Dance Artist, Weston Jerwood Creative Fellowship: My first month
My first month working at The Work Room and Tramway has flown in! I have done so much in such a short space of time, and I am so grateful to have this opportunity to work at both establishments – it still feels a bit like a dream (come true).
My first month has been a busy one. I have not only been involved in projects and learning new things, but I have been given the time to work on myself and develop my creative practice, which any artist will know is an absolute blessing. It has been great to be able to get back to my dancing body after lockdown and having a baby and I have been able to participate in pro classes to help me with this with Barrowland Ballet, Dance Base and Rambert outside and online.
The Work Room are such an amazing organisation and I keep learning more and more about all the things they are doing, they really care about artists, the industry, and representing everyone in it. I am always very inspired to hear about all the projects they have coming up and things they have done previously.
I have been given so many new experiences that I would not have been able to get without this job, for example I assisted and participated in One Dance UK’s artists photo shoot and met and assisted producers from Tramway learning new things along the way.
I have got to be involved in team meetings with both TWR and Tramway as well as meetings with Scottish Dance Theatre, Dance Network Scotland and Tanzburo Munich.
Being involved with the Weston Jerwood organisation is also a brilliant learning experience as well as support system. The Jerwood Fellows group they have created means artists from all disciplines, producers, graphic designers, digital content creators, theatre directors, to name a few can all come together at the same stage in our careers and speak about our roles, network and talk about the wider issues within the creative industries. It is great to make these connections and know we are all there for each other. We are also starting to work on personal development with people make it work and I am really looking forward to this.
I am currently choreographing and dancing for artist David Banks and film maker Johnstone Macpherson-Stewart on their project Traffic Light Cabaret as well as choreographing, dancing and delivering workshops for film director and writer Etienne Kubwabo in Beats of War, both projects are part of Tramway’s Beyond Walls.
I have been so lucky to also be able to watch artist talks and see works from festivals Serendipity - Let’s Dance International Frontiers and Tramway’s Take me Somewhere including Jazz Bop Theatre Company, Yinki Esi Graves, Maya Taylor, Cade and MacASKILL, Hanna Tuulikki, Claricia Parinussi, Lucy Suggate, Quebec Focus, Mel Broomes, Peter McMaster in collaboration with Tim Etchells, Sarah Wendt with Pascal Dufaux. I still have more to watch and I am also starting to view works from Imaginate – Edinburgh International Children’s Festival.
Anita, Sara and Laura at The Work Room have been so supportive and have helped me settle in really well. They continue to give me opportunities and help me with them and always check in with me. I am still able to run my dance school and teach in education as well as take on new projects as they come up – most recently I have been working with All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre Company.
With both TWR and Tramway my ideas are taken into account and used, and I feel valued which is helping to build my confidence and also helping me grow as an artist. Roll on month two!
