Nobody Diaries – How to dance like a crow

Hello and welcome as we turn to another page in our Nobody Diaries! 

With the premiere just around the corner, we’re giving you a sneak-peek into the world of Nobody and a look at how the crow characters in the show were created. We spoke to our dancers Joel and Olly to get an insight into the way the dancers learned how transform into crows.

What do the crows represent/what was the inspiration behind the crow characters? 

Joel: Our Artistic Director Kevin said the crow characters were created to symbolise the voices in your head. They also represent the voices in the outside world. For example, what we see or hear in the press or on the internet.

Olly: The ‘human’ characters are trying to differentiate between themselves, the ‘crow’ part of themselves and the outside world part. The crows represent what plays on people’s minds or, as Kevin calls them, the ‘evil doubts’.

How did you come up with the movement language for the crows? 

Joel: At the beginning, Kevin wanted us to explore different ways of performing like a crow and how to move in different styles. He then started to pick out the things that he would like to see in the crow sections. He really liked the sharp movements, like how our heads and arms moved. We tried to make sure movements weren’t soft, especially when the crows are standing on something or moving, we have to use quick and sharp gestures to travel around the space.  

Olly: Kevin wanted our arms to be really angular to show the wings. He worked closely with all of us to give directions on the movements on top of what we had already created ourselves. We would move with this sort of body distortion to make it clear when we are the crows vs when we are playing the human characters. 

Take a look at the video below to see how the crows were developed from rehearsal, to bringing them to life on stage…

Come and see the show on tour! Nobody hits theatres in September 2021 so check out our tour dates to see if we’re performing near you!