There are some moments that feel both personal and shared at the same time. Balbir Singh receiving his MBE at Windsor Castle this month is one of them. It marks a long journey, but also something wider – a quiet, steady shaping of what dance can be, and who it is for.
Balbir Singh, the Artistic Director of Balbir Singh Dance Company, was recognised in the King’s New Year Honours List for services to dance. It is a significant honour. However, like much of his work, its meaning sits as much in the communities and collaborations behind it as in the ceremony itself.
More than three decades of dance
The award marks over 30 years of building a regional company with national and international reach. Balbir Singh Dance Company has made work that does not sit still. It travels. It shifts. It appears where you might not expect it. His choreography has been seen in theatres across the UK and internationally, but just as often it has unfolded in community centres, in care homes and in shared civic spaces. In the rural village hall, dance is not something distant. It is something encountered up close, often in conversation, sometimes quietly, always with others.
Singh’s own journey into dance was not conventional. After first studying law, Singh trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. In 1995, he founded his company in Leeds, building something that has grown steadily over time. From the beginning, there was a clear intention to bring different traditions into dialogue, without any of them losing their depth.
Indian tradition joins contemporary Britain
Born in India and raised in Bradford, Singh has long worked between cultures. His practice draws on classical Kathak dance from northern India – shaped through his training with Pratap Pawar – alongside contemporary dance. The result is not a simple blend. It is something more considered. Tradition is not diluted, but neither is it fixed in place. Instead, it is brought into conversation with contemporary Britain, and it continues to evolve.
Favourites in the repertoire such as Reflections of an Indian Dancer, Love and Spice and The Wise Ones helped to establish this approach and the company’s signature style. Over time, they have contributed to a broader change in the northern dance landscape. There is now greater space for diverse voices and forms, and Singh’s work has been part of that shift.
Moving beyond dance as performance
What is striking, though, is how over time his practice has extended beyond performance. Dance, in his hands, becomes a way of asking questions and opening up conversations. Projects such as the award-winning Unmasking Pain, developed with Durham University, explore chronic pain through creative practice. Collaborations with clinicians in the INPUT Pain Management Programme at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London bring movement into dialogue with the lived experience of patients with long-term conditions. There is work co-curated with people living with dementia, with those recovering from cancer and with a wide range of community partners. In these contexts, dance is not presented as a solution. It is something more open. A way of reflecting, sharing and making sense of experience together.
Leadership, for Singh, has meant building something that can hold all of this. Over the years, he has mentored more than 100 emerging artists, supporting the development of a new generation. He has created Nayak, a digital platform that opens up classical Indian dance training across disciplines and across borders. These are not small gestures. They are part of a longer commitment to access and exchange and to passing on wisdom and tradition. His work with dementia groups, cancer recovery participants and community partners has shown how creative practice can contribute to wellbeing as well as artistic development.
National recognition secures foundations
In 2012, Balbir Singh Dance Company became a National Portfolio Organisation with Arts Council England. This brought sustained public investment and recognised the value of the work being made. It helped secure a base from which the company could continue to grow, while remaining rooted in Yorkshire.
Over time, the company’s projects have become increasingly collaborative. Artists work alongside researchers, clinicians, heritage organisations and others. Movement becomes part of a wider process of inquiry. It is not always about producing a finished performance. Sometimes it is about what happens along the way. The core group of artists comprising dancers, graphic designers, writers, photographers and musicians reflects this approach. They come from a range of backgrounds, ages and experiences and the work is playful, with intricate expressive movement and rich storytelling. This diversity of artform and experience shapes how the work is made, revealing the past in the present. It shapes how it is received. There is no single audience. Instead, there are many different points of connection.
Honour reflects the journey – and all those who travelled
Singh’s response to receiving the MBE reflects something of his journey. He spoke about the early days of building the company, and the people who have shaped the work along the way. There is a sense of looking back, but also of recognising that none of it has been done alone.
“When I found out about the MBE, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I thought about the journey, the early days of building the company, and the people and communities who have shaped the work. The last 30 years have been immensely rewarding, full of learning and growth. This honour feels like a moment to pause and recognise that journey. I feel grateful, proud and deeply aware that none of it has been done alone. In the end, I laughed, and I cried with joy.”
Darren Henley, Chief Executive of Arts Council England, described the award as “richly deserved”, noting Singh’s excellent contribution to cultural life and the way that his work connects communities and bridges cultures. The evidence for this is clear in the range of settings the company works in, and in the people it reaches. Village halls and care homes. Hospitals and parks. These are not always the places that dominate national conversations about culture. Singh’s company has remained committed to these spaces while also developing a national and international reach. That balance matters.
Across more than three decades, Singh has built something that feels both grounded and adventurous. The work moves between stage, studio and community life without needing to settle in one place. It adapts, but it also holds its values.
MBE marks a point on an ongoing journey
The MBE marks a moment. One clearly and deservedly enjoyed by its recipient. But it is not an end point. If anything, it draws attention to an ongoing process of making, listening and building relationships over time. In that sense, the ceremony at Windsor Castle is only part of the story. The rest continues elsewhere. In rehearsal rooms. In community spaces. In conversations that unfold slowly.
This is where the real significance lies. Not only in the recognition itself, but in the work that made it possible, and in the work that will carry on.
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