Kenneth Tharp

Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE (born 11 February 1960), is a British dance artist, who was chief executive of The Place (2007–16) and director of the Africa Centre, London (2018–20).

Born in 1960 at Croydon, Surrey, to English mother Pamela Tharp and Nigerian father Gabriel Oluwole Esuruoso (1934–2013),[1] his father, who had been a journalist for the Daily Times in Nigeria, came to Britain supported by a government scholarship in the late 1950s to study veterinary medicine at the University of Glasgow.

[2] Tharp attended The Perse School, Cambridge College of Arts and Technology, and trained at London Contemporary Dance School receiving a BA Hons (1st class) in Contemporary Dance in 1987.

With composer Simon Redfern[5] he co-founded ArtyfartyArts, a multi-disciplinary arts group, and has served on the board of Trustees of the Royal Opera House.

[7] Chief Executive of The Place from September 2007 to November 2016,[8][9][10] in May 2018 Tharp was appointed director of the Africa Centre, London.