Sir Richard Alston, the British choreographer and teacher who steered contemporary dance in new directions with elegant, intelligent work, has died aged 77. A former artistic director of Rambert and the Place, he created more than 50 pieces for his own Richard Alston Dance Company and was renowned for lucid, musically attuned choreography that shaped generations of British dancers. His death has prompted tributes from across the dance world, including from choreographer Akram Khan, underlining his lasting influence on contemporary dance in Britain.

The Richard Alston Foundation announced on Monday that he died peacefully at home on 7 September after a period of ill health, having been treated at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. Born in Sussex in 1948 and educated at Eton, Alston trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance, founded the experimental group Strider in 1972, and later studied under Merce Cunningham in New York. He led Rambert as artistic director from 1986 to 1992, creating 25 works for the company, before founding Richard Alston Dance Company in 1994 at the Place; he was knighted in 2019, and the company closed in 2020 due to funding difficulties.