I came up with the idea of Learning to Dance late last year. Where

the ideas come from I have no idea, but I guess there is a logic to

wanting to bring together two massively significant characters that

have impacted on my development as an artist. Namron at the

Northern School of Contemporary Dance. It was a wonderful three

years under his guidance. Then after graduating being taught by and

becoming a disciple of Padmashri Pratap Pawar and embarking on a

journey into Kathak.

The thought process around having the two of them on stage

together is common with how I make work: a strong concept, lightly

placed in the abstract. Then came what to call the piece, and

Learning to Dance seemed to naturally suggest itself. These two

legends in the world of dance globally stripping it all back to learning

the artform, their journey with it, and their teaching of dance.

What it felt like making the work

I constantly put myself outside my comfort zone in terms of

challenging myself artistically with each piece I make so I don’t get

nervous. However on this one I was a little bit nervous. It was an

honour and privilege to have two such giants agree to work with me

as a junior artist and trust to me to create a new piece of work that

was very different for both of them to anything they had done

before. The sense of responsibility if I thought about it too much was

massive. It was brave of them both to enter the studio and let me

lead on trying to realise what was in my mind.