{{Short description|Australian-British choreographer (1947–2023)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Ian Spink''' (8 October 1947 – 11 October 2023) was an Australian-British choreographer.
==Life and career== Born in Melbourne on 8 October 1947,<ref>{{cite book |title=Fifty contemporary choreographers |last=Bremser |first=Martha |year=1999 |publisher=Routledge |isbn= 0-415-10364-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fiftycontemporar0000brem/page/199 199] |url=https://archive.org/details/fiftycontemporar0000brem|url-access=registration }}</ref> Spink trained at the Australian Ballet School.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080722081912/http://australiadancing.org/apps/ad?action=ViewSubject&id=1761&resourceType=All Spink, Ian (1947 - )]}}, ''Australia Dancing''.</ref> After graduating in 1968, he danced and choreographed for The Australian Ballet, Australian Dance Theatre and the Dance Company of New South Wales.<ref>[http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsinscotland/dance/features/archive/profileianspink.aspx Profile: Ian Spink] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201063733/http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsinscotland/dance/features/archive/profileianspink.aspx |date=1 February 2017 }}, Scottish Arts Council.</ref>
In 1974, he was offered a grant to tour with Merce Cunningham's dance troupes when they toured Australia. He then moved to London in 1977, and remained in the UK for the rest of his life. In 1982, Spink co-founded Second Stride along with Siobhan Davies and Richard Alston.<ref>Apter, Kelly: [http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/18723-scottish-ballets-updated-petrushka/ Scottish Ballet's updated Petrushka], ''Edinburgh Festival Guide'', 13 July 2009.</ref>
In 1990 he directed the premiere production of Judith Weir's opera ''The Vanishing Bridegroom'' for Scottish Opera, subsequently broadcast by BBC TV.<ref>Weir, J. Memoirs of an Accidental Film Artist. In: ''A Night in at the Opera'', Tambling, J.John Libbey & Company Ltd, London, 1994, p59.</ref>
Spink later choreographed Petruska for Scottish Ballet at the Edinburgh International Festival. Spink was Artistic Director of citymoves Dance Agency Aberdeen, one of the three Scottish Dance Agencies (2005-2010), and created the Dance Live Festival in 2005, which continues today.
Spink was a member of The Work Room, a resource centre for independent choreographers in Glasgow, and worked as a director, as well as a performer with contemporary performance company Airfield.
Ian Spink died of lung cancer on 11 October 2023, at the age of 76.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Apter |first1=Kelly |title=Obituaries: Ian Spink, Choreographer and dancer who thrived on collaboration |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/obituaries-ian-spink-choreographer-and-dancer-who-thrived-on-collaboration-4396602 |access-date=6 November 2023 |publisher=The Scotsman |date=4 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Roy |first1=Sanjoy |title=Ian Spink obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/nov/13/ian-spink-obituary |access-date=13 November 2023 |publisher=The Guardian |date=13 November 2023}}</ref>
==External links== * [https://theworkroom.org.uk/people/Ian_Spink Spink at The Work Room] * [http://airfieldarts.org.uk/about.html#.UV9Wfzd3GM5 Spink at Airfield]
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spink, Ian}} Category:1947 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Australian male ballet dancers Category:Australian choreographers Category:Australian Ballet School alumni Category:People from Melbourne