Over the three years of research within Dancing Museums I have been interested in working with museum sites in response to their specific history, content and context. This has been especially shaped by the fact that two of my allocated sites in Nottingham are historic buildings with very unusual collections (namely Wollaton Hall, home to the Nottingham Natural History Museum and Newstead Abbey, home to a collection of Lord Byron Memorabilia).
I was particularly interested by the legacy of transatlantic slave money and colonialism present at Newstead. I was struck by how this history was only a small part of the museum’s public narrative and was unsure as to how I, personally, could address this within the context of the Dancing Museums research project.
I decided to invite other artists in to the project: choreographers and dancers who are, in different ways, addressing these racialised histories within their existing research projects.
I have curated two choreographic residencies. In July, artists Mary Pearson and mayfield brooks will explore their ancestral connections with transatlantic slavery. Their transatlantic collaboration is rooted in the artists’ virtuosity as improvisers to craft affecting work quickly.
In May, choreographer Seke Chimutengwende and dramaturg Charlie Ashwell will work with five dancers (Natifah White, Rose Sall Sao, Rhys Dennis, Alethia Antonia, and Adrienne Ming), exploring how the history of the transatlantic slave trade haunts the present and how haunted houses can be a metaphor for this experience.
The residencies in Newstead Abbey will be a chance for the artists to deepen their research in a unique and historically loaded site. Both parties will host informal, open rehearsals during their residencies at Newstead, and their time in the house and grounds will be documented by either film or photography which will be exhibited at Newstead and available online.
Curating these residencies also ties in nicely with my interest in hosting dancers in sites that are not typically used for dancing. This, for obvious reasons, is a big part of the research of Dancing Museums. In my role I can be carve out space for the artists on the site, so that they can arrive as guests and not strangers; this might be something practical, such as making sure there is drinking water nearby, or it might be something more personal, such as making sure the museum volunteers and artists have met each other.
More information coming soon via Dance4.
Supported by Arts Council England.