Talking Moves

In this special episode, we talk to two artistic directors about the current funding crisis ravaging our sector. Back in May, when the Greenwich Dance team was having funding applications repeatedly rejected, we were relieved to see renowned theatre director Nicholas Hytner's Guardian article  "The arts in Britain are teetering on the brink. Here's my plan to save them" . Here at l...

In this episode, we talk to  Valerie Ebuwa  and  Kwesi Johnson  about making positive change. Valerie Ebuwa sets about to ‘make shit happen’. She has written articles about ‘how to grow wings’ and ‘knowing your aesthetic’ and has urged readers of her blog to ‘lead with your strongest foot to ensure a solid journey to the skies’. Kwesi Johnson believes creativity and innovation are the highest uses...

In this episode, we talk to  Charlotte Vincent  and  Robert Clark  about parenting in the arts.    Becoming a parent changes the lives of all who do it, but artists often need to make huge decisions about how they will balance the responsibility of caring alongside a profession that requires touring, weekend and evening work and situations where ‘WFH’ just can’t come into play. So how best to navi...

In this episode, we talk to  Rosie Heafford  and  Neus Gil Cortés  about making accessible work.    Today, there probably isn’t a company or organisation that would say they didn’t want to make accessible work, and yet there are still people excluded from it: be they performers, collaborators or audiences. We talk to two artists about their approaches to making work accessible and get some tips ab...

In this episode we talk to  Marla King  and  Adam Benjamin  about environmental responsibility. Many of us have long recognised our role in protecting the planet but perhaps the last two years of the pandemic – when we lived in our parks and gardens, saw our skies fill with birdsong and our roads quieten – has unlocked a willingness for more of us to take action. But what does action look like for...

In this episode, we talk to  Harriet Waghorn  and  Kamala Devam  about their experience working across different genres of dance. As dancers we often train in streams of dance genres – often there are expected routes mapped out for us and aesthetics we are expected to achieve. It’s therefore refreshing to find artists whose work transcends those divides, fuses aspects of styles together to make ne...

In this episode, we talk to  Deborah Light  and  Tom Hobden  about building audiences for your work. We make art for people – and if we have no audience, what is the reason for the work? How do we then bring audiences to the work? How do we introduce dance to people who haven’t had an opportunity to discover it? And what do we want of them other than to be spectators? We begin by asking our guests...

In this episode, we talk to  Karthika Naïr  and  Eva Martinez  about the role of dramaturgy. An artist’s creation space is a rather special place to inhabit. It’s vibrant, exciting, tense sometimes nail-biting. And it always feels to me to be an honour to be there. But by the same token, it comes with much responsibility particularly if you are invited not as an onlooker but as a contributor. One...

In this episode, we talk to  Katie Serridge  and  Nafisah Baba  about Breaking Through. This episode was put together at Katie’s request, who took the initiative and emailed us offering to talk about the challenges she has been presented with as a young artist trying to break into an industry that effectively shut down only minutes after her graduation. Nafisah Baba, BBC Young Dancer 2017, joins u...

In this episode, we talk to  Nancy Hirst  and  Dan Canham  about Co-creating with Communities. Building cultural communities is at the heart of Arts Council England’s Let’s Create strategy and for many organisations, this kind of work is at the very heart of what we try to do. But it’s not easy… it takes time, patience, diplomacy and care to do well. And sometimes, the funding and expectations of...

In this episode, we talk to  Vicki Igbokwe  and  Shane Shambu  about Celebrating Diversity with Dance. The two artists we invited to take part in this episode each make extraordinary, distinct work using an original voice. We ask them about where their work takes its influence, how they have been able to make it, find audiences for it and how free they are to experiment with it. We start off by ex...

In this episode, we talk to  Isaac Ouro-Gnao  and  Donald Hutera  about the role of Feedback & Criticism. Every artist making work and putting it out there into the world is inviting an opinion of some kind: be that from their immediate collaborators, their performers, the raised eyebrow of a parent or mentor, their audience, or critics. Feedback is so useful to the artistic process, but it’s...

In this episode, we talk to  Annie Hanauer  and  Erion Kruja  about Creating an Identity. For many dancers it’s a dream to secure a long term contract within a prestigious dance company, but there comes a time when it just feels right to move on. So what happens when you fly that nest – leaving the safety of a regular wage, daily class, regular performance opportunities and the companionship of li...

In this episode we talk to  Alesandra Seutin  and  Temujin Gill  about making work with young people. With this series we have been particularly interested in delving into choreographic approaches to different types of work – we have looked at work outdoors, for families, for digital technologies. But what happens when your cast are all under 25? How do choreographers harness that young potential,...

In this episode we talk to  Claire Cunningham  and  Jorge Crecis  about choreographic approaches. The life of a choreographer is a complex one and on this podcast the reliance artists have on portfolio careers has come up in conversation a number of times. So we invited two inspirational and entrepreneurial choreographers to come and talk to us who have both branched out into a myriad of direction...

In this episode we talk to  Liv Lorent  and  Arthur Pita  about creating dance for families. Once upon a time, dance for children and families was perhaps seen as lightweight, if indeed it was seen at all. But pioneering leaders in the sector, such as Emma Gladstone and her children’s dance festival Offspring at The Place, set about to change that – spotlighting high quality work and the wonderful...

In this episode we talk to  Roswitha Chesher  and  Alexander Whitley  about digital dance and technology. Both started their careers with dance training – film maker and photographer Roswitha Chesher at Trinity Laban and choreographer Alexander Whitley at the Royal Ballet School – but they’ve both moved into exploring dance in different formats – on camera, screen and using digital technology. Whi...

In this episode, we talk to  Frauke Requardt  and  Luca Silvestrini  about making work for the outdoors. Artists have long been making work to animate places and spaces and there is much for them to consider when they do. The work has to sit within the setting, engage with passersby who perhaps are not expecting, or even asking, to be engaged with. But with the pandemic having closed theatres down...

In this episode we talk to  Avatâra Ayuso  and  Anna Williams  about women and dance. Within an overwhelmingly female profession, it still feels largely led by men particularly in creative and managerial roles. How has this come about and most importantly… what can we do about it? We discuss how being a woman has shaped Avatâra and Anna’s own careers and those of other women they see, we discuss t...

In this episode we talk to  Cath James  and  Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE about their transition from stage to management. This particular topic was inspired by a listener, Laura, who got in touch to ask for some support as she sought to make a similar career change. She felt frustrated as she navigated the unfamiliar terminology, high expectations (and low pay) of a sector she knew so well from on...

In this episode we talk to  Jeanefer Jean-Charles  and  Lou Cope about money matters. Money is always an awkward thing to talk about and when what we do is what we love it can feel even harder. But as we navigate our way within a business where we are constantly having to put a price tag on either ourselves – consultancy or advice perhaps – or the artistic work we make, we have to get better at ta...

In this episode we talk to  Seeta Patel  and  Wayne Parsons about the relationship between organisation - be they venues, companies, agencies - and artists. Living through a pandemic has highlighted the fragile ecology upon which the performing arts industry is built. The community Freelancers Make Theatre Work, a group of volunteers set up to give freelancers a voice, has published data which say...

In this episode we talk to  Zoie Golding  and  Anthony Missen about the ways in which artists make a difference and the metrics we measure this by. Inspired by the book, The Art of Relevance, by museum director Nina Simon, Melanie asks her guests why their work matters and to whom. They discuss ‘insiders’ – their loyal curators, artists, audience and participants who ‘get them’. And the 'outsi...

In this episode we talk to  Charlotte Edmonds  and  Andrew Gardiner  about resilience. The government told us recently that dance was not a viable career, and whilst many would strongly dispute that - we probably all acknowledge it’s a difficult, sometimes even punishing choice. So it felt like a good time to check in with some of our dancing workforce to find out how they keep optimum mental and...

In this episode we talk to Tamsin Fitzgerald and Gary Clarke about the ‘business of dance’ and the way they have built a team of support around them. And of course a business is all about the people….. Gary and Tamsin discuss how it feels to call what they do a business, and what their underlying core values of that business are. We delve into the moment when one became two (or more) and who those...