"Wind's Dream" by to R mansion
Mentoring the artist ‘from the scratch’ - from developing the idea and concept, deepening the understanding of the ‘theme’, developing the structure of the performance and methods, aesthetic choices to rehearsals, rehearsals with the audience and performances. The company members made a study visit and attended the rehearsals of my performance Myriads Of Worlds, in May 2019 in Stockholm. The process took place in Japan, Tokyo, over the six week period in Jan/Feb 2020. This was the first-ever performance for babies by To R Mansion Company and it was as well our artistic collaboration (including my stage and costume design).
The group of artists (choreographers, dancers, composers) was invited by the Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company Hong Kong to join the process consisted of several phases: a week-long method-workshop on devising performances for babes; two teams creating/developing the concepts for their performances, developing some movement materials and presenting the final ideas; rehearsals and performances. We have conducted the first phase in Hong Kong (summer 2019), the second phase online (spring 2020) and the third phase is expected to happen in 2021/2022. In between these phases, the CCDC provided to artists the conditions for their individual work.
Centre de Creacio Sabadell, Spain, invited me to join the programe (Re)thinking art for early years and mentor two companies in making their performances for babies - Engruna Teatre and Creamovument. The program included the online lecture and short method-workshop on devising concepts for performances for babies, in November 2020, for larger group of artists. This phase was followed up by online mentoring, in May 2020, with Engruna Teatre members on their performance Univers, and with Crea Moviment team on their performance Nuis. The companies were supported by La Salla to further develop their work and to present the performances at the ElPetit festival in November 2021, followed by feedback session IRL.
MYKA is a Danish company led by dancer and choreographer My Grönholdt. My invited me to be one of the mentors working with her on several of the company’s performances for babies (Ocean and Untz Untz), over the period 2021/22. Within this process, she will attend some of my ongoing productions and have an insight into my processes and practice.
DOoKOŁA is Hanna Kanecka’s performance for children produced by the Art Stations Foundation within the framework of their Alternative Academy program. Upon the open call for performances for children and short workshop-selection process, this project was chosen for the mentoring process. The process was conducted over a several months period in 2017 and took place in Poznan, Poland. Between the mentoring phases, the Art Stations Foundation provided to artists space/time for their individual process and development of the work.
Mentoring the artists in their process of creating the performances for babies and youngest children.
In some cases, I mentor the process from the very beginning and follow it till the realisation of the project, while in some I join the artists for the phase of their process or coach them on a specific aspect of the work.
Photo: Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company
Cliodhna Noonan (Acting Up! Early Years Arts) works with storytelling. We will engage in the mentoring process on her project "Authentic storytelling experiences for Early Years" which will focus on challenging the storytelling from the perspective of immersion and participation. A comparison will be made between an existing model of a workshop and the new format, which we aim to devise. The outcome will be presented in consultation with the children and educators at two EY settings in 2022 in Ireland. We hope to look at the development of a pedagogy for EY artists which is informed by authenticity and child-led participation.