Meet the Core Team
Johnny Autin
CREATIVE DIRECTOR - HE/THEY
Johnny is an established dance leader and award-winning choreographer, specialising in multidisciplinary choreography, street theatre and contemporary dance, with over 20 years of experience in professional, community, and educational dance projects. He has been commissioned to create new work by international organisations such as Arts Connect, Dance Hub Birmingham, British Council, Sampad Arts, Macerata Opera Festival (Italy), and Muda Africa (Tanzania). Johnny holds the position of Associate Dance Artist at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), where he leads a youth dance programme and, he serves as a dedicated trustee on the board of Dancefest, Worcester. As the founding director of the renowned outdoor arts company Autin Dance Theatre, Johnny’s mission is to inspire, educate, and initiate positive social changes through world-class arts activities delivered to communities in theatres, outdoors, and non-traditional spaces.
Annalise McIntyre
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER - SHE/HER
Originally from Birmingham, Annalise graduated from Coventry University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours First Class in Dance with Professional Enhancement. She joined Man Made Youth Company in 2015 as a participant and since then, has performed for Birmingham Opera Company, Gaby Agis, Mercurial Dance and more recently ‘sirenscrossing’ by Carolyn Deby in 2019. As a dance maker, Annalise choreographed and produced a solo ‘Ecstasy’ for the Follow Me Out Festival 2018 in Coventry. Internationally, Annalise has taught and performed at the Ryan International Children’s Festival in Bangalore, India in 2018.
From early on in her career, Annalise has worked with Autin Dance Theatre on several of their national and international tours, starting as a Creative Intern in 2016 to now working with the company as Associate Producer, as well as supporting projects and programmes for DanceXchange, Man Made Youth Company and Ascension Dance Company. These have included young people’s programmes, community projects, outreach workshops and platform events. More recently, Annalise produced a digital event called ‘2 Metres Closer’ in July 2020 as part of Beatfreeks Southside Producers.
Kirsten Tranter
LEARNING & PARTICIPATION - SHE/HER
Kirsten is passionate that dance and art is for everyone, whether that be as a participant, an audience member or a maker. Her ambition is to provide quality experiences accessible for all, and very much see’s her role as a connector working with professionals, young people and communities to provide platforms of expression, opportunities to share, and experiences to inspire people to see a different world around them. Kirsten is an Independent Producer and Project Manager, specialising in dance and movement, however she has worked on a number of cross art projects and programmes. She works on a freelance basis with a range of individuals and organisations, and works on an on-going regular basis with Autin Dance Theatre as their Learning and Participation Manager.
Kirsten trained in Contemporary Dance at DeMontfort University leaving with a first class degree. Her early experiences saw her teaching in community and educational settings, alongside performing. Since then she has worked in numerous roles in dance agencies Dance4 and DanceXchange (now Fabric), and at Mac Birmingham, working on many projects and programmes both regionally and nationally, supporting professional artists, producing and managing training programmes, regular class programme, building relationships to support dance development in areas of need, and producing community and young peoples events and programmes of work. Kirsten also likes to mix her passion for culture and dance, and spent 7 months teaching dance in Shanghai, China, to young people and adults from all over the world.
As a freelancer Kirsten loves to work with lots of different people, share her passion for dance and the arts, and support people’s potential from very first experiences through to making and touring professional work.
Paulina Ozynska
CREATIVE CONTENT DESIGNER - SHE/HER
Paulina Ozynska is a creative content designer and an admin for AutinDT but always a passionate photographer as her main profession.
She started her freelance practice after graduating from BA in Visual Communications at Birmingham City University focusing on experimental photography and various methods storytelling.
Followed with another adventure during her Masters degree in MA Future Media – Digital Advertising and Marketing from Birmingham City University. Always excited to dive into creative strategy and develop ideas into many great projects.
Adam Towndrow
OUTDOOR ARTS CONSULTANT - HE/HIM
Adam has been a Creative Producer and Consultant for Dance Organisations since 2005. He has been involved in the development of dance organisations, strategising on production ideas and concepts and supporting the distribution of award-winning live performances that have taken place across the UK, Europe, Asia and Australasia. Adam is a creative and critical thinker, challenging and exploring innovative ways of delivering and executing processes. His passion is creating mutually beneficial partnerships between communities and cultural organisations, charities and education settings, funding bodies and artists.
Micha Greenwood
PROJECT ASSISTANY - SHE/HER
Micha is a soon-to-be graduate from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with a BA (Hons) in Applied Theatre. She has worked with Autin Dance Theatre since March 2023 through an internship. She has a range of experience from musicals to plays such as Spring Awakening and Kinky Boots.
Micha has a range of experience in the performing industry and is an upcoming drama practitioner working within political theatre, dance theatre, and physical theatre. She aims to create work that makes a difference in disadvantaged communities. Using theatre and dance workshops to make talking about difficult subjects easier and communicate through arts. She desires to work within areas that are deficient in arts and bring arts to unexpected places.
James Mist Clark
INTERN
Jim lives in Birmingham and currently doing an internship with Johnny and Autin DT. He is hoping to use this experience as a stepping stone into his professional career and formal training. Jim has been dancing for around 4 years and for most of that time he was a part of Johnny’s Man Made Youth Company. This allowed him to explore dance in a different way and pushed him to wanting a professional career.