Lindsay Kemp Residency at Dance Base.

Last month I was warmly welcomed into my new city of Edinburgh (woohoo!) and was selected to take part in a week-long residency with the seminal artist, Lindsay Kemp and his wonderful company dancer, Daniela Maccari.

Lindsay’s fascinating career as an actor, choreographer, mime artist and dancer seen him influence artists such as David Bowie, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Mia Farrow and despite still regularly performing in his home of Italy, Lindsay has barely worked in the UK for the past 15 years. This was, therefore, a very unique opportunity to work with such a pioneering artist.

Along with ten other Scotland based dance artists, we spent the week training, learning and developing choreographies and rehearsing in preparation for the end of week Showcase at Dance Base as part of Illuminate Festival.

Whilst staging, orders of choreographies and timings would often change from one hour to the next, Lindsay’s absolute dedication was to release our presence as performers and push us to commit every part of our being to the performance. Every minute detail of our rehearsal was interrogated and the stage was referred to as “holy ground”. A simple raise of our arm was invested in, celebrated as joy of movement and our interaction with each other and the audience was taught to be at once completely devoted and genuine.

This training throughout the week made the sold out Showcase an electric and emotional space for me, particularly as I have not performed in a theatre environment for over five years.  Lindsay and Daniela’s teachings were at times difficult to feel connected with in the studio, yet with an audience, it all made complete sense.

It was a true honour to have worked with such a legend and this experience has absolutely encouraged me to return to live performance more often and become a better seducer, hypnotist, hero and light-giver…

For you. For you. For you!