Talking Moves

Arts Funding in Crisis with Nicholas Hytner and Tarek Iskander

July 25, 2023 13:06 - 46 minutes - 42.9 MB

In this special episode, we talk to two artistic directors about the current funding crisis ravaging our sector. Back in May, when the Greenwich Dance team was having funding applications repeatedly rejected, we were relieved to see renowned theatre director Nicholas Hytner's Guardian article "The arts in Britain are teetering on the brink. Here's my plan to save them". Here at last someone was talking about the dire situation the arts are in and, just as importantly, offering up with idea...

Making Positive Change

July 08, 2022 07:05 - 51 minutes - 47 MB

In this episode, we talk to Valerie Ebuwa and Kwesi Johnson about making positive change. Valerie Ebuwa sets about to ‘make shit happen’. She has written articles about ‘how to grow wings’ and ‘knowing your aesthetic’ and has urged readers of her blog to ‘lead with your strongest foot to ensure a solid journey to the skies’. Kwesi Johnson believes creativity and innovation are the highest uses of intelligence. “It begins as a thought and becomes reality, that is the power of imagination an...

Parenting in the Arts

June 24, 2022 07:02 - 54 minutes - 50.2 MB

In this episode, we talk to Charlotte Vincent and Robert Clark about parenting in the arts. Becoming a parent changes the lives of all who do it, but artists often need to make huge decisions about how they will balance the responsibility of caring alongside a profession that requires touring, weekend and evening work and situations where ‘WFH’ just can’t come into play. So how best to navigate these changes? We start off by finding out what Charlotte and Rob’s dancing lives had look...

Making Accessible Work

June 10, 2022 07:00 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MB

In this episode, we talk to Rosie Heafford and Neus Gil Cortés about making accessible work. Today, there probably isn’t a company or organisation that would say they didn’t want to make accessible work, and yet there are still people excluded from it: be they performers, collaborators or audiences. We talk to two artists about their approaches to making work accessible and get some tips about how we as a sector might do this better. We begin by asking our guests to talk a bit more ab...

Environment and Touring

May 27, 2022 07:01 - 52 minutes - 48 MB

In this episode we talk to Marla King and Adam Benjamin about environmental responsibility. Many of us have long recognised our role in protecting the planet but perhaps the last two years of the pandemic – when we lived in our parks and gardens, saw our skies fill with birdsong and our roads quieten – has unlocked a willingness for more of us to take action. But what does action look like for our sector? We start off by discussing what had changed for us in the past few years, how we ca...

Working Across Genres

May 13, 2022 07:04 - 48 minutes - 44 MB

In this episode, we talk to Harriet Waghorn and Kamala Devam about their experience working across different genres of dance. As dancers we often train in streams of dance genres – often there are expected routes mapped out for us and aesthetics we are expected to achieve. It’s therefore refreshing to find artists whose work transcends those divides, fuses aspects of styles together to make new aesthetics, new vocabulary. What does that mean in terms of training for themselves, as well as ma...

Building Audiences

April 29, 2022 07:15 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MB

In this episode, we talk to Deborah Light and Tom Hobden about building audiences for your work. We make art for people – and if we have no audience, what is the reason for the work? How do we then bring audiences to the work? How do we introduce dance to people who haven’t had an opportunity to discover it? And what do we want of them other than to be spectators? We begin by asking our guests more about their work and the work itself – Deborah making work in Wales with the company Light...

The Role of Dramaturgy

December 10, 2021 07:35 - 56 minutes - 52.2 MB

In this episode, we talk to Karthika Naïr and Eva Martinez about the role of dramaturgy. An artist’s creation space is a rather special place to inhabit. It’s vibrant, exciting, tense sometimes nail-biting. And it always feels to me to be an honour to be there. But by the same token, it comes with much responsibility particularly if you are invited not as an onlooker but as a contributor. One role, increasingly in use within the creation process is the role of the dramaturg. But what exact...

Breaking Through

November 26, 2021 08:06 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MB

In this episode, we talk to Katie Serridge and Nafisah Baba about Breaking Through. This episode was put together at Katie’s request, who took the initiative and emailed us offering to talk about the challenges she has been presented with as a young artist trying to break into an industry that effectively shut down only minutes after her graduation. Nafisah Baba, BBC Young Dancer 2017, joins us to share her observations of the world of work thus far. We start off by discussing how Katie ...

Co-creating with Communities

November 12, 2021 07:42 - 47 minutes - 43.6 MB

In this episode, we talk to Nancy Hirst and Dan Canham about Co-creating with Communities. Building cultural communities is at the heart of Arts Council England’s Let’s Create strategy and for many organisations, this kind of work is at the very heart of what we try to do. But it’s not easy… it takes time, patience, diplomacy and care to do well. And sometimes, the funding and expectations of stakeholders around us, plus perhaps our own over-eager enthusiasm causes us to make mistakes. So ...

Celebrating Diversity with Dance

October 29, 2021 06:44 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MB

In this episode, we talk to Vicki Igbokwe and Shane Shambu about Celebrating Diversity with Dance. The two artists we invited to take part in this episode each make extraordinary, distinct work using an original voice. We ask them about where their work takes its influence, how they have been able to make it, find audiences for it and how free they are to experiment with it. We start off by exploring Vicki and Shane’s beginnings – discovering how they found dance and where and how they l...

Feedback & Criticism

October 15, 2021 06:46 - 55 minutes - 51.1 MB

In this episode, we talk to Isaac Ouro-Gnao and Donald Hutera about the role of Feedback & Criticism. Every artist making work and putting it out there into the world is inviting an opinion of some kind: be that from their immediate collaborators, their performers, the raised eyebrow of a parent or mentor, their audience, or critics. Feedback is so useful to the artistic process, but it’s hard to take at times. And perhaps also, hard to give. In this episode we talk to two artists to find ...

Creating an Identity

October 01, 2021 06:34 - 49 minutes - 45.5 MB

In this episode, we talk to Annie Hanauer and Erion Kruja about Creating an Identity. For many dancers it’s a dream to secure a long term contract within a prestigious dance company, but there comes a time when it just feels right to move on. So what happens when you fly that nest – leaving the safety of a regular wage, daily class, regular performance opportunities and the companionship of like-minded company members? How do you build that support infrastructure for yourself – at the same...

Making Work with Young People

July 09, 2021 06:38 - 48 minutes - 44.3 MB

In this episode we talk to Alesandra Seutin and Temujin Gill about making work with young people. With this series we have been particularly interested in delving into choreographic approaches to different types of work – we have looked at work outdoors, for families, for digital technologies. But what happens when your cast are all under 25? How do choreographers harness that young potential, amplify the stories they want to tell and create work that is relevant to young people of today? ...

Choreographic Approaches

June 25, 2021 07:08 - 58 minutes - 53.3 MB

In this episode we talk to Claire Cunningham and Jorge Crecis about choreographic approaches. The life of a choreographer is a complex one and on this podcast the reliance artists have on portfolio careers has come up in conversation a number of times. So we invited two inspirational and entrepreneurial choreographers to come and talk to us who have both branched out into a myriad of directions and in doing so forged their own unique aesthetic, process and mindset. We begin by discussing...

Creating Dance for Families

June 11, 2021 07:15 - 54 minutes - 49.5 MB

In this episode we talk to Liv Lorent and Arthur Pita about creating dance for families. Once upon a time, dance for children and families was perhaps seen as lightweight, if indeed it was seen at all. But pioneering leaders in the sector, such as Emma Gladstone and her children’s dance festival Offspring at The Place, set about to change that – spotlighting high quality work and the wonderful artists making it – and in doing so raising the status of this magical genre. Liv and Arthur, b...

Digital Dance and Technology

May 28, 2021 07:31 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MB

In this episode we talk to Roswitha Chesher and Alexander Whitley about digital dance and technology. Both started their careers with dance training – film maker and photographer Roswitha Chesher at Trinity Laban and choreographer Alexander Whitley at the Royal Ballet School – but they’ve both moved into exploring dance in different formats – on camera, screen and using digital technology. Whilst it’s true to say that over the past year many of us have been on a crash course when it come...

Making Work for the Outdoors

May 14, 2021 07:38 - 44 minutes - 40.4 MB

In this episode, we talk to Frauke Requardt and Luca Silvestrini about making work for the outdoors. Artists have long been making work to animate places and spaces and there is much for them to consider when they do. The work has to sit within the setting, engage with passersby who perhaps are not expecting, or even asking, to be engaged with. But with the pandemic having closed theatres down for the best part of 2020 and now into 2021, many artists and venues are looking to the outdoors ...

Women and Dance

April 30, 2021 07:14 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MB

In this episode we talk to Avatâra Ayuso and Anna Williams about women and dance. Within an overwhelmingly female profession, it still feels largely led by men particularly in creative and managerial roles. How has this come about and most importantly… what can we do about it? We discuss how being a woman has shaped Avatâra and Anna’s own careers and those of other women they see, we discuss the work both of them are doing through their initiatives and teaching programmes and the mechani...

Leading Off Stage

March 26, 2021 07:39 - 50 minutes - 45.8 MB

In this episode we talk to Cath James and Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE about their transition from stage to management. This particular topic was inspired by a listener, Laura, who got in touch to ask for some support as she sought to make a similar career change. She felt frustrated as she navigated the unfamiliar terminology, high expectations (and low pay) of a sector she knew so well from one angle but less well from another. Did she really, she asked, need to start right back at the be...

Money Matters

March 12, 2021 07:34 - 46 minutes - 43 MB

In this episode we talk to Jeanefer Jean-Charles and Lou Cope about money matters. Money is always an awkward thing to talk about and when what we do is what we love it can feel even harder. But as we navigate our way within a business where we are constantly having to put a price tag on either ourselves – consultancy or advice perhaps – or the artistic work we make, we have to get better at talking about and asking for money. Jeanefer and Lou talk us through the way they think about the...

Connecting With Organisations

February 26, 2021 08:30 - 55 minutes - 50.7 MB

In this episode we talk to Seeta Patel and Wayne Parsons about the relationship between organisation - be they venues, companies, agencies - and artists. Living through a pandemic has highlighted the fragile ecology upon which the performing arts industry is built. The community Freelancers Make Theatre Work, a group of volunteers set up to give freelancers a voice, has published data which says that over a third of the freelance workforce received no support during Covid – making their re...

Measuring Our Impact

February 12, 2021 09:03 - 51 minutes - 46.9 MB

In this episode we talk to Zoie Golding and Anthony Missen about the ways in which artists make a difference and the metrics we measure this by. Inspired by the book, The Art of Relevance, by museum director Nina Simon, Melanie asks her guests why their work matters and to whom. They discuss ‘insiders’ – their loyal curators, artists, audience and participants who ‘get them’. And the 'outsiders' – people who may not know their work is out there and whom they strive to reach. Zoie also refl...

Resilience of Body & Mind

January 29, 2021 09:01 - 41 minutes - 37.5 MB

In this episode we talk to Charlotte Edmonds and Andrew Gardiner about resilience. The government told us recently that dance was not a viable career, and whilst many would strongly dispute that - we probably all acknowledge it’s a difficult, sometimes even punishing choice. So it felt like a good time to check in with some of our dancing workforce to find out how they keep optimum mental and physical health, their tools of self care and how organisations can do better to nurture those who...

Building a Team

January 15, 2021 08:58 - 48 minutes - 44.7 MB

In this episode we talk to Tamsin Fitzgerald and Gary Clarke about the ‘business of dance’ and the way they have built a team of support around them. And of course a business is all about the people….. Gary and Tamsin discuss how it feels to call what they do a business, and what their underlying core values of that business are. We delve into the moment when one became two (or more) and who those first members of their team were. We touch on how they built their wider network of support ...

Creating for a Digital Stage

December 18, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 56.3 MB

In this episode we talk to Rhiannon Faith and Ben Duke about their experiences of conceiving and creating dance films and we ask them, with the benefit of some experience and hindsight, how they are now approaching the use of technology and the digital experience as they conceive their next work. We discuss the uncanny similarity between the themes at the core of Rhiannon’s ready-to-tour show Drowntown and the filmed prologue Drowntown Lockdown she ended up making - and she lets us into a ...

Running a Youth Company in Lockdown

December 04, 2020 09:03 - 44 minutes - 41.1 MB

In this episode we talk to Ingrid Molinos and Tory East about running a youth dance company during a global pandemic. They tell us about the work their companies, Young Amici and Hampshire Youth Dance respectively, would ordinarily do and how this has changed over the course of 2020. We discuss how young people reacted to their cancelled performances and auditions and the ways in which they have adapted, successfully or unsuccessfully, to online dancing… and we delve into the ways they have ...

Dancing Differently

November 20, 2020 08:58 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MB

In this episode we talk to Katie Green and Ivan Blackstock about the ways in which they have been breaking from the conventional and working in exciting new ways… creating new partnerships, new audiences and new platforms for their work. Has their need to challenge the status quo been conscious and deliberate or simply accidental? Ivan talks about his love and admiration for the music, fashion and technology industries and how these have opened his eyes to a new way of being and working, a...

Pivoting Work Online

November 06, 2020 08:53 - 45 minutes - 41.2 MB

In this episode we talk to Sarah Blanc and Mathieu Geffré about the way they approached the task, back in April, of pivoting their touring plans online. They discuss their immediate feelings of desperation and the subsequent "battle to find a new way and new solutions" within new conditions. They talk about the nuts and bolts of involving a community cast during lockdown: building trust and connections through Whatsapp and Zoom. We discuss the choice of title for Mathieu’s lockdown film: T...

The Summer of the Zoom Class

October 23, 2020 08:03 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MB

In this episode we talk to Maria Ghoumrassi and Wendy Steatham about the ways in which they have adapted their teaching to accommodate the need to be online. They discuss their initial fears and approaches, the ways in which they have explored the functionality and played with the format, how they structure their classes: stripping back to fundamental technique or playing with open ended stimuli and the ways in which they have prioritised community and wellbeing. They drill down into some ...

Exhilarating or Exhausting: Staying Creative Through Covid

October 08, 2020 12:27 - 42 minutes - 39 MB

In this episode we talk to John Darvell and Emma Houston about the challenges of staying creative through Covid. Have they relished the opportunity to rethink their work amidst changing social behaviours? Or been weighed down by the pressures of diminished finances and cancelled contracts? Both John and Emma talk about their projects going ‘Pete Tong’ and how they then had to figure out, in the name of self-care, what was important. John talks of his responsibility to his community and the...

Talking Moves: Trailer

September 14, 2020 09:53 - 38 seconds - 597 KB

Greenwich Dance presents Talking Moves, the brand-new podcast where artists come together to share practice, experience and ideas. Designed for dance professionals, we put artists centre stage, upfront, in the spotlight, at the microphone so they can talk about the ideas and issues that move them. Talking Moves is a Greenwich Dance production Hosted and produced by Melanie Precious Produced and edited by Carmel Smith With production and marketing support by Lucy White Talking Move...

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