What is Wainsgate Dances?
a conversation between artists Charlie Morrissey, Rob Hopper, Lucy Suggate and Ben Wright.
On the 8th of Feb 2024 I facilitated a candid and impassioned conversation between three artists who are central to the Wainsgate Dances initiative in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. Part of an enclave of creatives, these three individuals, are engaged in a transference of practice from more established metropolitan centres to the countryside. They are committed to finding and sustaining a new and revitalised model for dance making, whilst embedding themselves profoundly within this unique rural location.
The Founding artists of Wainsgate Dances and partners; Charlie Morrissey and Rob Hopper, together with the independent dance artist Lucy Suggate, muse on the architectural fabric and quality of the Wainsgate Chapel as a building and explore the genesis of Wainsgate Dances as a project with local, national, and international impact.
They discuss the notion and benefits of a daily movement practice and ask questions about the nature of training and the institutional structures we’ve come to accept as the gatekeepers for the art form. In the present climate of increasing anti-artist rhetoric and detrimental depletion of dance funding, touring, and making opportunities in the UK, the three artists champion artist agency and sensitively paint a portrait of Wainsgate Dances as a vital means of support for independent and experimental dance practices. They ponder how a building that houses a range of artists has beneficial intersectional influence, enriching the practice of the resident and visiting artists as well as the lives of others who engage with the progressive programme of activities.
During the conversation the artists ask questions and highlight what is essential to them, always alert to the vulnerability and radicalness of this collective aspiration.
This was a Knowledge Exchange project funded by KEF funds
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