Episode 13 - The Drum 'n' Bass Aerobics Experience, with Emma Smallman

This week we kick off a new run of episodes where we hand the guest chair over to the artists coming to Venue 13 this August. First up is the brilliant Emma Smallman, founder of Drum n Bounce and the mind behind The Drum & Bass Aerobics Experience, which lands at Venue 13 for its first-ever Fringe run.Emma paints the picture of what a 10:30am drum & bass aerobics class actually is — the "joy bubble," the collective experience, and why moving your body with a room full of strangers might be exactly the reset the Fringe marathon needs. No pressure to get the moves right; the only rule is that you move and have fun.We trace the origin story back to a Friday night in 2012, a bit of drum & bass and some aerobics moves that turned into a Eureka moment, through the first classes in Birmingham and a breakthrough at Shambala, to nearly fourteen years of opening main stages from the Commonwealth Games to the Eurovision Fan Zone. Emma also talks about the wider mission underneath it all—her work as DJ Sister Smalls, her radio show, and her trauma-informed yoga in prisons, probation hostels and recovery settings—and how accessibility and wellbeing tie every one of those hats together. It fits neatly with what we're trying to build at Venue 13: a space that's about community and wellbeing, not just theatre.