025: Kate Flatt OBE: Choreographing Stories from Les Mis to Opera, Theatre & Dance

"Choreography isn’t about me - it’s about what I want to communicate"

Kate Flatt

In this episode of the Shapes in Motion Podcast, Stephen speaks with renowned choreographer and movement director Kate Flatt OBE. Kate reflects on her extraordinary career spanning opera, theatre, musicals, and dance, including her work on the original Les Misérables in the West End. She shares stories of her training, international experiences, and the teachers who shaped her. Kate also offers insights into working with actors and singers, the role of a movement director, and the importance of curiosity, collaboration, and community in creative practice.

About Kate Flatt

Kate Flatt has an established career working nationally and internationally as a choreographer, movement director and dance educator. Movement Direction and Theatre Choreography includes the original 1985 staging of Les Miserables (West End and worldwide); Three Sisters, Dream Play, Albert Speer, Ends of the Earth (NT); Kreutzer Sonata (The Gate). Dr Faustus, Skellig, T’is Pity She’s a Whore (Young Vic); Hamlet (Old Vic), Roots (Donmar); Fiddler on the Roof (West End).  

Opera choreography includes Don Giovanni, Bartered Bride, and Onegin at WNO; Turandot, Wiliam Tell, Aida (ROH); Gloriana, Peter Grimes (Opera North) The Carmelites, Verdi’s Requiem, Carmen (ENO). Dance theatre includes Undivided Loves (Phoenix Dance Theatre), The Dancing Room (BBC2), Soul Play, Ballroom of Joys and Sorrows, Outdoor performance works include Oss and the Ox, Step Ladder and a Goat, and The Weather Machine.  

As an educator and a mentor, has initiated the Doorway Project a development programme for emerging artists. She taught choreography at the Royal Ballet School, and MA Choreography at Middlesex University, and Central School of Ballet. She was a Mentor on the Cohan Collective in 2020 and 2021.

She is author of Movement Direction: Developing Physical Narrative for Performance (2022) and Choreography:Creating and Developing Dance for Performance (2019)

Kate holds Rayne Foundation and Churchill Fellowships and was awarded an OBE in 2020.

Chapters
Stephen introduces Kate Flatt OBE and her body of work
Kate’s training at the Royal Ballet School and discovering choreography
Breaking into opera with Welsh National Opera
Les Misérables and theatre work: Creating movement for musicals and West End productions
Working with singers vs actors: Different approaches to embodying roles
The pressures of opera: Limited rehearsal time and large-scale productions
Books and resources: Why Kate wrote Movement Direction and Creating and Developing Dance
The Doorway Project: Collaboration between movement and theatre directors
International inspiration: Folk traditions, community dance, and Day of the Dead
Mentorship and teaching: Passing on knowledge and nurturing new artists
Advice to emerging choreographers: Staying curious and focusing on communication
Closing thoughts: Movement as storytelling and community connection

Links
Website: www.kateflatt.com
Instagram: @sortedlady

To get in touch with Sarah visit www.sarahperrymovement.com and follow @sarahperrymovement on Instagram.
To get in touch with Stephen visit www.stephenmoynihan.net and follow @stmoynihan on Instagram.