Northern School of Contemporary Dance is delighted to announce Inari Hulkkonen as this year's CATAPULT artist.
CATAPULT is a year-long artist development programme run by NSCD in partnership with Spin Arts. It is awarded to a promising emerging dance maker, creative partnership or collective based in Yorkshire. As the recipient of this year's programme, Inari will receive a £3000 development fund plus access to rehearsal space, bespoke mentoring, tailored business advice and the opportunity to stage new work at Riley Theatre.
CATAPULT is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Inari is the fifth artist to benefit from the programme to date.
On hearing the news, Inari said:
“I am thrilled to be selected for CATAPULT. I feel grateful for the trust and support and excited for the resources available to me through the programme. Being based in the North is important to me and I value making work locally, so I am pleased to be working with Leeds-based organisations NSCD and Spin Arts as well as hoping to make connections regionally. CATAPULT will enable me to work in a consistent and focused way with a new project over the next year and offer bespoke support in seeing that project through. This feels like an exciting and timely step towards producing professional work and sustaining a practice as an independent artist.
“My creative practice is concerned with thresholds between imagination and embodiment, dreams and reality, words and movement, and meaning and abstraction. During CATAPULT, I will be researching and developing a new solo with the working title I want him to like my hair. I want him to like my hair is an ode to the obsessive and imaginative mind and to the expressive body; it is a one-woman balancing act between seeking validation and seeking agency and empowerment; it is a solo that moves between subtlety and ridiculousness, humour and the tragic, narrative and absurdity.”
Speaking about the selection process, NSCD Principal and Artistic Director Janet Smith had this to say:
“We had some very interesting and compelling applications from dance artists with diverse creative backgrounds, interests and approaches and so selecting from amongst those shortlisted was definitely a challenge. We were impressed by both individual and collaborative/joint applications, both of which were represented in the shortlist.
“I’m delighted that choreographer/performer and writer Inari Hulkkonen has been awarded support through CATAPULT. Inari came to Leeds from Finland to study dance and has become part of the city’s growing success in talent retention.”
Additionally this year NSCD is awarding CATAPULT Spin Off support – providing a smaller package of support for a second outstanding submission by Maya Carroll and Henry Morris, to evolve their collaborative practice. Both Maya and Henry studied on the BA and then the MA Dance Performance (VERVE) programme at NSCD.
Janet Smith said:
“In selecting this creative partnership the Panel were particularly inspired by the curiosity, creative synergy and dynamic of these two artists in sharing their ideas.”
On hearing that herself and Henry had been awarded CATAPULT Spin Off support, Maya told us:
“We are so delighted to have been given an opportunity to explore how our work can move into a professional environment and the support and mentoring NSCD is offering us feels like the perfect kickstarter.”
Previous recipients include Akeim Toussaint Buck, Barnaby Booth (Spin Off), Gracefool Collective, Carlos Pons Guerra and Crystal Zillwood.
Images
Image 1: Inari Hulkkonen © Maria Alzamora
Image 2: I want him to like my hair by Inari Hulkkonen © Sara Teresa
Image 3: The Break by Maya Carroll and Henry Morris © Camilla Greenwell
