Balbir Singh receives MBE at Windsor Castle

Artistic Director Balbir Singh received his MBE this week at Windsor Castle for services to dance, following his inclusion in the King’s New Year Honours List.

For more than two decades, Singh has built a body of work that refuses to treat dance as something that happens only under stage lights. His choreography has unfolded in theatres across the UK and beyond, and equally in community centres, care homes and civic spaces; places where dance is encountered up close, in conversation and in community.

The award marks over twenty years of building a regional company with national and international reach. Born in India and raised in Bradford, Singh’s work has long negotiated the space between cultures. Drawing on classical Kathak alongside contemporary dance, he has developed a distinctive artistic voice that positions South Asian artistic traditions as central to contemporary British culture. His work neither dilutes tradition nor preserves it behind glass; it places it in active dialogue with modern Britain.

Singh’s path into dance was not conventional. After initially studying law, he trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds before founding Balbir Singh Dance Company in 1995. From the outset, the company became a platform for forging a hybrid vocabulary, one that fused classical form with contemporary urgency. Works such as Reflections of an Indian Dancer, Love and Spice and The Wise Ones established that language nationally and contributed to a shift in the northern dance ecology.

Over time, his practice has extended well beyond performance. Through projects such as Unmasking Pain, an award-winning collaboration with Durham University exploring chronic pain and creative practice, collaborations within the INPUT Pain Management Programme at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, and research partnerships with the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing, dance has served as a tool for dialogue, reflection and shared experience. 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.

Leadership, in Singh’s case, has meant building structures that outlast individual productions. He has mentored more than 100 emerging artists, supporting the development of a new generation of practitioners, and created Nayak, a digital platform that opens classical Indian dance training to artists across disciplines and borders. In 2012, Balbir Singh Dance Company secured National Portfolio Organisation status with Arts Council England, ensuring sustained public investment in its work.

Balbir Singh said: ‘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 twenty 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.’

Arts Council England CEO, Darren Henley, said: ‘Balbir Singh’s MBE is richly deserved recognition of his outstanding contribution to dance and to cultural life in this country. Over more than two decades, he has built a company rooted in the North with national and international significance. 

As a National Portfolio Organisation, Balbir Singh Dance Company has shown how creativity can connect communities, bridge cultures and enrich lives — from stages across the UK and internationally to community and health settings closer to home. We warmly congratulate Balbir on this significant honour.’