Thread by @NYUADArtsCenter

This morning, @candocodance Artistic Director Charlotte Darbyshire talks to Lee Singh’s Movement and Meaning class in the @NYUAbuDhabi 1st Year Writing Program. Starts with a brief history of the company and how their decision making process functions.

They started with collective leadership. Eventually funding channels led them to more singular leadership. Post-pandemic they are again thinking about collective leadership, and majority led by people with disabilities.

Discussion about creative restrictions. Charlotte reflects that their limitations are primarily financial. The big curatorial consideration is balancing well-known choreographer/ reputation with riskier, lesser known choreographer

.@candocodance is becoming an institution, which means that making a change can be harder and harder. You need to be patient and resilient.

Question: where does Charlotte want the company to be in 10-15 years.

No one knew what was going to happen globally 2 years ago. If CanDoCo is going to remain an inclusive company with people with and without disabilities working together, they should have majority disabled leadership, board. staff. On stage has always been about half-half disabled

If they really do their job well, maybe Candoco won’t be needed at all because all companies will be inclusive.

Question re hardships:
Crisis management and trust. When everything is going well it’s easy. But when things are tough, like happened frequently during pandemic, holding your nerve as a leader, taking risk and having trust of your team to go into the unknown

You earn trust through transparency. “You May not agree but we’ll go through. It together.”

Holding your nerve. Trusting your vision. And trusting the team.

Question: does Candoco plan to tour more in the UAE?

I was really excited by the audience. Meeting the audience in performances and workshops. They already are having some discussions with other Emirates. 🤔

Question: does Charlotte prefer being a dancer or director?

She loved dancing but after injuries, dancing brought a lot of pain. But stopping dance brought a lot of grief.

But part of their philosophy is to continue a movement practice, grounded in what her body can do.

The movement practice helps her on other aspects of her life, decision making etc.

Question re differences from @TrishaBrown Set & Reset. @candocodance learned the original phrases and principles, but then played with the material and created their own choreography. They still embody the spirit of the original material.

When @TrishaBrown’s original Set & Reset was at the @Tate as part of #DanceReflections by @vancleefarpels, it was important that @candocodance’s was represented as well.

Performance offered my a level of engagement which is also rare.

When you’re dancing, dancers have an k credible capacity to hold complexity but bring it to the present moment. Intention and awareness.

Dancing is the most present I can be.

Q: Why is Candoco not doing mainstream dances which would be more recognizable by a larger audience?

A: the company is over 30 years old and has commissioned over 30 works. They try to balance appetite for new, to move the art form forward.

Balance giving audience what they want and also try to open new perceptions and evolve audience’s thinking.

Apart from Set & Reset and Jerome Bel’s The Show Must Go On, all their other rep is commissioned and you don’t know how it will turn out

What is CanDoCo’s definition of what dance is? Student admits that the performance caused him to shift his definition of dance after watching it.

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Charlotte describes her definition of dance:

The joy of the moving body.
And what we can create together.

You, and me, and what we can create together.

Dancers in relationship to one other, audience, sound, dramaturgy.

Q: how does Candoco navigate working on places which aren’t accessible to people with disabilities. In early days, venues might be accessible to audiences but not artists.

Artists literally had to lift each other to stage. Raked stages center audience view over performers.

Now, 99% of the time, Candoco will refuse to perform if venue isn’t accessible. Part of their role is to advocate for change.

Where would they want to perform?

They’ve done very little performing in the African continent.

Student - his perspective on dance has been on repeated movement and typically needs music. He had to shift to understand the lack of repeated motifs and dance being done in silence.

Q: are their tips for young artists to find stability and sustainability?

The opportunities for stability change over time. There was more $ for dance in the 90s than there is now. Funding (in the UK at least) has dried up.

Stability comes thru her moving practice. Pleasure in moving. And continuous training so that when opportunities come, she’s ready.

Learning to be as present in my life as I am in my dancing.

Be available, in a grounded way. You never know who might be in the room.