Rachel is a dance artist who has been working in Screen Dance, film and installation for sometime.  She was an Elevator Artist at New Moves in Glasgow and screened ‘Refraction a screen dance installation at The National Review of Live Art, New Territories, Elevator following her first class degree in Dance and Visual Art from Brighton University.  She was a finalist in experimental film in the Dazed and Confused D&AD New Blood Awards in 2003.  

Rachel has worked with Liz Aggiss and Billie Cowie on the Arts Council’s Dance for Screen ‘Capture Series with the BBC’. Rachel was second camera on Anarchic Variations and she also worked with the team filming The Men in the Wall, a four-screen 3-dimensional stereoscopic screen dance installation a pioneering work that has won numerous awards and been shown worldwide.

Rachel’s dance film work has been screened at The Short and Sweet Festival London, Norwich Playhouse, The National Review of Live Art,  New Territories and the D&AD Dazed and Confused Awards. Most recently her integrated film and live performance work has been shown at the Autumn Festival of Norfolk in 2023, 2024 and 2025. These works have been created from a continuous strand of her weekly artistic practice with a Dance and Parkinson’s Performance Group that has been established since 2011, but has recently branched into a performance group.

Rachel has a deep interest in the body, architecture, installation, film and sound which she brings to her performances and film. Rachels passion is creative direction, she studied at Leeds College of Art and Design (Performance Design), Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (Dance) and Brighton University in Dance and Visual Art and completed a Diploma in Film from The Brighton Film School in film direction with Franz Von Habsburg Toskana FBKS.  She has worked as an Art Director with the National School of Film and Television and the Brighton Film School on a variety of films that were shown on the BBC, Sundance Festival and Channel Four.  

Rachel is the founder aand Artistic Director of Copperdot Studio in Norwich. Copperdot is a place to bring together numerous strands of creative practice.  Rachel has commercial experience in film, she has also worked as a photographic director and creative director in photography.

She has been fortunate to be taught by Carol Brown, Annie Pui Ling Lok, Charlie Morrisey and Liz Aggiss and was later a student at the Brighton Film School.  Her love for movement is supported with a thorough understanding of the body with a specific focus on training for performance, preparing the body for the demands of the choreography.  Her expertise in this area spans over 14 years.  She has worked at the Centre of Advanced Training at Dance East and is now working at individual company level supporting the creation and direction of training movement specific to performance.  Her love for creative direction means that even the content of the choreography and the training principles used to facilitate preparation for perfomance is investigated when making work.  

Rachel’s current investigation is a pilot project called Landings, it is a reflection of over ten years of working with the moving body through film and photography.  LANDINGS is a foundation for a new piece she is hoping to get funding for soon.

Rachel is inviting artists and creators at particular stages in their career to explore their journeys together.  This is most recently seen in her collaborations with Rebecca Chapman of Total Ensemble Arts Initiative, Elsa Urmston Phd (Dance Educator and Researcher) and Jules Maxwell (Composer).  She is mentoring artists to make work and investigate their practice, she is supporting others with creative direction and new work is being made on site.  Rachel works from Copperdot but also works on projects outside of Norfolk.

Film and Television Work

Anarchic Variations 2002 Dance film produced by Channel 4 Dance4 season Break (2005) choreographed by Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie.

Men in the Wall (2004) was produced with an Arts Council England Capture 3 Award and an FRSF Award. Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie.

 Refraction 2003 Screen Dance Installation commissioned by National Review of Live Art.  Directed and choreographed by Rachel Canavan

 Refraction Screen Dance.  Dazed and Confused Re:Creation Awards with Franz Ferdinand and other finalists in the New Blood Awards.

 Justified Technophobe 2000.  Directed by Conal Percy. Starring, Will Mellor, Martin.L Evans and Melanie Sykes. Northern School of Film and Television.