A celebration of Resolution! - Seke Chimutengwende

In normal times, our theatre would be buzzing with artists right now, presenting fresh work and new ideas as we kick off the new year with our annual Resolution! festival. We miss the excitement of Resolution, and we miss giving early-career artists the opportunity to have our main stage, and use the festival as a springboard to launch their careers. To celebrate what Resolution means to us and to the dance community, we have asked former Resolution artists to take a trip down memory lane and tell us about their own Resolution experience.

Seke Chimutengwende, Resolution 2012

What year did you participate in Resolution and how did you come to be in it?

I took part in Resolution! In 2012.

Tell us a little bit about the piece you presented? What was it about? Where did the idea come from? Where were you in your professional development as an artist at that time?

The piece I presented was a group piece called ‘Mr Lawrence’ and it was the first choreographic work that I presented professionally. I had been working as a dancer for about 8 years by then, performing in the improv scene for about 6 years and teaching for 3 years. I applied to Choreodrome at The Place in 2011 to explore the relationship between choreography and improvisation and the piece ‘Mr Lawrence’ grew out of that research. I worked with seven dancers, Kirsty Arnold, Charlie Ashwell, Kip Johnson, Stephanie McMann, Martha Passakopoulou, Eleanor Sikorski, Flora Wellesley Wesley, a lighting designer, Gareth Green and a costume designer, Annie Pender. I was lucky enough to get ACE funding for this.

Looking back, what do you remember about the experience? What did you take away?

It was a very exciting experience for me, presenting my own work in the theatre for the first time. I think it had helped that I had presented a work in progress version of the show in Touchwood in a studio at The Place, the previous year so I knew how it might feel to take the show to the next stage. I remember it had a great response from the audience, but the reviews were less enthusiastic. So, this was something new that I had to deal with. But most importantly me and my collaborators were really happy with how the performance went and it made us want to perform the show more! 

What happened next? Where are you now in your career? Did any of the partnerships formed at Resolution last throughout your career?

After Resolution! We toured ‘Mr Lawrence’ to several other venues in London that year. I went on to work with most of the same collaborators on several other projects including ‘The Time Travel Piece’, which was presented as part of The Place Prize, also in 2012. I am currently working on a new choreography which is looking at the haunted house as a metaphor for how histories of slavery and colonialism haunt the present. The Place is a partner on this project and Charlie Ashwell and Eleanor Sikorski who both danced in ‘Mr Lawrence’ are both involved. Alongside choreographing I am still performing in other people’s work as well as teaching, performing improvisation and now working as movement director too.

What would you wish all the young makers/dancers/writers/designers for the future?

We have to keep looking for the gaps, the spaces, the openings where we can work from. It’s a hard time for making art but that is always the challenge and I wish all makers, young and old all the best with it!