The Hard Sell marks a departure for innovative choreographer Nicole Vivien Watson. She gives TAMZIN LEWIS the pitch
THERE is something slightly unexpected about contemporary dancers using speech in performance. But we live in a Mr Messy world of blurred lines where actors dance and artists make theatre, so why shouldn’t dancers use their acting skills a little?
Choreographer Nicole Vivien Watson has adopted the technique for her latest show, The Hard Sell, which she has based on her experiences of being a 20-something.
Nicole, creative director of Newcastle-based Surface Area Dance Theatre, says: “This is the first time we have used spoken word and text. It is a new frontier and a new landscape for us. As dancers, we are developing text around movement, which is the reverse for stage actors.”
Nicole is being guided by Matthew Cummins, senior lecturer in performance art at Northumbria University. He has introduced Nicole and her dancers Molly Hodkinson and Beth Loughran, to the rigours of Lessac Kinesenic Training which develops the voice and body to improve expressiveness.
Nicole says: “I am interested in spoken word just because it is another form of communication. I don’t want people leaving the auditorium and not feeling that they have connected with the work.
“I like to talk to people in different ways. My first language obviously is spoken English, but my second language is movement.”
Also featuring projection, The Hard Sell draws on the daily experiences of Nicole’s dancers and considers the work/life balance of women today.
“It all started from us telling stories about our daily lives and looking at things which have affected us,” Nicole, 29, says.
I feel that I have something to say about being a woman within the generation of disposable culture. I am intrigued about how women talk to each other and find their place in the world. It seemed like a natural progression to tell stories as part of the performance.”
The Hard Sell will be performed at Newcastle’s Dance City hot on the heels of a Surface Area show at experimental New York theatre club La MaMa.