Friend
friend is a performance for a non-professional dancer to present in their home to an audience of only their friends. The fixed score, made up of distinct components, comes together into a 30-minute choreography which playfully folds the performer and their performance into cultural history. Rather than asking the performers to talk about their lives, friend is a form of portraiture that allows the audience to see their dear one completely anew, invoking the strange potentialities of contemporary dance to tenderly invite the friends to see and be seen in a novel way. It involves iconic post-modern American dance performance Trio A, two versions of I Will Always Love You, karaoke, and a small but effective smoke machine. It gestures to existing practices of domestic performance (beatnik poetry recitals, children’s pop concerts) whilst creating the context for introducing performers and audience alike to the skill and joy of watching contemporary dance through a series of carefully-designed discussion prompts over a shared post-show meal. It is craftful, ridiculous, and very very friendly.
Supported by Arts Council England through National Lotters Project Grants as well as residency, financial, and producing support from Dance4 and Yorkshire Dance for the creation and pilot, and producing from each partner as listed below.
Choreographer Gillie Kleiman
Performers (pilot) Cathy Brady, Tony Ross, Myra Rowland
Performers Crawley 2024, with Creative Crawley Andy, Éloïse, Fatima, Maria
Performers Hastings 2024, with Home Live Art Carli, Cazimi, Claire, Gilda
Performers Gateshead 2024, with GIFT Corinne, Hamzeh, Mhairi, Rupert, Ruth
Performers Birmingham 2024, with FABRIC Anaiah, Emily, Jennifer, Rachel
Performers Ipswich 2024, with SPILL Belinda, Elene, Ellie, Emma, Sam
Producer Beckie Darlington
A pilot of friend took place in August 2021 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds, and Nottingham (UK).
Five further versions of the work, performed in total by 22 performers, occurred in Crawley, Hastings, Gateshead, Birmingham and Ipswich in 2024.
We are keen to hear from programmers interested in the work for 2025-26.
Documentation available on request.