Artistic Director Celeste Dandeker-Arnold OBE commissioned 30 new performance works for the company from internationally renowned choreographers including Emily Claid, Javier de Frutos, Doug Elkins, Siobhan Davies, Fin Walker, Darshan Singh-Bhuller, Annabel Arden and Stephen Petronio.
Her ambitious commissioning strategy reflected this vision and became the backbone of the company's success, catapulting it into the mainstream dance world from the very beginning.
They commissioned work from leading choreographers Emanuel Gat, Rachid Ouramdane, Wendy Houstoun and Javier de Frutos, restaged Trisha Brown's seminal Set and Reset to include disabled dancers for the first time, and commissioned the UK's leading disabled choreographers; Marc Brew and Claire Cunningham for Unlimited – part of the London 2012 Cultural Festival.
Under their directorship they took Candoco from the Bird's Nest in Beijing to the Olympic Stadium in London; performing at the handover ceremonies in 2008 and returning, alongside Coldplay, at the Paralympic Closing in 2012.
Stine Nilsen and Pedro Machado succeeded in 2007 and they continued to commission choreographers including Javier de Frutos, Claire Cunningham and Arlene Phillips.