INTERVIEWS WITH IMPROVISERS
The audio cast series where I have conversations with improvisers working across performing and interdisciplinary arts. You’ll hear me talking to dance and theatre artists as well as those arts practitioners who are working with improvisation more broadly. The first series stems from my interest in the relationship between voicing and dancing. My research to date has explored that dynamic in the context of dance or movement-based improvisation. Rather than refusing the voice in dance, I like to think of ‘re-fusing’ voicing and dancing so that they mesh together as part of a tightly knit endeavour.
Series 1 (2023)
Episode 1: Seke Chimutengwende (52m 51s)
Photo: Hugo Glendinning
Seke (he/him) is a choreographer, performer, movement director and teacher. He is currently working as a performer with Forced Entertainment and teaching improvisation and choreography at London Contemporary Dance School. His recent group choreography It begins in darkness exploring haunting and colonial legacies premiered in 2022 and will be touring again in 2023/24. Seke has been practicing completely improvised performance, using movement and text, since 2006. He has performed over 70 solo improvisations internationally and has performed ensemble improvisation with numerous dancers, actors and musicians. He is currently exploring long solo improvisation performances of 50 to 60 minutes. Website: www.sekechimutengwende.com
Episode 2: Eleanor Sikorski – (50m 28s)
Photo: Hugo Glendinning
Eleanor (she/her) (b. London 1988) is a dancer, choreographer and filmmaker based in Leeds, UK. Her choreographic work explores moving bodies in relation to objects, language and sound. With her partner, dancer Lewys Holt, she co-hosts Roadhouse, a bi-monthly evening of improvised dance in Leeds, cultivating the local improvisation scene with regular performances and open practice sessions. They also tour nationwide, combining dance and voice in unique, improvised performances. Eleanor has worked as a dancer for artists including Eva Recacha, Seke Chimutengwende and Igor & Moreno, and since 2015 she has been part of the dancer-led project Nora, inviting choreographers to make new work for them to perform, most recently Eleanor Bauer and Deborah Hay. As a filmmaker she has worked with artists Frances Morgan, Kyra Norman and Sue MacLaine. Other activities include working as rehearsal director for dance company perfectly serviceable, lecturing part time at Northern School of Contemporary Dance and self-publishing mini comics. Website: www.eleanorsikorski.com
Episode 3: Théïa Maldoom – (39m 57s)
Théïa (she/her) is a dance artist and improviser. Currently, she is interested in asking; What does it mean to be a dancer? What is improvisation? Gravitating towards multidisciplinary practices that center the body with a sensitivity to the senses, imagination, memory and desire. Important threads in Théïa’s thinking are; care, collectivity and expansive understanding of who we are and can be. Théïa is British Armenian and lives in London. She started dancing young and then studied at The BRIT School and graduated from London Contemporary Dance School in 2020. Website: www.theiamaldoom.co.uk
Episode 4: Lewys Holt – (49m 20s)
Photo: Liam Keown
Lewys (they/them) is an interdisciplinary dance artist based in Leeds. They work as a dancer, choreographer and curates Roadhouse with Eleanor Sikorski. Born in Mold in North Wales and raised in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Lewys studied dance at De Montfort University (2010-14). Their practice, while focusing on dance, spans comedy and devised theatre. They make work that centres the performer as an empowered individual, showcasing their personality and vulnerabilities. They make score based choreographies, which combine improvisation with subtle wit and formal experimentation that push the boundaries of disciplines to make innovative performances. They have worked as a dancer with New Art Club, Simone Mousset, Tino Sehgal, Rosemary Lee and Christopher Owen among others. Website: www.lewysholt.com
Episode 5: Bethany Edwards – (47m 57s)
Photo: Gaby Conn
Bethany (she/her) is a dance artist whose work spans performance, devising, improvisation and creative facilitation. She is a founding member of The Band That Dances (fka The Yonis), a non-hierarchical pop-punk band working as a collective. Their debut album ‘Headliner’, a comedic riot grrrl witchy extravaganza, toured the UK and Europe in 2022. Bethany has worked with choreographers including Becky Namgauds, Tim Casson, Tess Letham and Hannes Langolf. She regularly performs improvisation both solo and ensemble with groups Collective Endeavours and Something Smashing. She has performed across the UK and Europe in contexts such as night clubs, galleries, stately homes, and theatres. She teaches floorwork and improvisation with diverse groups of professional and community dancers.
Episode 6: Amaara Raheem – (41m 42s)
Amaara’s (she/her) practice of choreography and performance is deeply shaped by her history of migration and multiple belongings to place. Her work also crosses disciplinary borders and occurs in multiple modes: choreography, performance, improvisation, text, video, sound, documentation and collaboration. In 2022 Amaara was selected for ABC Top 5 – a media residency with Radio National – to voice her ongoing research on artists in-residence, to wider audiences. In 2023 Amaara was awarded the Frank Van Straten Fellowship to work with the performing arts archives held at the Arts Centre Melbourne. Website: www.amaararaheem.net
Credits
Hosted and Produced by Robert Vesty
Music by Astro Jose
Supported by Middlesex University
