For several months I witnessed Motionhouse create their new piece Hidden, I did not only shadow Kevin but I got a deeper understanding into the inner workings via my conversations with Danny and Louise and I was able to shape amazing creative bonds with Emma Cleaver and Rachel Liggit. I found Kevin to be extremely open about his practise and this was really valuable, even though it took some time for me to settle into the fact I was indeed allowed to ask anything about his practise.
To discuss some of the processes at play or as I like to think of them, momentary secrets for the sake of the product, we would have a chat by the piano in the hallway. These also became somewhat of a check-in and a place to ask questions that could influence the dancers in their creative process. Especially at the start of creation, Kevin didn’t want the dancers to just follow his instructions, but he wanted to see what creative new ideas they would come up with, so a different quieter space was indeed helpful. These almost daily check-ins or ‘piano chats’ as they were called were helpful in order to get deeper into the process and Emma and I would occasionally have our own 1-on-1 check-ins with a creative think and talk through, thus piano chats became tradition beyond Leamington.
However the most unexpected outcome of this placement is to realise you don’t have to do everything yourself and you don’t have to reinvent truly everything, you can do it one step at a time, one team member at a time/use the skills other people bring to the team. It can help you with motivation and infuse your practice with the knowledge you are carrying.
It was also unexpected to know truly how much digital artistry was involved and how much technology Motionhouse use in their pieces, even though it wasn’t completely unexpected, I did not expect how much extra it gives you. As someone that values technology I couldn’t help but realise that the inclusion of technology does make it a lot more complicated, and requires a big team and technical backups. I will never forget how important backup systems are.
This project has affected my artistic practise in terms of communication, teamwork, appreciation and conviction. It’s made me more passionate about the arts and know I am ready to go. Through this experience I know I can trust myself and believe in my own qualities as a choreographer. It’s incredible to see Kevin keep perfecting and editing to the day of premiere. As he says: “It’s never too late to improve the show”.
The most valuable part of this experience is that it challenged how I thought was best to create, it provided more framework and it accelerated me forward into my role as an independent choreographer. It’s made me feel more at ease to believe in my own work and given me more ideas of what kind of accessibility I want my work to encompass and include. It has shown me independence and it has created activism for better accessibility on trains as it’s been quite an additional challenge to actually travel for several hours a day as a wheelchair user on inaccessible trains.
I’m looking towards a brighter future and more capacity to create. I am now also teaching dance, creating work with my community, bridging the gap between apprenticeship and my own leadership as a choreographer and disabled artist. I can’t wait to bring more disabled artists on my journey and spread the knowledge I was physically able to access.
Be kind to those that are the future, teach and lift up those that aren’t there yet.