Meet our Board of Trustees - the 8 super clever and talented individuals who steer HMS Shaper/Caper.
Dr Aleksandra Webb
(she/her)
Aleksandra is a lecturer in the School of Business and Creative Industries at the University of the West of Scotland and a Fellow of Higher Education Academy.
She holds a PhD in Cultural Management from the University of Stirling. She is a dedicated educator, mentor and supervisor with over a decade of teaching experience in Higher Education. She has worked as a researcher in both academic and applied contexts (including the STUC-Scottish Government Women and Work Project), and presented her work to a variety of academic and professional audiences.
Her research interests are wide-ranging but they are all underpinned by a strong focus on values, human development, and social good. She has been a co-investigator on several European research projects related to skills and labour markets and has written a number of reports on work, workers, skills, qualifications, career, and employment-related issues. She has carried out research and evaluation for national and supra-national bodies such as the Scottish Government, the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Creative Scotland, and the European Commission. She has published in areas of cultural leadership, informal work, and labour market, and most recently, online learning and digitalisation in Higher Education and in the performing arts.
Aleksandra believes that imagination and creativity fuel positive transformations towards more desired futures. She is currently exploring social situatedness of (digital) arts production and engagement through ideas related to social value and social innovation achieved with and through imaginative arts practice and other creative endeavours. These types of expressive actions act as powerful tools for individual transformation, community development and a wider social change that can equalise society and shape a fairer economy.
#IWannaDanceWithSomebody
Who would Aleksandra like to dance with?
John Travolta!!
Aleksandra says: “Since watching the iconic Pulp Fiction, I’ve always wanted to have one shot of dancing with Travolta. This man can move and he has such charisma! Importantly, I love when artists use their public presence to make the world a little bit better. Jett Travolta’s Foundation raises money for children with special medical, environmental, health, or educational needs. That is yet another reason for wanting to shake, sway and shimmy with John!”
Jenny Rutter
(she/her)
Jenny is a producer with 2 decades' experience developing creative practice in the Northwest of England. Her career has included local government regeneration & creative industry roles as well as managing and producing a wide variety of arts programmes, including major festivals and events.
Since 2014 Jenny’s work has primarily focused on place based socially engaged arts, most recently working with two Arts Council England Creative People and Places programmes, LeftCoast in Blackpool and Super Slow Way in Pennine Lancashire. For LeftCoast she was involved in the development of Art B&B, the seaside resorts newest hotel & social enterprise, entirely designed & made by artists, and delivered LeftCoast’s programme of professional practice, designed to develop the skills creatives need to build sustainable careers working in the regions.
For Super Slow Way, Jenny is developing the British Textile Biennial which invites artists, designers and makers to explore the politics of cloth in performances, artworks and events across Pennine Lancashire against the backdrop of the impressive infrastructure that supported the cotton industry.
Jenny is passionate about using art as a tool to build aspiration and agency, drive social change and help shape a positive future for the marginalised people & places she works with.
#IWannaDanceWithSomebody
Who would Jenny like to dance with?
‘I wanna dance with my idol Neneh Cherry - Who’s dat gigolo on the street with his hands in his pockets and his crocodile feet! BOOM!!’
David Wright
(he/him)
David is a Relationship Manager, Theatre at Arts Council England working with a range of theatre organisations and makers in London, giving funding advice, and assessing grant applications to the National Portfolio and Solicited Grant programmes. He was previously responsible for assessing applications to Arts Council England’s Lottery Project Grants fund. Clients include National Portfolio Organisations, organisations, statutory authorities, and individuals.
He was previously Deputy Director at National Dance Company Wales and General Manager at Citymoves Dance Agency in Aberdeen.
David joined the board in 2022.
Allan McIntyre
(he/him)
Allan began his training as a Dancer at The Space, Dundee, before transferring to complete his studies at Laban, London. Upon graduating, Allan began working with Shaper/Caper Artistic Director, Thomas Small, initially as a Dancer and Tutor before becoming Learning and Development Manager of Smallpetitklein Dance Company. Allan has worked across Scotland and the UK with the likes of Urdang Academy, Bodywork Dance Studios, Dundee and Angus College, Visible Fictions, Scottish Ballet and YDance both as Dance Worker and Dance Development Officer, before returning once again to Smallpetitklein Dance Company as Creative Producer.
In 2014, Allan joined Fife Cultural Trust as Dance Development Coordinator developing partnerships across Public and Private sectors, opportunities for participation and leading the development of a Dance Strategy for Fife.
Allan was Youth Arts Development Coordinator with Aberdeen Performing Arts, managing, coordinating and monitoring activity and relationships which form Youth Arts Collective North East (YACNE). Supported by Scottish Government through Creative Scotland’s Time To Shine fund. Allan was then Creative Industries Producer at V&A Dundee before his current role as Creative Learning Manager at Macrobert.
#IWannaDanceWithSomebody
Who would Allan like to dance with?
‘The cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills – my latest TV addiction! OR Joanna Lumley – we’re sure to have a hoot and the gossip would be priceless! OR RuPaul and Michelle Visage – now that would be a party!!!’
Linzi McLagan
(she/her)
Linzi is currently Head of Education at YDance and a lecturer at Dundee and Angus College. Through these roles, she aims to support and develop the provision of dance in educational settings across Scotland. She believes learning experiences within the arts play a vital role in developing participants' capacities for critical thinking, creativity, imagination and innovation.
Her main interests over the last few years have been on the value of dance within general education and she is passionate and committed to ensuring that she assists, develops and supports the development of dance in schools.
She is aware of the national standards, complexities and challenges of working in dance education across Scotland with particular insight on the impact that COVID-19 has had on the delivery of dance within the education sector.
#IWannaDanceWithSomebody
Who would Linzi like to dance with?
“Line dance with Dolly Parton, Dance It Out with Meredith Grey and/or whip out a legendary dance routine with Britney Spears!”
Victoria Simmons
(she/her)
Victoria lives just on the border between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire but was born in Perthshire and grew up in Orkney.
She works for the NHS commissioning body in Bradford District and Craven leading on communications and engagement activity across the breadth of health and care, operating flexibly in response to system pressures, managing and developing our team, and ensuring everything they do is shaped by a shared insight about the lives and experiences of our population.
Her work is all about people and their stories; she sees it as her job to build empathy between the ‘system’ and the people we serve. Developing dialogue with communities can help tackle inequalities and injustice: by ensuring that decision-makers and policy-shapers see the realities of people’s lives; and informing, inspiring, and inverting the power to act so that people can create change for themselves. She thinks this is a great connection with the Shaper/Caper Mission.
#IWannaDanceWithSomebody
Who would Victoria like to dance with?
“Gene Kelly. Obviously! Specifically, I want to be Leslie Caron dancing along the Seine in An American in Paris.”
Thomas Small
(he/him)
Thomas is Artistic Director of Shaper/Caper. He graduated from London Contemporary Dance School with a BA (Hons) degree. He has won many awards and commissions for his work including the prestigious Bonnie Bird New Choreography Award and the Robin Howard Foundation Commission.
In 2015, he was appointed as the first ever BBC Radio 2 Artist in Residence in association with The Space. He has also been short-listed for the Peter Darrell award in 2003 and The Place Prize in both 2006 & 2008. Thomas was Choreographer in Residence at The Space, Dundee throughout 2008 and Artist in Residence at The Byre Theatre, St Andrews. In 2013, he was awarded the Creative Scotland fellowship on the Clore Leadership Programme. During his fellowship, he undertook a secondment at The Roundhouse, London, and V&A Dundee and was mentored by Farooq Chaudhry, Producer at Akram Khan Company and English National Ballet.
He took part in the Royal Opera House’s DanceLines 2009 project where he was mentored by The Royal Ballet’s Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and he presented the work he created during DanceLines at The Royal Opera House FIRSTS Programme in November 2010. He was invited to present his work ‘Falling Man’ at the Cunningham Studios in New York City in 2011 and Berlin in 2012. His work received five-star reviews at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was featured on the BBC Culture Show. He was a Creative Partner with National Theatre of Scotland for their 2012 Exchange Festival. His work, ‘Within This Dust’ was selected for the 2012 Made In Scotland Showcase and went on to enjoy a sell-out run at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The work toured to New York City and Brazil in 2013. In 2014, he was commissioned to choreograph La Banda’s Struileag: Children of the Smoke for Festival 2014, directed by Dan Ayling and featuring music by Artistic Director, Jim Sutherland.
He was commissioned by V&A Dundee to choreograph as part of the opening of the museum featuring 500 young people; Cumbernauld Theatre to create Paper Moon in 2018; by Dance Base in 2020 to create The End?; by Starcatchers in 2021 to create Teeny Weeny, and by Aberdeen Performing Arts to create Right Up Your Street in 2022.
Thomas is a Trustee and Co-Chair at The Barn in Banchory and is Chair of Dundee Pride. He was formerly Chair of the Advisory Board for Performing Arts at Scottish School of Contemporary Dance at Dundee & Angus College, and a Trustee of the Federation of Scottish Theatre (FST) from 2013 to 2016. He was the founder and Artistic Director of the acclaimed Smallpetitklein from 2000 to 2015.
He is a faculty member at Scottish School of Contemporary Dance and previously at the Urdang Academy, London. Thomas has also taught extensively for Royal Academy of Dance, The Place, and Greenwich Dance Agency.
To see Tommy's work as Artist in Residence at BBC Radio 2, check out the BBC website here.
As part of his residency, Tommy created Lost But Found, inspired by stories he heard on Radio 2 about Children in Need. To watch the film click here.
#IWannaDanceWithSomebody
Who would Thomas like to dance with?
‘The Queen......Madonna!’
Yolanda Aguilar
(she/her)
Trained initially as an actor in Madrid, before moving to London to experience Contemporary Dance and Physical Theatre. Yolanda performed with Adam Benjamin (co-founder of Candoco Dance Company) and Green Candle Dance before moving to Scotland, where the career focus became Education and Community Dance.
Yolanda had a pivotal role in producing a unique collaboration with La Fura dels Baus and Macrobert's Mpower youth company. Present interest is to flow between the creative spaces in and amongst Dance, Theatre, and other artistic disciplines, as well as living life at the farm!
Yolanda was Creative Learning Manager at Smallpetitklein from 2010 to 2015. She holds a MA in Arts, Festivals, and Cultural Management from Queen Margaret University. Yolanda established Shaper/Caper with Thomas as Assistant Director before becoming Director of Operations in 2016, and Executive Director in 2020.
Yolanda is a Trustee at Federation of Scottish Theatre and was previously a Trustee at Arts & Business Scotland.