You can float company name ideas here or if you are feeling shy than email Helene at helenecooper@ballet.co.uk

Over to you...

Is it safe to assume that the word 'dance' should be part of the company name?

Firstly, and most importantly may luck, time, money, fun and satisfaction be on your side. You don't need all of these but a few of them will make it all worthwhile. It's good that you have a soul-mate in the venture and I really hope you are successful. My daughter is a few years behind you but you are already where she wants to be!

Norman's advice about the name is really very sound. Try it out without being definitive too early - see how it feels for you and the people close to you before making any costly decisions. Don't make it too limiting and I think that simply using both your names may fall into this trap - things may change in the future.

I also agree with Ian - Phoenix Dance Theatre is a brilliant name because of where the company had come from - it's memorable and meaningful in terms of what the company is, and does.

I note that you plan to do site-specific work and there is a suggestion that indicates that your work might veeer towards physical theatre and not just pure dance.

You have a name that has a certain resonance in terms of mythology and beauty, launching a thousand ships and all that - perhaps this might suggest a company name that is not simply your name but something symbolic or allegorical which attaches to your name/s and what you both want to see for your company.

All best wishes

Graham

But is it essential to include the word 'dance'? A single-word title can be very arresting and the context in which it appears is usually the clue to the nature of the business, as with CandoCo and Morphoses.

After reading Helene's manifesto for her company, my suggestion is Saltarium. But how did I arrive at that?

A saltarium is a space for dancing, which Helene will create with her dancers. The word was coined by Rudolf von Laban for the large performance space at his Art of Movement Studio at Addlestone, Surrey. A Google search reveals that this name is not currently in use by anyone, but it does acknowledge the Laban pedigree.

Saltarium comes from the Latin verb saltare meaning to dance, or to jump or move in a structured way. Somersault is an Eglish derivative via the French verb sauter, and saltimbanco is a more obvious one from the Italian Commoedia del Arte.

It is certainly a good plan to try a working title in private to see if it wears comfortably in speech and print. Saltarium is pronounced sal...tear...eum. So it should be easier to say than Morphoses, for which I believe Christopher Wheeldon has issued a pronunciation guide!

Avoid anything that can be mispronounced as that's just off-putting!

I'll jump in - it can be in or out!