Let The Dance Begin Drawing by Zoe James-Williams

Zoe James-Williams is a Welsh artist living on the Gower coast. Zoe is especially well known for her ballet and figurative paintings and has exhibited widely across the UK and the Channel Islands. She is the first Artist in Residence at Swansea Grand Theatre and also teaches art classes in drawing and watercolour. Zoe has had the privilage of working with principle ballet dancers from The Royal Ballet in The Royal Opera House, London, The Mariinsky, The Bolshoi and The English National Ballet amongst many others. Zoe was personally invited to capture Royal Ballet principals Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg to capture them at the Royal Opera House in rehearsal, which was a dream come true. She was also invited to capture Xander Parish, principal with the Mariinsky in Romeo and Juliet when performing in the Royal Opera House. All the paintings are from her own personal experience and she never uses third party imagery. Art Collections Zoe's paintings are now in the art collections of The Welsh National Opera, Swansea Grand Theatre, Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones/Rhythm Kings), Johan Kobborg and Alina Cojocaru, Principal dancers of The Royal Ballet, Kevin Johns MBE, Chas Hodges (Chas and Dave) amongst many others. Zoë became the first Artist in Residence at Swansea Grand Theatre in September 2009. Her residency provided an unique environment in which to capture the workings of the theatre and the many companies that perform there. Her work shows a previously hidden world only ever glimpsed at by the audience. A tale of two sides, those in the spotlight and those who work tirelessly backstage to make sure everything runs smoothly.