DOWNTIME - interviews with dance artists & arts leaders, talking about dance & the arts

Lloyd Newson OBE is a director, dancer and choreographer. He formed DV8 Physical Theatre in 1986, and the company went on to tour across the world for decades, winning 55 national and international awards including the Prix Italia, Rose d'Or and an International Emmy Award.Shows include:, the hard hitting, physically combative, politically charged My Sex; Our Dance, Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men; poetic pieces with more of a  sense of narrative and/or design - Strange Fish, Enter Achilles and The Cost of Living; and the later shows where Lloyd combined his physical languages with verbatim text - To Be Straight With You, Can We Talk About This and John.Lloyd retired in 2022 and DV8 was closed down. Some of  the work is archived through Digital Theatre and the company archives are now part of the Theatre Collection at Bristol University.  Lloyd and Lou spoke late in 2022 about the journey of DV8’s work, the rage and sense of injustice that drove him, whether dance can bring about social change, and how Lloyd strove to make work that ‘did what it said on the tin’. He also spoke about what he looked for in a dancer, how it wasn’t till the end of his career that he understood the support he needed in the studio, the burnout that led to him to retire in 2022 and the pleasures he is finding in life now – fishing and spending time with family and friends. 

Lou talked with Italian choreographer and performer Silvia Gibraudi, sometimes referred to as ‘the prophet of the free body’, in December 2022.Silvia talked about her journey of trying to find joy and grace, and bring them to people’s lives, to theatres and to people in the street. She explained how her show Graces explores questions like ‘what is beauty?’ and ‘what does it mean to be perfect?’ in a playful, pleasurable but political way, by placing Silvia, her clown-like character and her ‘curved body’ alongside the bodies of young male virtuosic dancers.They spoke of clowning and the importance of having no fourth wall, of shame, of the joys of working with older and younger dancers, and of how, in her next show, Silvia will be exploring how to bring the inclusive feeling of a fete in a square to her audiences.Silvia also explained how in some ways she is tired of these conversations about the body, but that it seems there is still a need for it to be addressed, so address it she shall!Silvia Gribaudi is an Italian choreographer who also specialises in performing arts in general.Since 2004 she has focused her research on the social impact of bodies, having set at the centre of her choreographic language the comic element and the relationship between audience and performers.Award-winner of the Premio Giovane Danza D’Autore with her piece “A CORPO LIBERO”(2009), finalist at the Premio UBU for best dance show and finalist at the Premio Rete Critica award with R.OSA (2017), winner of the Premio CollaborAction#4 2018-2019, finalist at the Premio Rete Critica 2019, winner of the Premio DANZA&DANZA 2019 for best Italian production with the piece GRACES and Premio Histryo Corpo a Corpo 2021.She has taken part in several artistic research projects, including:CHOREOROAM (2011), TRIPTYCH (2013), ACT YOUR AGE (2014) – an EU project about active ageing through the art of dance, which inspired the performance WHAT AGE ARE YOU ACTING?, as well as the community project OVER 60; PERFORMING GENDER (2015); CORPO LINKS CLUSTER (2019/2020), where the connection of dance, the mountains, and the mountain community gave life to the site specific project TREKKING COREOGRAFICO (choreographic trekking) and to the piece MONJOUR (2021), produced by Torinodanza Festival in collaboration with Teatro Stabile del Veneto and Brussels’s Les Halles de Schaerbeek.In 2021 she has been a guest choreographer at “Danser Encore, 30 solos pour 30 danseurs”, a project for the Opéra de Lyon and in June 2023 her new production will be premiered: WHERE DOES A BALLET END? (provisional title) a coproduction by MM Contemporary Dance Company (IT), La Biennale de Lyon (FR), Théâtre de la Ville (FR), Rum för Dans (SE), Torinodanza Festival (IT), International Dance Festival TANEC PRAHA (CZ), Zodiak – Side Step Festival (FIN) and the international network Big Pulse Dance Alliance.Her shows have been featured in a number of national and international festivals and are the result of a creative process that focuses on dialogue and on the poetic encounter with other artists, dance companies, and communities.

Lou talked with Movement Directors Ayse Tashkiran and Ingrid Mackinnon about how they approach the key relationships at the heart of their work - namely directors, individual and groups of actors and other collaborators; how they try to identify and develop the ‘feeling’ or ‘colour’ of a production and how they move between leading and observing.They also shared their thoughts on how to ask for time to do the work they need to do, the practicalities that surround how often they are in the space, the visions they have for the role of movement direction in the future, and how important (and sometimes difficult) it is to bring one’s authentic self to work every day – no matter the context.As someone who works  mainly in dance, but whose background is in theatre, Lou has always been fascinated by those who crossed the line in the other direction – bringing movement training to theatre. Like dramaturgs, movement directors choose to work in the murky shade – rarely needing or getting public recognition for their work, but nevertheless being thoroughly committed to the development of the craft, the art form and the artists they work with. And of course, we are all engaged in thinking about the dramaturgy of movement. Ayse Tashkiran is a movement director, teacher and researcher in the field of movement in theatre. Her work aims to free and empower the actor through motion,  imagination and emotion.  She act as an advocate for the field of movement direction and create links between directors, actors and movement directors.   Ayse has been at the helm of the MA MFA Movement: Directing and Teaching - at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama since 2004. She is an Associate Artist at the RSC (having worked on As You Like It, The Provoked Wife, Romeo and Juliet, The Duchess of Malfi, and many  more), and she’s worked on productions at  Donmar Warehouse, Shakepeare’s Globe, Birmingham Rep, Theatre Royal Stratford East, The Young Vic to name but  a few. She is the co-founder of the Movement Directors’ Association, the first professional body advocating on behalf of movement direction practices and conditions.Publications include her own book Movement Directors in Contemporary Theatre: Conversations on Craft – yes she literally wrote the book on it;  and contributions to The Actor and His Body by Litz Pisk, and The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq.Ingrid Mackinnon is a London based movement director and choreographer. Movement direction credits include work for the National Theatre of Scotland, Fuel, Kiln Theatre, Birmingham Rep; Theatre Royal Stratford East; Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre – on a production of Romeo and Juliet  for which she won Black British Theatre Awards 2021 Best Choreography Award. Other credits include:Intimacy support for Antigone, 101 Dalmatians, Legally Blonde, Carousel (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and Intimacy Director for Girl on An Altar (Kiln Theatre), Enough of Him (National Theatre of Scotland). 

Lou spoke to Julia in November 2022. They talked about how her journey and values underpin everything she does; how important it is for her to be part of a movement that advocates for the representation of people like her; how House of Absolute work as a collective, and how she approached the role of choreographer of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Julia also spoke of how, in her early days of parenthood, she is trying to have conversations she might find uncomfortable, and approach them with the same honesty and mindfulness she values in all of her work.  

Hello and welcome to a rather unusual one-off episode of Downtime.Lou has absolutely loved talking to all her brilliant guests about how they approach their work. But a while ago it was suggested that maybe she make a mini- episode that focuses on her work, her personal approach to dramaturgy and also CoAD - The Centre of Applied Dramaturgy - and the courses and bursaries she’s developing. And who better to ask to hold that conversation than veteran dance critic and writer, Sanjoy Roy. 

Damien and Lou spoke in mid October 2022. They talked about the interest in ritual that has informed all of his work; his collaborations with visual artists to make the pieces Thr(o)ugh, Vessel and Skid; the impact that being caught in the centre of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris has had on the content of his work; and what it is he is enjoying about working in film.

Caroline spoke with Lou about the work she has done, as a ‘mosquito buzzing in the ears of the arts industry’, striving for cultural equity both in the UK and Australia, and how far there is yet to go on that journey. She described the work of Arts Access Victoria, including the brilliant new Alter State Festival, and all the work they have been doing with Arts Centre Melbourne to make it a truly accessible event. Caroline also talked about the costs that come along with being an arts leader and an artist with a mountain to climb, and what’s coming next for her own work as a maker.

Tarek Iskander  is the Artistic Director of Battersea Arts Centre, in London. Born in Sunderland to parents born in Egypt, Tarek moved to the Middle East when he was five, and returned to the UK at 17, escaping from the Gulf War in Kuwait. He studied engineering before beginning a management career in the NHS that lasted more than a decade.In the following chapters of his journey he was the Interim Director for Theatre at Arts Council England, one of the founders and Associate Artistic Director of the Yard Theatre in Hackney and also Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio. Since 2018 Tarek has been the Artistic Director and CEO of Battersea Arts Centre  - a venue which is ‘a home for radical artistic ideas’ stemming from ‘a belief in the power of performance and collective imagination to spark positive change.’Tarek spoke to Lou about his ideas for change with regard to the golden triangle of funders, venues and artists/freelancers, what BAC is doing to support artists in terms of exploration and risk, and what it was like to get married there, earlier this year.

Lou talked with Ned, Alan and Naomi about what motivates them, what models they use, their different approaches and what’s difficult about the work they do. They talked about how trust and time are key to letting co-created ideas emerge, and they shared top tips for anyone embarking on a participatory performance project.

Multi- award winning Sasha Waltz was born in Karlsruhe, Germany and studied dance and choreography in Amsterdam and New York. In 1993 she founded her company Sasha Waltz & Guests, together with Jochen Sandig and In 1996 together they opened the Sophiensæle, a theatre in Berlin. In the years since, alongside her work with Sasha Waltz and guests, she has been one of the artistic directors of Berlin’s Schaubühne 1999 - 2004, and she was the joint artistic director, with Johannes Öhman, of the Staatsballett Berlin for a couple of years from 2019.Among her numerous works are The Körper trilogy, noBody, Exodos, choreographic operas such as Dido & Aeneas (2005), Medea (2007), Roméo et Juliette. Sasha is currently touring the more intimate pieces In C & Kreatur, as well as a full scale opera - OrfeoLou spoke with Sasha in late June 2022 about the evolution and dramaturgy of her whole career - how economics, opportunity and the space in which they were working has impacted the content, form and scale of the work itself. Sasha spoke about her new show ‘In C’ and how its playful, semi-improvised form speaks of the freedoms and responsibilities of living collectively in society. Sasha also spoke about the ongoing battle as a leader to find allies and make change.2The internet wasn’t always friendly in this recording, there were a few bumps along the way, but we got there and we hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did.

In this episode of Downtime, Lou talks with Noel Jordan – Festival Director of Imaginate and Edinburgh International Children’s Festival. They talked about Noel’s approach to programming, Imaginate’s year round support for artists, the risks Noel can take in terms of programming difficult or sensitive material, and his observations about the quality and nature of work being made both in the UK and across Europe.Noel has extensive experience as an award winning producer, director, actor-devisor and drama educator. Whilst working as a Drama Lecturer in Arts Education at the University of Melbourne, he also completed his Masters in Education.  Imaginate is the national organisation in Scotland, which promotes, develops and celebrates theatre and dance for children and young people. 

Lou spoke to Annabelle while she was at Jacob’s Pillow, in June 2022. They spoke about where Annabelle’s passion for working across genres comes from, the detail of how she prepares and what she asks of her dancers in the studio, and how she and her dramaturg and long time collaborator Nancy Meckler work together. Annabelle also talked about what she thinks a female choreographer can bring to female roles, and what changes she’d like to see in the programming of major companies – one of which she plans to lead one day!Colombian-Belgian, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is an award-winning choreographer that has created around 100 works for 71 dance companies around the world. A versatile choreographer, she creates regularly within the dance field but also for theatre, opera, and musical theatre. Her wide-ranging body of work includes short conceptual pieces, full-length narratives and dance films. She  completed her dance education at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp and  after a 12-year long career in a number of European dance companies, Annabelle decided in 2003 to focus solely on choreography.

Jonzi D is the founder and Artistic Director of Jonzi D Projects and Breakin’ Convention the international Hip Hop festival he founded in 2004 with Sadlers Wells. A dancer, spoken word artist and director, he is the foremost advocate for hiphop theatre who has changed the profile and influenced the development of the UK British hip-hop dance and theatre scene over the last two decades. He has been actively involved in British hip hop culture, rapping and b-boying since its genesis.As well as making his own work, with shows such as The Letter in 2013, which he made about his decision to turn down an MBE, and TAg … Just writing in my name 2006, and the more recent film We Want Our Bodies Back he is passionate, as we will hear, about supporting the work of other artists, and the development of Hip Hop theatre as a whole.In fact his most recent role is as Artistic Director of The brand new Hip Hop Theatre Academy – which opens at the new Sadlers Wells East venue in 2023.Lou spoke to Jonzi in May 2022, and they talked about the changes he has seen across the years of Breakin Convention; his hopes for the new Sadler's Wells Hip Hop Academy and the philosophy of 'Each one teach one' – that informs his own life, and the Hip Hop sector more widely.

New York based Katy Pyle is a genderqueer lesbian dancer and choreographer who founded their dance company Ballez in 2011 to explore their complicated relationship to the cis-hetero patriarchal form of ballet, and to make space for their own, and their communities’, presence within it. The mission is to reimagine ballet through collaborative, community-minded, and antihierarchical approaches. Katy is working to insert the herstory and lineage of lesbian, queer and transgender people into the ballet canon through the creation of large-scale story ballets, open classes, and public engagement. Major works include “The Firebird, a Ballez,” which has a lesbian princess and a “tranimal”—part bird, part prince), “Sleeping Beauty & the Beast,”which you’ll hear all about later in the episode, and most recently "Giselle of Loneliness," staged in  2021. As a dancer Katy has appeared in the works of Ivy Baldwin, Faye Driscoll, Xavier Le Roy, Karinne Keithley Syers, Jennifer Monson, StinaNyberg and many others. Lou spoke to Katy when they were in New York in May 2022. Wetalked about Katy’s journey in, out and back in to ballet, their refusal to bow to the traumatic oppression and limitations of the ballet world, and their realisation that they didn’t have to change themselves – they could change ballet instead.https://www.ballez.orghttps://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/ballez-katy-pyle-giselle-of-loneliness/2021/06/01/23f9897c-bfd0-11eb-b26e-53663e6be6ff_story.html

 Joseph Toonga is from East London. He makes and performs dance productions that tell stories of the under-represented, relevant to the here and now which are embedded in the languages of contemporary dance and Hip Hop. Joseph is Artistic Director of Just Us Dance Theatre, has created work for Edge; National Youth Ballet of Germany;  Richard Alston Dance Company and Junior Ballet Madrid.  He is also co-founder of Artists 4 Artists and recently became The Royal Ballet’s first Emerging Choreographer.Lou talked to Joseph in April 2022 about his commitment to finding, making and sharing space; his desire to create dance in numerous contexts in order to tell the real stories of the under-represented; and the challenges of forging a path in new contexts that don’t yet feel like home.http://www.justusdancetheatre.com

Born in Havana in 1973, Carlos Acosta trained at the National Ballet School of Havana in Cuba. After winning a succession of awards, including the Prix de Lausanne in 1990, he went on to dance professionally with the world’s most prestigious ballet companies, including The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Houston Ballet and Cuban National Ballet company. Carlos retired from classical ballet in 2016, after 28 years, having performed almost every classical role from Spartacus to Romeo.He is the Artistic Director of his own company in Cuba- Acosta Danza, he runs the Carlos Acosta International Dance Foundation, has written a novel and an autobiography, of which the movie Yuli was made.He received a CBE in 2014, the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dance in 2018, and in 2019 the Critics’ Circle Annual Award for Outstanding Services to the Arts.in January 2020 Carlos Acosta became Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, and in February 2021 – he spoke to me.

Michael Keegan-Dolan founded Teaċ Daṁsa in 2016 as a means to forge stronger connections with the native traditions, language and music of Ireland, as exemplified by the company’s first two productions, Swan Lake / Loch na hEala (2016) and MÁM (2019). Previously Michael was AD of Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre creating three Olivier Award-nominated productions: Giselle, The Bull, and The Rite of Spring. Giselle won an Irish Times Theatre Award and The Bull won a UK National Dance Award.  In this really entertaining conversation, Lou spoke to Michael about his resistance to many of the expectations and models of the entertainment industry, and how his belief that ‘what will be will be’ has led him not only to live the life he wants to live and make the work he wants to make in the way he wants to make it – but also to cope with this period of uncertainty with a philosophical shrug, a laugh and a willingness to accept whatever life throws at him. 

Lou's guest on Downtime today is Swedish choreographer, film maker and dancer Pontus Lidberg. Pontus became Artistic Director of Danish Dance Theatre in 2018 . He has also been commissioned by  Paris Opera Ballet, New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Acosta Danza, Balletboyz and Beijing Dance Theatre.Lou joined Pontus virtually (sadly!) in his wooden hut on a lake in Sweden on July 31st 2020. They talked about his work as a film-maker and a choreographer, and the opportunities inherent in each form, and Lou made him answer some pretty niche questions about the term ‘abstract narrative’(!) They also discussed his role as Artistic Director of Danish Dance Theatre and his hopes for the 'relevance' of dance in the future. 

Lou's guest on Downtime today is Shobana Jeyasingh, an internationally recognised choreographer who founded Shobana Jeyasingh Dance 30 years ago. She has created over 60 critically acclaimed works for stage, screen, and public spaces such as Palladian monasteries, fountain courtyards and city offices. In addition to her work with SJD she has also been commissioned by Rambert Dance Company, Ballet Black, Wayne McGregor/Random Dance, Beijing Modern Dance Academy and many more.Shobana is the recipient of numerous awards including the Woman of the World Award in 2017 and a CBE in 2020.Shobana and Lou met virtually in the mid-summer heat of August 2020. They talked about the almost eery prescience of her 2018 show Contagion; the process of making SJD Shorts – a series of digital films released during Covid; making work in, of and from the edges and some fascinating ideas around women’s and dispersed narratives...

The extraordinary Jo Verrent is my guest on downtime today. Jo is the senior producer for Unlimited - the world’s largest commissions programme for disabled artists, ensuring that work gets seen, discussed and embedded within the cultural fabric of the UK, and further afield, with partners such as ACE, Creative Scotland, Southbank Centre, and the British Council.I joined Jo on July 7th via her laptop in her home in Yorkshire, England.We talked about the work the disability arts community has been doing to try to capture the attention of the government via the WeShallNotBeRemoved movement, Jo’s belief that organisations that don’t have access and diversity at the heart of their practice should either sign up for voluntary redundancy or just be shut down – they had their chance. As ever Jo was full of brilliantly concrete ideas, proposals and projects for how we should change, who we should prioritise and how the sector can make itself more interesting, relevant and equal in the difficult but potentially exciting months and years ahead. 

My guest on Downtime today is Kate Prince - the AD of Zoonation – and the choreographer behind the massive hits Some Like it Hip Hop, Into The Hoods and most recently Message in a Bottle – a show set to the music of Sting which premiered at Sadlers Wells in Feb 2020. She was also, as we’ll hear, choreographer on the west end hit Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and she co-wrote SYLVIA at the Old Vic. Her commercial credits include Strictly, the Olympic Games of Beijing, The tour de France and Nelson Mandela’s birthday party. Kate and I had a right old chat at the end of June 2020. She taught me a thing or two about the various ways her shows are produced, what the term hip-hop actually means,  how projects can be tailored to support working mothers if the will (and the cash) is there, and sadly, about the appalling racism members of her company have had to endure. Some of that might be hard to hear. We also talked about how her work is motivated simply by the desire to tell stories, how different audiences respond differently to those stories, and the tricky territory of crediting dancers for choreographic input to a show. 

Today’s Downtime chat is with UK-based choreographer Gary Clarke.Gary is known for creating a place to tell socio-political stories and histories of the British working class, in a contemporary dance setting, which is no mean feat! He is loved and respected by audience and dance professionals alike. Lou and Gary have worked together for over 12 years. Lou was dramaturg on COAL (UK Theatre Award & Critics Circle Award), and Wasteland, among other projects and productions.Gary and Lou spoke early on in the Covid journey, in May 2020, and they discussed how Gary Clarke Company initially responded to the Covid-Lockdown, how the future might look for the company and the sector, and the arrival of a peacock in his Dad’s back garden!

In this episode Lou spent some Downtime with Aditi Mangaldas, a leading dancer and choreographer in the classical Indian dance form of Kathak, based in Delhi, India. Aditi runs her own rep company -  Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company – The Drishtikon Dance Foundation. It is here that she experiments with what she calls ‘contemporary danced based on Kathak’. Her productions, for example Inter_rupted and Within, have toured the world to great acclaim.Lou zoomed into Aditi's life while she was in the countryside outside of Bombay towards the end of June 2020. They had a far-reaching conversation that covered the Covid situation there, the uber-difficult task of supporting artists when the sector itself is not organised , and the digital work she is creating to raise funds to support the artistic community. They also talked about Aditi’s relationship with classical Kathak, what her style of  'contemporary dance based on Kathak' means, what her processes look like and why she turned down the celebrated National Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2013. Quick fire questions were, on this occasion, provided by Aditi and Lou’s mutual friend and collaborator Aakash Odedra.http://www.aditimangaldasdance.com/index.php

One of the UK’s most acclaimed and internationally renowned disabled artists, Claire Cunningham is a performer and creator of multi-disciplinary performance based in Glasgow, Scotland. Claire and Lou talked about two key themes of Claire’s thinking and work – our relationship with time, (and the concept of ‘crip time’); and the ‘choreography of care’ .

For the past 11 years Sharon Watson has been AD of Phoenix Dance Theatre. She is now CEO & Principal of Northern School of Contemporary Dance. This exciting and inspiring conversation took place as Lou joined Sharon in a personal moment that merged quiet reflection with exhilarating potential, as Sharon spoke of her journey as a black, female leader and artist, and her determination to seize the opportunity for radical change now.

I had a great chat with choreographer, dancer and designer Theo Clinkard, in early June 2020. In addition to making pieces for his own company, pieces like Ordinary Courage (2012) Chalk (2014), Of Land & Tongue (2014), This Bright Field (2017), he has also made work for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, and Candoco Dance Company - among others.Theo and I talked about the work he is currently developing ‘The Century Project’, his desire to engage in slow thinking – in both his life and his work, and his desire to move both his life and his work out of traditional performance spaces. Despite the current threat to opportunities for intimacy and proximity, both key parts of Theo’s work, it felt like the post-covid landscape might strangely align with the hopes he had anyway, for a more sustainable practice and a sector with access and diversity more firmly at its heart.Seehttp://www.theoclinkard.comhttps://www.under-story.com

Cathy Marston is an award-winning choreographer, based in both Switzerland and the UK. Recent shows in the UK include The Cellist for The Royal Ballet, The Suit – initially created for Ballet Black, and Jane Eyre and Victoria for Northern Ballet. As we’ll hear she recently made Mrs Robinson for San Francisco Ballet and should now be working on Of Mice and Men for The Joffrey Ballet.Cathy was Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House from 2002-2007 and Artistic Director of Bern Ballet from 2007 – 2013.I joined Cathy on a sunny May 25th 2020 at her home in Switzerland. We chatted happily while, unbeknown to us, that very day terrible things were happening in America that would change the world for the worse for sure, though hopefully also for the better. Without knowing any of that, we had a privileged and fascinating conversation about the fall and rise of narrative ballet, approaching ballet through the theatre of character, emotion and story, and how stories reveal their imagery as we dig deeper into them.See http://www.cathymarston.com

Melbourne-based choreographer Lucy Guerin presents her work regularly across Australia and Europe. In addition to touring such shows as Split, Attractor and Untrained with her own company Lucy Guerin Inc, she’s also made shows for Lyon Opera Ballet, Chunky Move, Dance Works Rotterdam and Ballet Rambert.We talked in early June 2020 about how the enforced Downtime had brought an unexpected relief from the pressure to tour internationally, a positive focussing in on ‘home-grown’ work, and how things were going for the Melbourne contemporary dance community.Enjoy!

Belgian/Moroccan Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is one of the world’s most sought after  choreographers. He’s made over 50 shows, works in contemporary dance, ballet, film and theatre and has picked up a frankly embarrassing haul of awards.Collaborators include Antony Gormley, Damien Jalet, Marina Abramovic and Beyonce – to name but a few.I worked with Larbi and Gormley on Sutra, and with Larbi and Damien Jalet on the Olivier Award winning Babel (words) around 2008 – 2010.As well as running his own company Eastman, since 2015 he has been the Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders.Conversations with Larbi are always extremely free-flowing. Here our wide-ranging chat covers his experience of Covid-19 as a person, a choreographer and the AD of Ballet Vlanderen, as well as how the intimacy of his practice has evolved in response to both his position as a leader, and an awareness engendered by the #MeToo movement.I popped up on his screen while he was at home in Antwerp in late May 2020.Enjoy!

For this episode of DownTime I was so pleased to be able to talk with Botis Seva and Lee Griffiths.Botis is a dance artist, choreographer and director working in contemporary dance, physical theatre and hip-hop – he is the AD of HipHop Dance Theatre company – Far From the Norm.Lee Griffiths is the Creative Producer of Far From The Norm, and also, alongside Joseph Toonga and Emily Crouch , runs Artists 4 Artists the UK’s first artist-led Hip Hop theatre initiative.Lee and Botis also happen to be a family, and I zoomed into their living room in May 2020 to see how Downtime was shaping up for them.We talked about the plus sides of having a relatively new show paused half way through a tour, the place of hip-hop in the wider dance sector, and his Olivier Award - which clearly I'm more impressed by than he is!Enjoy!*Please Note: this conversation took place on May 21st 2020,  just four days before George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis by white police officers. So we didn't get to talk about this, the wave of energy that it gave the Black Lives Matter movement, or the need to reflect that it has bestowed upon us all. Botis, Lee and I discussed recording a little part 2 to be able to incorporate their thoughts on all of this, but decided that this episode reflects the time it was made well - so we’re leaving like it is. We do however hope we’ll get to do a part two on another occasion.