Baby Brain

From September to November 2023, I took part in a residency at The NewBridge Project as part of MOTHEROTHER; a programme for artists who are parents and carers.

The residency was a paid opportunity for me to reconnect with my practice as a dance artist, and put ideas in motion for new work - and was structured flexibly around my role as a parent to my two year old son Max and newborn son Frank.

I worked for 2 days per week, in a studio with 2 comfy office chairs, a table with wheels, a standing table, a beanbag and 2 lamps. I brought things for Frank, and a yoga mat and my laptop.

MOTHEROTHER paid for Max’s childcare, which meant we enrolled Max into nursery for the first time.

MOTHEROTHER also paid for friend and collaborator Rosa Postlethwaite to join me - to physically hold my newborn so that I could lie on the floor, type at my laptop or go to the toilet, and to have someone to listen, and to ask questions about the work.

I was also joined by dancer Alys North, who is also a parent to her one year old daughter Solmaz.

Conversations that arose during this period were centred around Parenting / Perfectionism / Archiving / Improvisation and relationships between them.

I wrote a series of scores based on my current postpartum experiences;

The care dance

The rocking dance

The I am a natural dance

The interrupted dance

The unfinished dance

The negotiation dance

- a practice that stems from a really small dance, a collaborative work made with Luca Rutherford.

I also spent some time updating my website, and doing some admin.