Subtle Kraft Co.
an inclusive contemporary dance company
As a dance artist I have always wanted to do more with dance on film, so towards the end of 2015 I decided to see if I could make something happen…
The first thing to do was to find another dance artist who I wanted to work with. I am pleased to say that this was not a tricky decision - I have known Andrew Graham for several years now as we both have an association with Candoco Dance Company, Andrew, as a company dancer and me, as Candoco Artist. Despite this, we had never really had much of an opportunity to move together and both of us were curious as to what could happen.
For me, I really wanted this to be a collaboration between us to see what both Andrew and I could bring to this as dance artists, and as people; and then to see what would emerge when you put both of us together in space. We wanted to work with what interested us, what ‘dance desires’ we had and ultimately, to have a good time doing it!
Play and discovery followed as we figured out who we were together and what movement vocabulary we wanted to work with.
How were we meeting each other?
How were we most connected?
How could we fulfil our own and facilitate each other’s ‘dance desires’?
Asking questions of each other and not being frightened to take risks.
We were very fortunate in that we worked with the very talented Anthony Graham and Kristian Craven to create the film. The collaborative process continued as we worked with the filmmakers as it was important to Andrew and I that they too would have creative input and a sense of ownership in the film.
I really value working in this way as you get to learn and experience so much from those who you are working alongside. Everyone has different skills, areas of expertise and their own individual opinions and perceptions. But what is then fascinating is when these individuals come together to create something where they have some fundamental joint understanding, which enables everyone to feel valued, fulfilled by and ‘a part of’ something. This was definitely the case for me with ‘On the Tip of My Tongue’ and I very much hope it was the same for Andrew, Anthony and Kristian too.
We are very proud that ‘On The Tip Of My Tongue’ was shown at Candoco Dance Company’s Friday Late Night Spectacular at The Wellcome Collection (6 May 2016).
It was also shown as part of Tipperary Dance Platform in Ireland and as part of 40NORTH Dance Film Festival in San Diego, USA in October 2016. In 2017, it was shown as part of ‘Inclusion to Partnership’ exhibition in Jerusalem.