Out of the studio

We had a rich and intensive day last Sunday at Northampton University, that gave me many new ideas of how to develop the work. I taught a workshop for Northants Dance and saw a performance of "Counting Piece", a short silent work for 8 dancers that I have created this summer with the student's company Playgrounds, which is directed by Matt Gough. What I really enjoyed about the seeing the students perform was their commitment to the materials and to the spirit of a group piece, which has a quite different feel to the more intimate trio we are making. Then we presented our work in progress followed by a talk. I decided to present a lot more material than before and some of it was still very raw. Vida Midgelow, who is a reader for dance and performance at the university, led the session. What are the most memorable moments after watching the two pieces? How would you describe the works if they were not a dance piece but something else? What is the performance quality of the work? Why did you decide to work with live music? The stillness and movement of the accordion was one thing that was picked up by the audience, how to capture it in a satisfying way?

Photos by Zoe Plummer