Phoenix Dance Theatre

By the summer of 1982, Phoenix had acquired two other dancers, Merville Jones and Edward Lynch, both members of Harehills Youth Dance Theatre in Leeds, and, in 1985, the company moved to its first permanent base in Chapeltown.

In 1990 Phoenix won the Grand Prize at the International Choreographic Competition in Bagnolet for Aletta Collins' piece Gang of Five and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for the Most Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Dance.

Under Artistic Director Margaret Morris, who joined the company in 1991, Phoenix became established on the UK touring circuit and performed internationally particularly in the USA.

He was succeeded as Artistic Director by Javier de Frutos, during whose tenure Phoenix won the "Company Prize for Outstanding Repertoire (Modern)" in the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards, 2006.

[9] In 2008 Watson was one of 26 aspiring leaders from around the globe selected to attend Dance East’s fourth Rural Retreat, an intensive four-day think-tank exploring the challenges of the role of Artistic Directors in the 21st century.