Farooq Chaudhry steps down as chair of Dance UK

Farooq Chaudhry has stepped down as chair of industry body Dance UK following comments he made last week about the standard of UK dance training.

Chaudhry's comments were part of a press release sent out with Akram Khan, Hofesh Shechter and Lloyd Newson condemning the quality of UK contemporary dance training.

In it he said: "Are the schools really serving their students and the wider dance industry? I certainly believe their teaching methods have fallen behind the needs of the market."

In his resignation statement Chaudhry said he made the comments not as chair of Dance UK, but in his capacity as producer for Khan's company. But he admitted he had created "confusion".

He added: "My comments regarding my concerns about contemporary dance training were made from a strong conviction, shared with several professional colleagues."

Julian Flitter, Dance UK's current vice chair, will take over as interim chair.