Rosina Bonsu Bursary reflections - Catriona Robertson
In May 2022, The Work Room and Barrowland Ballet jointly awarded the inaugural Rosina Bonsu Bursary Awards to dance artists Catriona Robertson and Clare Adam & Lesley Howard. Named in honour of inspired dance artist, choreographer and educator Rosina Bonsu to mark her incredible legacy and influence on dance in Scotland following her death in 2020; the bursaries were to provide early career dance artists with paid time and support from both organisations, to instigate and develop their own creative projects over 6 months.
The Rosina Bonsu Bursary Awards were delivered as part of Creative Scotland’s Youth Arts Bursaries programme, funded by the Scottish Government to help talented young people, recognising the unique challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here, 2022 recipient Catriona Robertson, a dance artist based in Motherwell who graduated from Trinity Laban in 2020, reflects on her motivations for applying to the award and how the experience has impacted her practice.
Rosina Bonsu Bursary Blog post
The bursary provided many opportunities to develop my practice and allowed me time to find clarity around what I wanted to explore as an artist. At the time of applying, I lacked the experience and confidence to develop my own ideas and felt this opportunity would help me develop the skills required to find work, create my own opportunities and explore creatively. I was supported by The Work Room and Barrowland Ballet to take on challenges I was eager to try out, but had steered away from out of fear and lack of experience, such as creating work with other dancers. I valued the support, time and space it gave me to follow my own creative voice.
The support included being able to continue my training through classes and workshops, which was a relief financially as the expense of training for artists can be a major barrier. I regularly attend Barrowland Pro class, as well as participating in Martha Graham’s Summer Intensive online programme and classes in London while I was visiting.
The bursary gave me the freedom to fail without having any pressure on creating a finished production. The flexibility of the bursary allowed me time to begin working on my own projects and balancing work commitments elsewhere. I found the group meetings with the two organisations and the other bursary holders, particularly beneficial as they often led to different ideas being discussed because of the many voices being involved
I was inspired creatively by attending Aberdeen’s City Live Dance Festival where I was able to meet artists within the dance community and observe beautiful work that had been created in Scotland. This provided a chance to understand the logistics of a dance festival while meeting new people. Making connections with others was a huge part of the bursary, with both The Work Room and Barrowland Ballet introducing us to people we wanted to meet or who they thought would be beneficial to our practice. These are connections which I will continue to stay in touch with and hope may provide job opportunities in the future.
Working with Barrowland Ballet across both their professional and community work allowed me a rare chance to observe the creative processes develop, how each rehearsal brought different challenges and how Aya Kobayashi and Jo Young would approach these. By learning from observing Wolf Pack, participating in workshops from the Work Room and shadowing Natasha in various Barrowland Projects, I felt confident in understanding how to lead a community workshop safely. I have since put this learning into practice, working with Clifftops Intergenerational Dance Company to lead a creative and choreographic exploration workshop.
Through the bursary, I had the chance to work with professional dancers to develop my first duet, having mostly worked on my own since coming out of lockdown. Having this opportunity to develop my choreographic practice highlighted my love for it and a wish to continue this within my career. I was able to practice holding conversations with other artists like videographers and gaining experience in being clear with my vision and understanding how they work and what information they require.
Once the six months had come to an end, I had my own solo travel project planned that went on to be supported by Creative Scotland Open Fund. I believe the bursary helped tremendously in this process as I was not only developing my dance training but also the administrative aspects of being a freelancer. By learning from Jo Wamsley and Nicola Denham at Barrowland Ballet about the many different parts of running a company including the time to go over budgets, risk assessments and funding grants I felt confident to go ahead and begin my own proposal for a project.
It was an honour to have been a part of the bursary and to learn more about Rosina and the work that she loved doing. I am grateful to have had the chance to learn from and develop my relationships with two great organisations. To have several mentors in this stage of my career has provided stability, safety and knowledge that will stay with me, and most importantly having people who believe in your ability is a small act that makes a huge difference.
Featured on the Time to Shine Uncon Website HERE.
