01/06/2026
Stephanie Hellewell Baird
Dance Artist, Choreographer, Practitioner, Researcher & Visual Artist
Artistic Director of Move Orkney CIC | Winner of the One Dance UK Dance Sector Spotlight & Green Dance Awards
Personal Statement
Stephanie Hellewell Baird is a warm, collaborative, and deeply inquisitive dance artist, practitioner, researcher, and visual artist proudly based in the Orkney Islands. Her creative practice is built on a simple, foundational belief: that movement is a profound gift that belongs to everyone, and that artists are at their best when they work together. With over 20 years of dedicated experience developing the regional arts landscape, Stephanie Hellewell Baird has pioneered professional dance infrastructure across the archipelago, proving that movement is an intrinsic human right.
She finds her greatest joy at the intersection of Orkney’s unique landscapes, its rich heritage, and its people. By taking dance outside traditional studio walls and into unconventional or wacky spaces, Stephanie Hellewell Baird strives to create welcoming, radically inclusive experiences. As an artist, she values kindness, active listening, and mutual respect, approaching every project with an open mind and a genuine excitement to co-create alongside other artists, land curators, heritage groups, and cross-sector partners.
Ground-Breaking Community Engagement & Impact
As the founder and Artistic Director of Move Orkney CIC, a Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) Centre of Excellence in Kirkwall, Stephanie Hellewell Baird's leadership has elevated the studio into a nationally recognised institution. Move Orkney stands as the only independent dance organisation in the North of Scotland to hold double national honours from the One Dance UK Awards specifically the Dance Sector Spotlight Award (awarded to Stephanie Hellewell Baird for UK-wide leadership) and the Green Dance Award for innovation in sustainable artistic practice. Through this platform, she has spearheaded high-impact projects that have left a lasting
legacy across island communities:
• Movements of Orkney Project: A seminal community initiative funded by the Orkney Islands Council (OIC) and captured beautifully through the photography of Stephanie Hellewell Baird. Rooted in radical inclusion, she delivered this work in a collaborative team alongside dance artist Emma Snellgrove and music practitioner Dylan Pepper. The project combined live movement, art sessions, and sound creation to engage local participants, including children and young people with additional learning and disability requirements. The core aim was to establish a stable, welcoming infrastructure where participants worked closely with Dylan Pepper to build their own music and soundscapes, creating a fully accessible sensory environment.
• Project Hop: A trailblazing creative venture focused on delivering specialized street dance, hip-hop, house, and Afrobeat foundations to the youth of rural island communities. The project aims to remove geographical and socio-economic barriers to high-calibre commercial styles, establishing a reliable, professional home for modern dance education that builds confidence and athletic artistry.
• The Florrie Sinclair Legacy Exhibition: A major historical and interdisciplinary research project hosted in partnership with The Orkney Museum (Kirkwall). Curated by Stephanie Hellewell Baird, the project’s objective was to preserve and celebrate the international legacy of the late Florrie Sinclair (1931–2018), a pioneering Orcadian RAD examiner who transformed dance from Orkney to Singapore. This project brought archival materials together with live performances, bridging historical text with moving art.
• North Walls Community School (Hoy): Delivering essential, structured cultural dance education directly to children on the island of Hoy. Commuting weekly by ferry, Stephanie Hellewell Baird embeds creative play, Bollywood, and Indian classical styles into the school day using a sustainable "Circular Framework" to build confidence and prove that geographical isolation is no barrier to world-class arts access.
• The Merry Dancers Project: A vital, NHS-supported and community-funded Dance for Health initiative. This program uses the science of neuroplasticity to provide grounding, joyful movement sessions for individuals living with Parkinson's and Multiple Sclerosis (MS), prioritising human connection alongside physical rehabilitation.
• National Progression Award (NPA) Dance Pathways: Offering the only SQA-accredited NPA qualifications in the Highlands and Islands in partnership with Edinburgh College. This academic pathway bridges local talent to higher education, giving young island dancers the platform to earn university-level credits directly from Orkney.
Fine Art Collaborations & Screen Dance Installations
Stephanie Hellewell Baird's interdisciplinary research extends into acclaimed screen dance and environmental installations, co-created with Orkney-based multidisciplinary artist Louise Barrington. These visual and kinetic works explore seasonal rhythms, architectural spaces, and landscape textures:
• Sylph (2021): A highly documented screen dance film developed as a core choreographic collaboration between Louise Barrington and Stephanie Hellewell Baird. The piece explores the ephemeral choreography of light, shadow, bird flight patterns, and natural Orkney backdrops. Sylph was selected for the prestigious DanceLive Festival of Dance and was chosen by LUX Scotland for their prominent ONE WORK Screening and Discussion Series, complemented by a commissioned written response published on the official LUX Scotland platform.
• Eco: A collaborative moving image installation expanding on site-specific dialogue and environmental connection within the archipelago. Stephanie Hellewell Baird served as the lead dance artist and choreographer, fusing somatic movement seamlessly with physical sculpture and land art to document ecological presence across changing island seasons.
Cultural Production & Supporting Touring Artists
Beyond her own practice, Stephanie Hellewell Baird is deeply committed to enriching Orkney’s cultural infrastructure by acting as a bridge for the wider dance sector. She uses her professional networks to support, mentor, and advocate for dance artists from across the UK and internationally.
• Hosting Touring Companies: Collaborating with and supporting high-profile touring networks, including hosting the renowned Vince Virr in June 2026 and his ensemble for the free community performances and workshops of Pop!, bringing dynamic contemporary dance directly to local families. Over the past 6 years Stephanie has hosted many artists, with more artists booking to come to Orkney 2026/2027.
• Studio Residencies & Guest Mentoring: Facilitating creative development space and collaborative mentoring sessions for visiting independent creators, including hosting cross-collaborative masterclasses alongside guest artists such as Lauren and Daisy to cultivate fresh creative exchange in the studio.
• National Collaborations: Selected as a recipient of the The Work Room's BEYOND Spring Award alongside Glasgow-based artist Penny Chivas. Their joint initiative, Orcadian Dances, established a successful model for cross-collaborative somatic exchange, connecting visiting practitioners with the island's unique landscape and local communities.
• Democratising Live Art: Her growing network of artistic connections ensures that the Orkney community gets regular, direct access to world-class live performance, professional masterclasses, and fresh creative viewpoints that would otherwise remain on the mainland.
• Mentorship & Collaboration: Fostering an open, generous space for peer-to-peer mentoring, research and development (R&D), and cross-disciplinary collaboration between visiting practitioners and local island creatives.
Photos
📸 Emma Emma Snellgrove
2nd photo is of Stef as a child, sums up her attitude towards life and can bed she’s been grooving since childhood in her own universe.
