Jerwood Assistant Choreographer opportunity: Young Vic's 2024 Main House show

The opportunity

The Young Vic is committed to providing opportunities for artists to develop their craft and to expand their knowledge and practice. Learning from experienced practitioners by assisting is a vital chance to develop skills and understanding. Equally, having the chance to spend time in a theatre and to understand how the departments work together to produce work is also an important aspect of an artist’s knowledge.

With the support of Jerwood Arts, we are providing an opportunity for a movement director or choreographer to assist on our Spring 2024 production at the Young Vic.

Assistantship on a production

We are looking for an Assistant Choreographer to work on an as yet unannounced UK premiere of a contemporary piece of musical theatre.

The piece combines elements of drama, comedy and meta-theatricality; and the story explores rites-of-passage, rebellion, class and intergenerational conflict. It’s a journey of self-discovery towards becoming an artist.

The show incorporates various aspects of 20th and 21st century Black American culture and identity and makes use of a rich musical score combining elements of gospel, jazz, blues and rock. The movement in the piece supports the narrative and character development.

The scheme

The scheme provides the Assistant Choreographer with:

• An assistantship on the next Main House production at the Young Vic, which is the UK premiere of a contemporary musical theatre piece
• Two-week placement observing day to day running of the theatre, attending planning and management meetings and spending time in departments such as marketing, production and development 
• A chance to observe the work of the Taking Part department on work for schools and colleges inspired by the show they have assisted on
• A small pot of money to see shows

Fees

There is a fee of £4,500 to cover the period from Monday 2 April 2024 to Saturday 6 July 2024. The fee covers seven weeks of rehearsals, including a three-week tech and preview period, and seven performance weeks.

The Jerwood Assistant Choreographer will be working full-time up to the press week; and from Tuesday 21 May onwards, will be available part-time during the run to see two performances a week and support the show. During the time period between 2 April and 6 July, the Assistant Choreographer will need to be within 25 miles of the Young Vic.

There is a two-week placement payment of £500 per week (£1,000 in total). The timings of the placement is to be mutually agreed between the Young Vic and Assistant Choreographer, but this should take place within four months of the production.

There is a £200 budget to cover the cost of seeing productions either in London or beyond.

How to apply

If you would like to apply, please download one of our recruitment packs at the bottom of this page. In each pack, there is detailed information on key dates, eligibility criteria, and the link to the application form.

Applications close at noon on Wednesday 14 February.

You don't have to be a member of the Genesis Network to apply for the opportunity, but we would encourage to join so you can continue to find out about events, workshops and opportunities. Please review the eligibility criteria here before you sign up.

If you have any questions or concerns related to the recruitment process, or would like to request an alternate format of the application pack, please email Khánh Hạ Nguyễn (first name Khánh Hạ, pronounced kahn-ha) on opportunitiescreatorsprogram@youngvic.org.

The Jerwood Assistant Choreographer role is part of the Young Vic’s Jerwood Artist Development Pathway. This Pathway is generously supported by the Jerwood Developing Artists Fund.