her work as a self-representing artist.

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