Interview with EKLEIDO

Link to article on Dance Art Journal

EKLEIDO on choreography & collaboration

“EKLEIDO, the dynamic choreographic duo of Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser, is known for creating mesmerising performances that fuse contemporary dance with street and club styles. Imagine sitting in your seat, lights go down as the theatre quiets and you start to hear a hypnotic EDM beat rise from the speakers. On stage, you see two highly skilled performers moving symmetrically as they move their bodies through contorted positions into aesthetic poses, all the while giving off the vibes of the club. Thrilling, right?

I had the pleasure of asking the creators of EKLEIDO about their history, choreographic approach and RORSCHACH, their new Choreodrome supported work they are developing to premiere at The Place in November.

While Hannah and Faye have been creating works for film and live performance as EKLEIDO for just a couple of years now, the two first began working together in 2018 when they collaborated with a percussionist to craft a short piece using the elegant, precise vocabulary of New Way Vogue which takes inspiration from other styles like contortion, martial arts, fashion poses and Egyptian hieroglyphics. After this project, they returned to dedicating their time to their individual performing careers, though they continued to cross paths at gigs and in the Ballroom Scene.

In 2023, just as they had both refocused on choreography and began collaborating again, they were serendipitously approached by Stanley Arts London to create a piece to share at the COMMONS Festival. Jumping on the opportunity, they created their work SPLICE in just three days. They said it was, “the smoothest collaboration ever” due to their similar movement backgrounds and the “synergy in communicating ideas to each other” developed from earlier processes. SPLICE received great feedback leading to more shows and after a year of performing the work and establishing their unique style, EKLEIDO was officially formed.

Of course, I couldn’t help but to ask about the origin of their name:

The name is a fusion of the words “Echo” and “Kaleidoscope” which we feel represent the work we’re creating. Eido in Greek also means to perceive or discover which also really resonated with us.”

Since its formation, EKLEIDO has been sharing captivating works that fuse contemporary with influences of street and club styles like New Way Voguing, bone breaking and elements of contortion and threading. In combining their movement backgrounds to build their own language, Hannah and Faye also incorporate their trainings and individual approaches to the partnership. For example, while Faye has more street dance training, Hannah has more experience in ballet and partnering; blending these skills forges new discoveries and creativity. The aesthetics are guided by their fascination with “pleasing shapes with elements of symmetry both in contact work and phrase material.” The contact material evokes the essences of styles like threading and tracing as they shift from one moment to another.”

Review/Response: Moving Kinship by Beatrice Allegranti

I had the wonderful opportunity to read and review Moving Kinship: Practicing Feminist Justice in a More-than-Human World by Beatrice Allegranti as well as performing a response at the book launch.

LINK TO RESPONSE VIDEO: A short piece responding to themes of the book through words and movement.

Words copied below and LINK TO ARTICLE ON DAJ:

“I’m going to start this review by saying I think you should read this book. Okay, hold on– I’ll qualify that: if you are interested in movement, connection, feminism, embodiment, psychotherapy, emotional processing, have ever experienced grief or trauma, heard the words “kinesthetic empathy,” or even if you haven’t and you’re wondering ‘what on earth does that mean’ — this brilliant book by Beatrice Allegranti is for you. 

Moving Kinship: Practicing Feminist Justice in a More-than-Human World is more than an academic review of a trans-disciplinary practice-led research project exploring the experience of grief, early-onset dementia and trans-generational trauma, it is an impressively intimate work. The book is filled to the brim with inspiring insights and moving anecdotes of personal accounts that transcend theoretical application, where Allegranti offers an embodied invitation to join in and “move with the trouble.”

It may look intimidating, but I promise it is an extraordinarily enjoyable read. The book formatted into three parts:

PART I:  Moving the More-Than outlines Allegranti’s previous work, background and feminist positionality. This section provides an overview of the Moving Kinship project comprising of conversations (interviews) with participants and collaborators, bespoke performances, a dance film, Moving with the Trouble, and the discussion of theory woven through it all.

PART II: Moving Kinship Threaded through the chapters of this section is an in-depth investigation into understanding the effects of trans-generational trauma and grief that starts with Allegranti’s’ relationship with her own parents, and expands through the experiences of the participants and artistic team in the Moving Kinship project. Through descriptions of conversations with participants such as Yvonne who experienced the effects of Primary Progressive Aphasia and Souji who had early-onset dementia, Allegranti shares the artistic process that led to Moving Kinship bespoke performances, providing rich opportunities for reflection on the nuanced “kin-aesthetic” experiences that they evoke. In the film, Moving with the Trouble, and the chapter by the same name, Allegranti works with the creative team to develop the idea of “micro-activisms” that arise in moving with the more-than-human. The chapters continue to expand these ideas, including pieces researching queer kinship, and finding gestures of self-love that allow for an embodied activism. 

It’s important to note here that you do not need to be an academic to understand and appreciate this work, as it’s deeply rooted in personal narratives and poetic passages that make feminist and decolonising theory accessible to the reader. I’m confident that anyone can find a connection to this work, dancer or not.

PART III: Transversal Movements offers a series of conversations accompanied by reflections on different methods of activism in addition to an account of “neurofeminist scholarship” discussing the practice of capoeira and its potential for social justice through a de-colonised perspective. 

Each part is introduced with a thoughtful illustration created by Neil Max Emmanuel, visually representing the themes of the following section. Additionally, the book also features “invitations to land” pulling out specific quotes and poetry that draw the reader’s attention, providing pause for reflection, and allowing the material to sink in.

The best way to get a taste of what this book has to offer (besides reading it for yourself) will be through the excerpts and beautiful responses presented at the London book launch held on the 25th of April. It was a special event that encapsulated the experience of reading this book through responses of all kinds including one of my own (just a little further down the page)! In this, we celebrated the work and delighted in the community that this work and Allegranti herself has cultivated.

After a welcome from Jonathan Silas, Associate Professor at Middlesex University who also collaborates in the third part of the book, Allegranti shares some opening remarks before reading two extracts from the first chapter “Feminist Justice as More-Than.” The first extract, entitled “My Mother’s Library, Materialising” (linked below), comes from the first section and describes the influence her mother had and the values of accessible knowledge that have been passed down and ultimately led to this work. This was followed by a moment of reflection before Allegranti began reading the second extract: “My Father’s Funeral, Deathing,” which I will leave you all to experience for yourselves.

Listen to Beatrice reading this extract from the book: My Mother’s Library, Materialising and My Father’s Funeral, Deathing.

For my response, I read from a section in chapter three called “Fuck Tsunami” and followed that up with a response that incorporated movement and words. Check it out here!

Other responses of the evening include a reflection by:

• Takeshi Matsumoto (dance artist, choreographer, dance movement psychotherapist) who was involved in the original iteration of the project as a performer and a participant as his father Souji who lived with early-onset dementia. 

• Foluke Taylor (therapist, writer, teacher living in the fluid histories and geographies of the Black diaspora) wrote a thought-provoking response highlighting the book’s importance as an application to the world beyond ourselves.

• Beatriz Calvo Merino (professor of cognitive neuroscience) described the work as “a very human book” and brought up the important idea that movement is the only way we can interact with the environment.

• The final response of the evening came from Todd Henkin and Gabi Toledo Machado who performed a song they’ve created which was inspired by words from the book. Recreating the call and response of Capoeira, we were invited to learn the words and sing along together.

It is unique to make a work that can inspire these sorts of responses; that invites and encourages you to take part and add on. I hope you’ll read this book and feel moved to create your own response as well. Any desire for movement, art or expression of feeling (there can be no wrong answers) would be a welcome and well-deserved reflection of this work.

To find out more about Beatrice visit her website and Instagram.

The book is available to purchase on Routledge with an automatic promo code reducing the price to £31.99 ) here or on Amazon.”

Interview with Stuart Waters

Words below! Link to full article with images

Bringing disability into dance environments with Stuart Waters

How does one begin to describe an artist like Stuart Waters? A challenge he poses to himself through his “live” practice, ever-evolving to encapsulate the complex intersectionality of all the facets of his work and his identity. Collaborating to create and perform thoughtful works while also developing and sharing measures for safe and accessible practices, Stuart embraces mental health access, queerness, disability, recovery and neurodiversity. He considers himself an ally for all areas of diversity and inclusion through his collaborative approach.

In our conversation, Stuart explained that his practice began developing eight years ago as he recognised his own disabilities and neurodivergencies and realised the extent to which disabilities were not considered within his dance environments he’d been in as a professional dancer in the sector for 22 years at this point.  

“How do I change the space for me to be my best self in this space?”

This question was expanded on after the creation of ROCKBOTTOM, which was created between 2016-2019 and toured the UK throughout 2019. ROCKBOTTOM is an autobiographical work that Stuart created as he recovered from being in a coma. As he delved into the issues and experiences that led to that difficult moment, he felt the emotional taxation of this embodiment, which isn’t always addressed in the studio. As dancers, we’re often expected to “leave our shit at the door” and execute what is being asked of us. To create a safer space to explore these levels of intensity, Stuart worked with therapists and coaches to enquire and design new practices and approaches that address entering and exiting the work. He’s since shared these through workshops, talks and training at conservatoires, universities, conferences, producer networks and community settings to promote better practices for the next generation.

It was on the tour of ROCKBOTTOM that elements of accessibility in captioned panel discussions of mental health and recorded audio description of the performance sparked an interesting thought. In conversation with audio describer Willie Elliot and Vicki Balaam who co-produced Stuart’s latest work Queer Collision, they wondered how they could embed audio description more authentically from the onset of the creative process. At this moment, as Stuart was ‘coming out’ as a disabled artist, he realised there was a community he wasn’t yet dancing with. Stuart began alignment and collaboration with the disability communities; a quest for understanding, empathy and support. This led to the beginning of a unique layer of communities and access woven in a poignant and playful approach.

Now, I first met Stuart in a workshop at the University of Roehampton where he led us through the process to do exactly that: embed audio description into a movement phrase we created, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that is hard. Descriptions of actions can mean so many different things and language couldn’t be more important. E.g. they make a circle with their hand vs they draw a circle with their hand. Additionally, the context of where the performer is, the quality of the movement or what is in the space change the interpretation entirely. To make a work that incorporates this into the script is a hefty task, which Stuart Waters and Willie Elliot were able to accomplish in Queer Collision, which was created between 2022-23. Queer Collision premiered at the Brighton festival 2023, went on an autumn tour in 2023 and Eastbourne Alive (as part of the Turner prize) and headed to The Place earlier this year, reaching so many audiences.

With the support of Choreodrome at The Place and Wellcome Collection Stuart, alongside director Tom Roden, composer Andy Pink and Willie Elliott, started to bring Queer Collision to life in 2020. They explored how audio description can not long be ‘live’ in different and unique ways but also how composition would support visually impaired and blind audience members. This was, again, a unique way of bringing the audience into a more equal way as everyone experiences liveness and how composition creates space for processing and inclusion. (It seems like Stuart has a wonderful way of bringing people together, whether they are creators, performers, audience members or whoever wants to join in the space he creates). The subject matter of the piece was developed during the Covid-19 pandemic as Stuart and Willie noticed links to the feelings and experiences of their pasts. Wanting to build a work upon LGBTQIA+ social history, they started by gathering stories that could build connections between past and present, individual and universal, and performers and audience members. Flowing between joyous tales of coming out and deeper struggles, the work presents a journey where audiences “can see themselves on the stage” through these stories.

Staying true to the values of his practice, Stuart asked himself who was missing in this work, who wasn’t being seen. Wanting to push against conventions, he provided space within the work to share the platform with queer and disabled artists by blending the boundaries of performance and incorporating cabaret performers like Venitia Blind, Ebony Rose Dark and Rajan Das. Stuart developed and brought new and marginalised audiences into the venues throughout 2023 by engaging deeply with local communities, and local queer and disabled artists, digital and live workshops, as well as Stuart’s characteristic approach to collaborating with aligning charities, therapists and pastoral care. 

Overall, Queer Collision serves as a wonderful example of the sort of work Stuart is contributing to in so many communities. He is creating pieces that challenge the audience in a safe way and making real “accessible dance theatre”. Inviting audiences on this journey with permission for them to experience it how they need to and making them feel held as they do. From the work, Stuart said he felt it was important to leave a legacy, in a way, leaving the space better, perhaps more open or more filled, than it was before. 

I wrapped up our interview with the classic, “What’s next?” (original, I know). Stuart said that Queer Collision is having a rest as he works to deepen the learning from that process and develop different types of events to satisfy all of his many inquiries. In summation: continuing to feed that “living” process while attempting to encompass all the things – a worthy challenge that we all take upon ourselves at some point or another.

For more information visit Stuart’s website.

Interview with Ellye Van Grieken of Silver-Tongue Collective

Link to full Interview

Excerpt copied below:

“Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ellye Van Grieken (she/her), the creative producer of Silver-Tongue, about their new work, Devil Fish, premiering on the 7th of February as part of Resolution Festival at The Place.

I started us off with a discussion of the Silver-Tongue’s beginning (mostly because I really enjoy the creative names for their collective and piece). Van Grieken explained that Silver-Tongue was established back in 2020 as “a collective of story makers that give voice to tales which aren’t usually heard.” Their work has since developed through multi-medium collaborations that build thought-provoking works about whatever takes their interest. Devil Fish grew from Van Grieken’s research conducted at the Royal College of Art into the performance of mermaids in 19th century Britain, a time when ideas of evolution, scientific discoveries and explorations of the ocean were prevalent in society.

The ‘Devil Fish’ in their work actually refers to octopuses (not mermaids) that upon their discovery were fished, captured and sensationalized in pop-up aquariums and side-shows. However, people weren’t attending these events to marvel at the octopus’s many tentacles or learn about their fascinating skills of adaptation. To build the crowds (and profits), the octopuses were marketed as terrifying, fanged blood-sucking monsters. Misinformation engulfed the 8-tentacled spectacle as society flocked to gawk at the captive creature, now in their minds, a terrifying monster.”

Take Me Somewhere Series #3

LINK TO ARTICLE ON DAJ

The Take Me Somewhere Festival is back again to bring audiences radical works from a diverse group of the world’s most cutting-edge contemporary performance makers. Running from the 13th through the 28th of October, audience members can look forward to immersing themselves in creativity and experiencing innovative, moving works like Walking with the Ancestors in Joy and Healing by Ashanti Harris who we had the chance to speak with ahead of her performance on Saturday, the 28th of October at Tramway.

Q: How would you describe your practice/artistic journey?

A: I am a multi disciplinary artist working most often with dance, performance, sculptural installations and sound. A big part of my practice involves teaching and facilitating workshops for participants who also perform with me, or for audiences to gain a more embodied experience/understanding of the things I am exploring. 

During the pandemic I started making audio guided workshops for audiences to listen to in their home or out walking in a place of their choosing. These instructional sound works sat somewhere between a workshop and a partcipatory performance experience. I liked the way that they let me share my research with an individual audience member and allowed them to situate the thinking in their own personal context. This performance is a development from those pandemic works. Since then I have been exploring ways of creating an audience experience that is individual and personal whilst also being part of a collective, shared space.  

Q: What is your work about and where did you find inspiration?

A: Walking with the Ancestors in Joy and Healing is an interactive, reparative reading, guiding the audience on an imagined procession in joy and healing. Shifting between collaged narratives centred in Black histories, descriptions of real and imagined spaces, movement provocations and guided body awareness exercises, this performance ritual invites the audience to consider the many layers of narratives which intersect and overlap with their own experiences and to move with them, inviting joyful possibilities for collective healing.

I was inspired by the multidisciplinary nature of Caribbean Carnival and the ways that everybody involved (performers, makers, musicians and passersby) can experience the carnival as a form of meditation, a pilgrimage, a ceremony, a protest, a ritual, or a joyful act of healing. I am also inspired by guided meditation, and African diasporic cosmology and its associated ritual practices. I follow lots of healers on social media who support me to connect with my ancestral heritage through different ritual practices. And I really believe in the power of making time and space to slow down and just listen and feel.

Q: What would you want the audience to take from experiencing your work?

A: This work is a collage of all the things I have been thinking, exploring, reading, listening to, feeling, and doing shared with a small audience of 20 through two voices – one guiding the audience through thoughts and another guiding the audience through movement. I hope that participating in this artwork will guide audiences to reflect on history and current events and imagine alternate realities and new possibilities for the future. I hope that it is a joyful opportunity to slow down and think and feel and move and find a connection with something they hold in their bodies.

Q: What drew you to the Take Me Somewhere Festival? or What is Radical about this work?

A: As a multidisciplinary artist working across visual art and performance, my work never sits completely comfortably in either setting. I like when audiences can touch things in an exhibition, I like to blur the definitions of (and space between) the audience and performer, and I like creating live, immersive and intimate spaces. I applied for the Performance Now Commission to share new work in TMS because it encouraged ideas which challenged the normal parameters of performance making. This work is an exciting new experiment for me and it has been really great for it to have a home where it belongs! 

Tickets & more info: https://takemesomewhere.co.uk/ashanti-harris

Artist website: ashantiharris.com

Header image by Gavin McCourt.

Take Me Somewhere Series #2

LINK TO DANCE ART JOURNAL

At the forefront of pioneering performances, the Take Me Somewhere Festival returns to once again enthrall Glasgow’s audiences with captivating and innovative works from a diverse group of artists dedicated to pushing the boundaries of their work. From October 13th through the 28th, audiences can expect to indulge in innovation and enjoy work by artists like NXSA whose piece proxy (2.2) will show Thursday 26 October at Tramway. We had the pleasure of talking with NXSA to learn more about their process, background and this intriguing work.

Q: How would you describe your practice/artistic journey?

A: NXSA works across-between sound, text and movement through slow research, practice and collaborative works which materialise as meditative, site-responsive, digital and club performances. 

They are interested in necessary confrontations as sites for resistance, refusal, transformation; and in momentarily resting in the perceived void as a site for contemplation, for survival, for renewal.

My background is in movement and body-based practices, writing, though before dance I started with music (violin when I was 4). My movement practice has always been in dialogue with particular sonic spaces, landscapes, sound collaborators. Then since 2021 I’ve been developing my own in navigating a disconnect from movement. 

Q: What is your work about and where did you find inspiration?

A: proxy (2.2) is the first iteration of a sonic practice expanding an ongoing body of work which considers parallel multiplicities of existences, criticality in/and/as/of care and the interrelated, invisibilised systems of enduring colonisation.

In a way it follows a thread from a digital performance hologram (10.7) I made with cinematographer Paradax Period, composer nymity and my non-human collaborator Roby LE in 2021; a meditation on bodies, existences, imaginings. This performance invites people into that environment with just myself and Roby this time as we inhabit the cavern. It’s somewhere between a live set, DJ set and a sonic essay with Roby performing a movement score. It’s maybe a meditation on the sense of void of being in the middle of a space of transition, transmuting, change, in the midst of or as a consequence of oversaturation, overwhelm, something reaching boiling point. And that void feeling eternal or insurmountable as a space of unknown, and wondering if we lean, and even rest into that, what can happen from there.

I’m often trying to make sense of the world, wading through its complex contradictions in deep questions, practising a core set of principles, trying to face things head on in conversations that not many people want to have. And really the most contradictory issues or experiences which seem to mutually exclude each other are all connected by the same system at the root. It’s like a kaleidoscope we can’t see, it’s the same issues just refracted.

Working through sound has opened a space where I’m able to dig deeper and explore new materials, text, in ways where my movement-based performances can’t speak. So this performance is a space in time where some of this practice will surface, where Roby and I will both be exploring new ground. 

Q: What would you want the audience to take from experiencing your work?

A: My performances tend to be meditations, live spaces where I’m in a working practice with collaborators, it might be a site-responsive context or a particular occasion and the audience are invited to witness, to share in the moment, to interpret it as they encounter it on a personal level. It’s up to each audience member what they take away, and that’s important- everyone is invited into a reflective space and is responsible for their own experience.

You can wander in and stay for 2mins, rest and lie down for the hour or come and go. I’m interested in this dance we do in the shifting power dynamics of / within performance, considering the wider systems in play. This may or may not be visible, but it’s always palpable.

And I’m always interested in that tension, I’m not trying to share one message or thing for people to ‘get’, critical conversations for me are about everyone asking questions together. So that’s the invitation, is to join the space while I’m opening the conversations I have with myself, a provocation of some sort, and everyone is invited to have a conversation with themselves. I love when people are generous to share their experiences with me after a performance; it can be minutes or years after, it’s often so different in what emerges.   

Q: What drew you to the Take Me Somewhere Festival?

This work follows a research process through a residency exchange between TMS and the Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg with Christian Noelle Charles, Kaldi Makutike and Thulsile Binda. I’m really grateful for the time we had connecting and being at the Centre, they were really open and generous with whatever I wanted to try. I’ve been connecting in ways with TMS since they started, and having worked with BUZZCUT and starting my arts admin roles in Surge festival in The Arches a way back when, it’s always exciting to contribute to Glasgow’s live art scene.

What’s radical about this work? I don’t know, I don’t label my work as such. It is what it is, I’m doing what I’m doing, you’re welcome to be there and you can decide what it is for you. I don’t know if this work is radical in the ways I’m looking for and looking to people who have and are making radical change in the world. I don’t know if art changes things and why I do it sometimes or if I should continue. I guess in today’s world saying openly that you don’t know something can be a radical thing. 

Q: Is there anything else we should know?

A: Please see access details on the website; I’m excited to work with Ali Gordon for BSL interpretation, we’ve only worked together online before! I’ll maybe record it and stream it sometime. Anyone who finds conventional performance set ups more difficult, I hope will feel very welcome here.

Tickets & more info: takemesomewhere.co.uk/nxsa

NXSA Website: nussatari.works

Header image by: Indigo Korres.

Take Me Somewhere Series #1

LINK TO DANCE ART JOURNAL

On the cutting edge of radical performance, the Take Me Somewhere Festival is back again bringing Glasgow audiences intriguing, exciting works from some of the world’s most ground-breaking performance makers. Kicking off October 13th and lasting through the 28th, the festival is dedicated to making space for audiences to connect with interesting ideas, indulge in innovation and enjoy a myriad of diverse voices such as Louise Ahl’s work Skunk without K is Sun showing the 20th and 21st at Tramway. We caught up with Louise to learn more about her practice and work.

Q: How would you describe your practice/artistic journey?

A: I am a choreographer who works with experimental performance, sound and writing. For the past 6 years I have been working with integrated audio description in various formats. I’m really invested in thinking about ways to make experimental performance more accessible to audiences. It can often feel like quite a niche genre, and particularly for Blind or Visually Impaired audiences there is a challenge in how to describe movement and performance material that perhaps by its nature wants to avoid categorisation and explanation. I am very interested in language and how it can guide audiences through abstract work. In the pandemic I spent a lot of time writing poetry and participating in an opera research programme, so these activities have really informed my new piece. I had an idea that audio description could form the libretto (text) of the opera, resulting in an opera which is accessible to Blind and Visually Impaired people. 

Q: What is your work about and where did you find inspiration?

The work exists as an idea and a structure. It is an opera that describes itself into being. The sung words manifest the space, the set, colours, light, the performer’s movements etc. It challenges the traditional form of storytelling in theatre and opera, and presents an alternative narrative through integrated audio description and immersive scents. The piece evokes imagery which I am hoping the audience will run with in their own direction and create their own stories of what it’s about.

It is a solo piece in three acts, with each act focusing on different things. Act 1 deals with atmosphere. Act 2 investigates human behaviour. Act 3 presents culture & the traces of humanity. 

The piece is inspired by learning about opera and how inaccessible and elitist it is in many different ways, so I wanted to offer something towards opening up of the system in which opera operates. It is also inspired by poetry, linguistics and science fiction, particularly the language concept in the book Amatka by Swedish writer Karin Tidbeck. The work borrows the format of traditional opera works, but presents a skewed version of it. For example, the composer Yas Clarke has worked with what we call a ‘faux baroque’ tonality, which makes some of the music sound a bit baroque, but somehow a bit ‘off’. Similarly, there is a faux baroque dance, which lends stepping sequences and posturing from baroque dances but again here, it is pretty off-kilter. The sound world is made up of my live voice, and a recorded chorus made out of my voice, which is placed in various speakers surrounding the audience, shaping a spatial awareness of the voices.

Other core collaborators include Jo Hellier who has been working with me on the text and performance material, Clara Weale who is a Scent Designer and has created the immersive scents that tells the ‘story’ of the opera through the olfactory sense. Access Consultants Quiplash have been working with us to feedback on the audio description from the start of making the work. Norwegian Artist Anette Gellein has created the costume and set, which consists of giant beautifully painted curtains.

Q: What would you want the audience to take from experiencing your work?

A: I want the format of integrated audio description to make it enjoyable for Blind and Visually Impaired audiences to experience the work. My intention with the work is really to expand on the standard audio description format which is experienced in headphones and to elevate it through this operatic form, using poetic and playful text, which is for the whole audience to enjoy. 

I am hoping to introduce the art form of opera to people who are uninterested in going to the opera. I want the work to simultaneously challenge opera as an art form reluctant to change. 

On an emotional level, I want the audience to experience moments of beauty and a sense of awe, to alleviate and take the pressure off just living in the world we live in. I have really missed moments of beauty in the world so there has been intentional effort towards beauty in the text, in the music, in the visual aspects so I really hope people will enjoy beauty for the sake of beauty, however naive that might sound. Personally I think the work is also quite funny sometimes so from an entertainment perspective, I hope people will have a giggle.

Q: What drew you to the Take Me Somewhere Festival? Or what is radical about this work?

A: I have presented work at Take Me Somewhere in the past and felt like this piece would be a good fit again. The work experiments with form and has a Gesamtkunstwerk quality, presenting itself through many different art forms, even though the main artistic focus is opera. What is radical about the work is probably the use and elevation of the access function of audio description and its fresh perspective on opera. Radicality also lies in the refusal to adopt traditional storytelling within this format and embracing a meta-narrative. The scents form a layer of narrative which is dispersed throughout the performance space at different points in the show. It is a subtle but really important texture in the work, evoking imagery and memory. But ultimately, it is not really for me to say whether the work is radical or not, that’s for the audience to say. The intention was never to make something radical, but something accessible and form-expanding. 

Q: Is there anything else we should know?

There will be touch tours before both shows at Take Me Somewhere which are bookable on their website. The show on the 21st October is BSL interpreted. 

We are currently building a tour of the show for next year so we are hoping that people will come for the shows at Take Me Somewhere and tell their favourite venue to book the show.

Tickets & more info: takemesomewhere.co.uk/louise-ahl

Artist website: louiseahl.com

Take Me Somewhere Series Announcement

I am excited to begin sharing this series of interviews profiling artists sharing their work at the Take Me Somewhere Festival.

I have been conducting interviews with:
Louise Ahl who will be sharing Skunk without K is Sun showing the 20 and 21, October 2023
NXSA discussing Proxy (2.2) that shows Thursday 26 October
and Ashanti Harris bringing her work, Walking with the Ancestors in Joy and Healing, to be performed the 13th through 28th of October

Article 1: https://danceartjournal.com/2023/10/10/take-me-somewhere-series-louise-ahl/
Article 2: https://danceartjournal.com/2023/10/16/take-me-somewhere-series-ashanti-harris/
Article 3: https://danceartjournal.com/2023/10/13/take-me-somewhere-series-nxsa/

Resolution Review #3: THURSDAY 15 JUNE

Link to the full review with Rachel Elderkin’s views to compare.

Andrew Scott A Three Part Drama

Nikita De Martin 3m²

Sanya Malnar x Marianne RaynalB brain(s)

“Andrew Scott’s, A Three Part Drama, takes us through a dramatic loop of love and loss clearly demonstrated in the cyclical repetition of a dynamic, detailed gestural phrase. This is thankfully but inexplicably interrupted by a recitation of a voicemail that points to great feeling without entirely connecting to it. A third section juxtaposes as Scott refreshes the space with a delightfully lighthearted and exaggerated depiction of love. A predictable but satisfying ending comes as the original phrase returns yet again- I only wonder if there’s a way to rebel against the logic to find a more nuanced, perhaps emotional, approach to this cycle that this artist clearly possesses.

The stage is set for 3m² with a scattering of luminescent body castings, rocks and two wooden boards in the centre of the round. Nikita De Martin enters walking through the scene as she speaks cryptically about time, bodies and connection over ASMR sounds. Heavily metaphored, I find myself at times lost in the elements of the work, but the creation of a balance board reinvigorates my interest as De Martin brings real stakes to the performance. The instability strongly evokes the feelings of uprootedness, and I’ll choose to interpret the rest of the elements as the disconnection between body and mind she described.

Shaking things up with a duet, Sanya Malnar and Marianne Raynal perform an atmospheric exploration of ‘existential perception’. I appreciate how the two performers carve their individual experiences within the world they create, to the point where I questioned if they were even in the same world. Eccentric multi-plaid costumes and playful makeup are well-displayed as they pose intensely between punctuated black-outs. An effective motif of body-doubling, literally matching up their body parts, combined with well-placed unison syncs them together in their intentional, committed movement. One question remains: how can you end a piece when the world and the experience keeps on going?”

REVIEW: Chewed Pink & Oluwaseun Olayiwola at Resolution Festival

Reviewing two works at Resolution 2023:
I Can’t Take My Body Off by Chewed Pink
Holehead by Oluwaseun Olayiwola

Excerpt below, full article HERE:

”It must have been fate that brought these two pieces to premiere at The Place’s Resolution festival on the same night of June 8th. Either fate or some really excellent programming. I would have a hard time believing this was just a happy coincidence when these two works mirrored each other so beautifully in their explorations of femininity/masculinity, queerness, tenderness/aggression and intimacy. With their own unique movement styles, the works exist in the same world of wonder and curiosity, leading to a rich contemplation of gender expression made even stronger by their comparison.

Up first, I Can’t Take My Body Off tackles ideas of femininity and asks what our bodies are capable of meaning and how that meaning is built. The piece begins with two bodies carefully approaching each other in silence before entering into a wrestling match. Punctuated by the sounds of their grunts, the two performers wearing frilly, white dresses insert surprising moments of tenderness between the aggressive pulling, twisting and dropping of each other. Two more run in to join them and they begin a series of tableaus, demonstrating scenes of quirky aggression entertaining enough to elicit amused giggles from the audience.

After the last black out transition, the four are left kneeling as “Blue Velvet” comes over the speakers. To the iconic 50s tune describing the singer’s love as an object of desire, the dancers brush their shoulders sensually and bite their fingers while also distorting their bodies in back bending contortions and flopping their limbs around in the transitions. In these moments of fracture the unison of the group breaks, as does the image of the flirtatious girl existing for our gaze (did we build that in our heads or did they?).”

Resolution Review #2: WEDNESDAY 31 MAY

Link with comparison review by Matthew Paluch

Fuse Collective That thing

Maria Masonou InACTION

Naomi Chockler “...If I wanted I could use this time wisely”

”The evening began with That Thing, a solo exploring chronic illness created and performed by Lucy Clark. A projected morphing orb and other visuals by DANI&TING represent the illness in the background while a pre-recorded Clark describes her pain, fear and feelings of invisibility over live music by Philip Kinshuck. Sharing a personal experience requires great bravery and vulnerability, and watching this work, I could appreciate and understand Clark’s well, though I couldn’t engage with it fully. Perhaps in the next iteration, it would be worthwhile to explore a greater range of how vulnerability can be expressed through movement.

InACTION, created and performed by Maria Masonou, is what I would describe as weird in the best way. Ironically quite active, Masanou executes distorted contortions and strange, disconnected moves presented like puzzle pieces, but don’t worry- the answers are hiding just beyond the mattress centre stage left. She starts by sluggishly shifting on the mattress under a soft spotlight, allowing the audience to remember and connect to that state of existing (I admit, I know it well). Text, visuals and shadows are gently introduced before we move swiftly to the extreme with highly physical movement that sort of doesn’t make sense until it does. Between a glass of water, a striking spotlight and a cheeky wave, the piece ends and I can settle in to appreciate this unique offering examining technology and isolation.

In “...If I wanted I could use this time wisely,” choreographer, Naomi Chockler transforms our unavoidable daily commute to a delightful journey juxtaposing abstraction with literal, pedestrian gestures. The performers beautifully commit to the intention of the movement repeating and continuously modifying clear actions like holding onto the pole or nodding off while layering engaging partnering interactions of duets and trios. The music composed by Jonny Aubrey- Bentley supports and builds momentum throughout the work while keeping us grounded with sounds of train tracks and blaring horns. It takes great skill to present a story without a scripted narrative, and it makes me wish I didn’t have to get off at my stop.”

Review: Red Lick by Sunniva Moen Rørvik at Resolution 2023

A new review of a piece at Resolution 2023 at The Place.

“Sunniva Moen Rørvik aka Big Papa Slug (they/them) certainly made a splash at the opening night of Resolution festival at The Place. In the festival focused on supporting the development of new works, specifically “that piece you always wanted to make,” we certainly found a gem with Red Lick. Recognising that this piece may not be for those interested in the stern formality of a classical piece, the comical, unserious playfulness spreads joy to those that choose to enter into this world.

Part 1:

Lights come up and Big Papa Slug is front and centre in white while the other six dancers trail in a V-formation behind them. Staring blankly at the audience to a score of raging dance music, they slowly raise the glasses to their faces with all the intensity they can muster. With glasses finally adorned, Rørvik tears off their track pants before their shirt is ripped off to reveal their chest on full display to the crowd’s cheers and whoops. Already, the world is clear that anything can happen and nothing is off limits in this piece.

Without losing a beat, house lights come up and a pragmatic transition to part 2 takes place: Costume pieces are stricken, four dancers in black take their places and a chair is set as two performers enter holding with a black sheet to hide the chair…

Part 2: 

The four dancers begin what I can only describe as an elevated, sarcastic macarena (there is a clip of it on their Instagram and I will be learning it before my next night out). I have no idea how they are maintaining their straight-faces, especially when the sheet is pulled away to show Rørvik now dressed in a jean skirt and vest with a striking white horseshoe mustache. Now, I must admit I do not understand this reference* or even what they are saying as the song is in Norwegian, but as the audience begins clapping along to show support, I know for sure that lip-syncing can save the world. Rørvik drips with charisma as they enter the theatre to serenade various audience members before returning to the stage for a big finish followed by the luxurious awkwardness as the house lights come up again and the dancers make their way off stage.

*Rørvik clarified this is a reference to Trønderrock band, D.D.E.

Part 3:

The stage is blank and flooded with blue light as a performer enters from the back corner scuttling toward the audience with their face in a cut out of something. As they move closer, I can see the second pair of feet shuffling from behind them to push their face into the cutout of what I now can see is a Pepsi Max can. They continue moving toward the audience taking space in the cut out and pushing the other out (quite literally in ours and each other’s faces) until they reach the audience and give something to one of the spectators. I could not quite make out what this was from my seat, but I would presume some glasses or a soda? Regardless, the roar of laughter was sufficiently entertaining even if I did not get the joke. In accordance with the structure, the performers unceremoniously exit with inelegant bourrees off the stage.”

Link to Full Article: https://danceartjournal.com/2023/05/31/red-lick-by-sunniva-moen-rorvik-a-spectacular-queer-celebration-of-norewegian-pop-culture/

Resolution Review #1: SATURDAY 20 MAY

LINK to full write up with Bruce Marriott’s thoughts to compare.

Amiangelika, Angelina Gorgaeva, Anastasia Vlasova and 1100: ICARUS
Divija Melally: The Skeleton is White
Alex Groves and ZE: Anti/thesis III

”Using elements of contemporary dance, Frame Up (a style of sensual heels dancing originating in Russia), live electronic music and real-time projections, the creative team behind ICARUS creates a dark, thematic rendition of the myth of the man who flew too close to the sun. The ensemble builds from one dancer to many as they join in cool contemporary movement gliding through space and along the floor against the morphing projections. While engaging and visually stimulating, there were times I felt distant to the theme and lost clarity of what was happening amidst the vortex of movement and transforming styles.

In The Skeleton is White, Divija Melally shares a bravely vulnerable perspective on the experiences of racism and its lasting effects on how one moves through the world. The movement influenced by contemporary forms, Indian classical dance and physical theatre supports a deconstructed monologue as Melally repeats and interrupts herself trying to get her stories out. Dumping a basket of white styrofoam balls onto the stage, Melally manifests her feelings into physical expressions of her experiences and uses the objects as props to make sense of the movement we saw earlier in the piece. As the work moves forward, I will be excited to see the creator continue developing the qualities and intentions of the movement to find extremes before her resolution.

Anti/thesis III, the final piece of the night choreographed by ZE and accompanied by the music of Alex Groves, playfully combines a pastiche of Merce Cunningham with contrasting techno and live horn performances against the backdrop of a stripped stage. The performers and choreography feel young but exuberant with shining moments where it all clicks together with dancers traversing through space against the driving techno beats and swirling horns. A final adage adds a lasting moment of juxtaposition before ZE spins with abandon as lights fade to black. In demonstrating these contrasts, I might ask how the work can explore the quality of how the feats are performed to expand the dynamics and find more advanced levels of nuance within the piece.”

Freelancing in the Desert – Being A Dance Artist in 2023

In collaboration with Maxine Flasher-Duzgunes, we conducted research and interviews to put together this piece discussing the realities of working in the dance field at the precarious time of reconstructing post-COVID.

Here is an excerpt with a link to the full article on Dance Art Journal:

“It’s been three years since the dance world went on indefinite hiatus during the Covid-19 Pandemic, a time of fear and uncertainty but also of innovation and resilience. Returning to studios and theatres with various precautions, we tried to get back to normal and pick up where we left off. Some fortunate performers had jobs to return to and others received support being newly welcomed into the field, but there were many artists unable to regain the momentum that was lost in the great pause. These artists were emerging before and are still trying to emerge, but some might wonder if their break will ever come again and if they’ll be able to forge the careers they were looking for.

To get a better understanding of the current state of dance, we created a survey that was completed by 15 dancers, choreographers, and teaching artists between the ages of 25 and 44 working across the US, UK, EU, and Australia. Over half of the artists polled claimed they were not satisfied with their career progression. We also interviewed Tony Award winning producer and dance consultant, Fran Kirmser, whose course Making Dance Your Business helps dancers transition to professional life post-covid and understand the nuances of working in the arts in a capitalist playing field. From these sources, we’ve identified various obstacles facing artists of today and want to start a conversation that may help us better understand our new reality and perhaps find some solutions (or at the very least some hope).”

Resolution Review

Excited to announce that I have been selected to take part in Resolution Review 2023 at The Place. This is a unique opportunity that offers feedback and collaboration with writers including Graham Watts, Bruce Marriott and Josephine Leask. In this, I will be challenged to write thoughtfully and concisely with just 100 words per piece while also publishing the work within the tight deadline of 24 hours.

More info: https://theplace.org.uk/press/resolution-2023-the-uks-biggest-festival-of-new-choreography-returns-to-the-place

New Review on Dance Art Journal: In Her Skin

A new review of Dance film, In Her Skin by Kosta Karakashyan. Check it out!

https://danceartjournal.com/2022/11/15/in-her-skin-by-kosta-karakashyan-review/

New Interview on Dance Art Journal: Monica Tolia

Interviewing interdisciplinary artist, Monica Tolia, about their new work premiering in the round as part of Resolution 2022 at The Place.

https://danceartjournal.com/2022/08/01/monica-tolia-talks-creating-dance-and-their-work-a-snake-in-the-house-means-the-family-will-never-want/

Review: Voxed 'Out Late' Interactive Experience Part of Dance Passion 2022

Read it on Dance Art Journal:

https://danceartjournal.com/2022/03/19/voxed-out-late-review/

Review for Out Late by Voxed Dance Theatre at The Place

Read it on Dance Art Journal

https://danceartjournal.com/2021/11/26/voxed-out-late-review-guest-writers/

Review: 40th Annual Battery Dance Festival of NYC

Last week on the 18th of August, I was fortunate to tune in for a night of the 40th Annual Battery Dance Festival. From the comfort of my own couch, I was able to live-stream the free public event as dancers performed outside at the Robert F. Wagner Park in New York City. With themes of connection and accessibility, this particular program featured works performed in wheelchairs, tap shoes, pointe shoes, and the ever-popular, contemporary dance socks. The show kicked off around sunset with the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty making the evening even more special. Even streaming, you could sense the hope and joy of these performers finally getting to take the stage again and the audience’s excitement to see them do so.

The evening started with an NYC Premiere of Od:ssey choreographed by Marc Brew and performed by the Dancing Wheels Company of Cleveland, Ohio, an integrated company of performers both with and without disabilities. Dancing Wheels made their stage debut this year after joining in the virtual festival last year amidst the pandemic. What caught my eye in this work was the mirroring of movement between the performers in the wheelchairs and those that were not; movement ideas of rolling, gliding, and creative partnering connect the performers and show the best version of inclusion I can imagine. I hope to see more work from this company in the future.

The second work of the evening was Donor choreographed by Will Ervin of Erv Works Dance and performed by Zaki Marshall. This contemporary ballet piece used musicality, classical ballet forms, and contemporary qualities to explore loss, grief, and the space around these emotions. The performer executes gestures of pain, reaching out and bending over, while looking lonesome on the stage; his gaze falls over the audience, but does not engage or connect, emphasizing the loneliness of grief and the distance it creates. Marshall’s technical proficiency shines through with his incredible control and elegant lines. Overall, the piece left me wondering what happened and what might come next in this processing of loss. I found myself on the outside longing for more information, but perhaps that is what makes the experience so interesting. 

The evening takes an energetic upturn as Demi Remick & Dancers enters the stage with a World Premiere of Radio Days, an inspired series of vignettes featuring all the best of tap dancing and the music of classic MGM musicals. The choreography emphasizes character, camp, and kitsch as the three performers act out the songs and move with show girl like presence. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this piece is the clever use of humor; the larger-than-life characters are used to poke fun at the exaggeration in a way that makes us all feel like we are in on the joke. A few songs in you may find yourself thinking, “How are they still going?!” A beautiful moment in a section set to “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” brings the energy down and shows a gentleness not often associated with tap dance. The showmanship of this piece left my heart-warmed and toes tapping, absolutely a highlight of the evening. 

Next up was On the Waterfront, a ballet piece choreographed by Morgan McEwen of Mordance as a tribute to the great Leonard Bernstein. Displaying concepts of music visualization, the cast of eight dancers, four on pointe and four not, was split into four couples. The clearly talented and well-trained performers executed the choreography well with great attention to the music, often times performing their duets in unison or canons. At points, I found myself questioning whether all four duets were necessary in this piece with so much unison. Featured moments of solos or single duets caught my eye as did the large cruse ship that coincidentally became the backdrop midway through the performance. The difficulty of working with a film score is matching the drama of an entire movie with so little time for exposition; perhaps what I was missing was the characterization of the performers and seeing what story they might be telling. 

The Battery Dance Company took the stage next to perform The Liminal Year choreographed by former company member, Robin Cantrell. Cantrell wanted to tell the story of NYC during the pandemic and set the work to music by Alexis Gideon. Slightly predictable in structure, the piece begins with a clump of performers on the stage as each dancer breaks apart from the group for a solo moment before rejoining the group just the same. Another section has the performers shifting their weight between their legs and attempting to balance, an accurate depiction of our attempts to find stability throughout the pandemic. The whole piece nicely physicalizes and abstracts the experience of the pandemic through movement. The music shifts tone as a solo with frantic contemporary movement takes place and then grows tense as an intimate duet with classic contact improvisation principles begins. The ending shows a return to the beginning group motif, breaking into solos again, but now finding happy little bounces and starting a new group that is together in the end signifying comfort, levity, and hope after the pandemic.

The last piece of the evening was Honky Tonk Angels, an NYC Premiere set to the music of Patsy Cline and choreographed by William Byram. The enthusiastic performers execute balletic movement with playfulness, camp, and great expression of their characters and relationships. The choreography presents creative partnering, story-telling, and a sense of humor about everything cowboy with a playful sexuality infused in the piece that coincides well with the casual breaking of gender norms. There is not a moment wasted in the piece and it seems Byram can say so much with very little movement. The dancers never drop their presence and performed with energy that was delightfully electric. A wonderful way to the end the evening on a high. 

After the sun had set and the evening had come to a close, I was struck with how remarkable an achievement this dance festival truly was. Sticking to their mission, they safely and successfully brought together so many dancers, choreographers, and dance-lovers to connect with dance once again. With free admission, $1 workshops, and extended access to the live-streamed recordings, the 40th Annual Battery Dance Festival remains dedicated to their mission of connection while also bringing us all hope for these sorts of accessible festivals in the future.