Get to know the cast and creatives of the
explosive new dance piece premiering at the Hawthorne Theatre.
ALICIA PATTISON, MIRANDA MacLETTEN,
RACQUEL GAVIRIA, JAMES WILLIAMS, BRENDON HANSFORD – The Company + ADAM TOWNDROW
– The Producer + ANNIE-LUNNETTE DEAKIN-FOSTER (Choreographer)
How
important are your Hertfordshire roots as a company and is this reflected in
your work at all?
Alicia: As a company, our
Hertfordshire roots are very important to us. Most of the dancers in the
company are not native to London or Hertfordshire, but the support and welcome
we have received throughout the creative process has really helped!
Miranda: While rehearsing the work the
local community has been very supportive. The kindness of the people from St
Francis Of Assisi has been overwhelming. Without the use of their church we
would be unable to rehearse with the set which has a massive impact on the
production.
Racquel: Well as one of the directors
is from Hertfordshire it's really important to get involved with the community
and share our work with the people of Hertfordshire. To give something back to
the town especially as we do a lot of education projects within the schools in
the area it's great to perform for them and show them what we do best.
Brendon: Extremely, I run a dance
studio in Welwyn garden city and feel really privileged to be dancing with a
company so close to my base.
Adam: For me they are very
important. Here in Herts there is a real
sense of tradition, ambition and acceptance.
Supporting innovative ways to create and produce new creative ideas,
which is very inspiring. As an ex-choir boy of St Francis Church, worker at
Comet and Tesco in Hatfield, work experience at John Lewis, AND went to Applecroft
and Chancellor’s School, my roots are very deep. To be able to create and produce a show with
the Hawthorne Theatre means a great deal to me.
Annie-Lunette: It is amazing to finally get
the chance to present our professional work in Adam Towndrow’s (company
co-founder) home town. After nearly 8 years, it has been a true ambition of
ours to create a full length work, and to perform in the Hertfordshire region.
To be supported by the Hawthorne Theatre is an honour, and this truly feels
like a work that has been developed and grown in Hertfordshire.
Libraries,
eh? What’s the strangest / most unusual thing to happen to you in a Library?
Miranda: When I was 10 my best friend
and I went to a new school. On our first day my friend, who always had his head
in books and was particularly well read for his age, walked straight in to the
library and, in his 10 year old voice, knocked the librarian for six when he
asked for a book on quantum physics. This story went down in history with our
families. His bond with the library grew and grew and now he is a barrister.
Alicia: I have always loved libraries! I find them really comforting and
they’re not the usual places you experience weird and wonderful things, but I
did perform in a flashmob in a library once!
Which was obviously great fun and received very mixed responses! I have also fallen asleep many a time in
libraries…Sometimes for hours!
Racquel
: The
strangest thing that's happened to me in a library is I was working at one of
the computers in my local library at the time. When someone came past and put a
note on my table. They didn't stop they walked on by and when I read the note
it said how beautiful they thought my eyes were and then gave me their name and
number.....you could say this was the start of a romantic love story, like the
piece....however I thought at the time, being cautious of any man, that it was
weird and did not call the number! ;)
Adam: I’d have to say, in the
Welwyn Garden City library, before the refit, probably in the late 90’s, I was
about 12, I tried to jump the last 7 or 8 last steps. I miscalculated the steps and ended up
tumbling down the last few steps, I was in so much pain and so embarrassed, but
I looked up to see a scary librarian, and despite watching me falling down the
stairs, told me I was making too much noise!!
Annie-Lunette: I went to my local library
once to take out a book, and I found out it was closed when I got there. There
was a Librarian locked inside, who couldn’t get out, with the electricity
turned off so they couldn’t call out. I had to call the emergency number on the
door and was like “please help, someone’s locked inside the library!”
What
made you interested in dance?
Miranda: I could never could sit still as a child, my feet keep on dancing even
when I’m sleeping. It drives my partner mad.
Alicia: I was a late starter. I was such
a tomboy when I was younger and had no interest in ballet or jazz etc, but I
was then introduced to contemporary dance and dance theatre by Lancashire based
dance company, Ludus, and I caught the bug.
I’ve
been dancing contemporary ever since!
Racquel: I started ballet when I was 4
because one of my friends was doing it. I need up loving it and was hooked ever
since. Since going to ballet school at 16-19 I did a lot of Contemporary and
loved it too. The movement is beautiful and you can feel so free dancing to
great music.
James:
I grew up in
a family full of music teachers surrounded my music and creative minds, this
drove me to love the arts and eventually to follow a drama path once I left
school, however the acting failed to hold my interest as I was drawn to the
dance course that ran in parallel with drama and from there on I chose to
specialize in contemporary dance, whilst dipping my toe into many other styles
of movement along the way.
Brendon: Honestly... I started dancing
to meet girls!
Adam: I was dating a dating a dancer, who got me into dance!
Annie-Lunette: My sister, who encouraged me
to be creative and dance at Christmas parties. I was always creating dances at
school, and fell into it academically later at secondary school.
What
one piece of advice do you wish someone had given you when you started out in
dance professionally?
Miranda:
Dance school
teaches you to how to dance but not how to survive as a dancer. After
graduation you expect to be paid for you skills straight away. I wish someone
had pulled me aside and said not to be ashamed to do things for free after
graduating because they build relationships with companies off ten leading to
repeated paid work.
Alicia: Be yourself. This is a tough
lesson I have learnt since beginning my professional career! Countless times I have been to class or
auditions and aspired to be or emulate how another dancer performs or
choreographs. It is so important to be
yourself and remember that there are other dancers/choreographers who enjoy and
look up to your own style. Replicating
someone else will never benefit you as a performer! Although it is important to discover and
practice new styles and techniques of dance, it is important to have confidence
in your own ability is crucial to your own professional development.
Racquel: I wish I was taught more about business. Essentially
when you become a dancer you are your own business and I wish I viewed it like
that more from the beginning of my career. I was always told it was about how
good you are, but as you get to know the business like anything, it's who you
know and how good you are at promoting yourself. Of course you have to be good,
but hopefully if you are going into this tough profession that's a given.
James: There are many things I wish
I had been told, finding one crucial piece of advice is nearly impossible. I
have found that part of being a dancer is finding your own struggles and deal
with them in a way that keeps yourself and your Employer sain and on good
terms, the arts industry is full of personalities and a huge part of your job
is to navigate them and find your place amongst them.
Brendon: Get thick skin very quickly
as it is a very hard industry which is full of rejection. BUT when you finally
start getting work, it's the best feeling in the world.
Adam: Look after your body, learn
as many additional skills as possible, be punctual and enthusiastic at ALL
times!
Annie-Lunnette: Keep active, go to as MANY auditions as possible, and NEVER give up.
JAMIE
SALISBURY - Composer
Libraries
are usually all about silence. How did this affect your approach to writing the
music for Shhh!?
Libraries are never really silent. There’s
a background hum, and various noises which if you choose to, you can hear as
music – books being moved, pages turning, electronic sounds, pencils
scratching, creaking chairs and sounds of whispering for instance. All of these
are sounds I’ve incorporated into this score in a musical way.
Which
comes first, the music or the dance? And how closely do you have to work with
the choreographer and the dancers to create the music for a dance piece?
In this case the music was written first.
The overall scene by scene narrative was created by Annie, but I had freedom
within each scene to let the music lead the way which was fantastic – I often
write for film, TV, games or advertising, and that usually involves following the
action very closely, or sticking tightly to a predetermined brief and not
allowing the music to follow it’s own course. Writing for dance was great fun
and very liberating.
There
are several forms of dance in this piece – classical, street, even parkour. How
does your music reflect these different forms or does it not matter?
All that mattered was that I knew that
whatever I threw into this score, the choreographer and dancers would have the
freedom and skill to make it work, whatever the genre. I’ve bounced around from
classical minimalism to dubstep, rock, trip-hop, ambient, jazz, and more – in
fact at one point you can enjoy a mix of baroque, jazz, rock and dubstep all
simultaneously, which was a fun challenge and something to listen out for if you
come to see the show! I’m an eclectic composer and it was great having the
opportunity to explore so many styles in one piece.
Performance of this explosive dance premiers on Thursday 2 May and runs through to Saturday 4 May 2013.
Performance of this explosive dance premiers on Thursday 2 May and runs through to Saturday 4 May 2013.
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