Artistic director of Stopgap Dance Company, Lucy Bennett talks to Jane McGowan about the groundbreaking group’s latest work
“You don’t look at your body and think, ‘I’m going to be a dancer’. It’s got nothing to do with how flexible you are. It’s something deep inside of you that makes you want to express yourself.”
So says Lucy Bennett, artistic director of Stopgap – an inclusive dance company that this month is playing a major role in the Guildford International Music Festival.
Stopgap grew out of a 1995 community dance project, led by University of Surrey graduate and founding artistic director Vicki Balaam, designed to bring disabled and non-disabled dancers together. Its aim was to create works that utilised the dancers’ individual strengths and skills to represent a more integrated, rounded performance.
Lucy joined Stopgap initially as a dancer and following stints as a choreographer, she took on the role of artistic director when Vicki stepped down in 2009.
“Because we are such a diverse group of individuals we devise things together,” she explains. “I may give the performers ideas and then they go off and play with it, come back and show me what they’ve got and I’ll sort of put it together. We always sit down and solve any challenges together. It’s really like a devising ensemble of which I am the director.”
As part of this year’s Guildford International Music Festival, Stopgap, which is now resident at the University of Surrey, will premiere The Enormous Room featuring acclaimed actor and dancer Dave Toole. Dealing with themes of sudden loss and grief, the emotional piece grew somewhat organically out of conversations between Dave and Lucy.
“In a previous production [Artificial Things], Dave does a solo piece at the end which he dedicates to his father,” Lucy says. “His father had died before he knew Dave had become a performer so it sort of came out of that. We started talking about the afterlife and the idea initially came from there.”
Stopgap’s collaborative ethos very much encourages input from the group and Lucy points out that while discussions with Dave were ongoing about the prospective work, another dancer, 24-year-old Hannah Sampson from Cobham, was keen to get involved and share her thoughts on loss after the recent death of her grandparents.
“Once they were in the studio together they had an amazing connection,” says Lucy. “And for the first time in a cast of dancers, I could really see this father-daughter relationship which we decided to explore. My father is a big influence on me and it quickly became something we all wanted to do.”
In The Enormous Room, the past and present combine in an attempt to capture the sense of other worldliness that surrounds those left behind after a close family member dies. The central character Dave sees his late wife everywhere, in the bed, by the table, talking to his daughter and as a result he barricades himself in the living room in an attempt to block out the world to be alone in his sadness. Meanwhile, his daughter Sam is embracing the memory of her mother and trying to move on. What ensues is an incredibly touching, dramatic piece.
“Sometimes when working in inclusive theatre, it can become all about the disability,” Lucy explains. “But then you bring death in, which is a universal truth, it’s bigger than anything else.”
Chris Parkes
All the dancers who perform with Stopgap are professionals. Many have trained with the company, while others like Dave Toole are seasoned performers who have worked with several national and international dance and theatre groups.
“They are all incredibly exceptional,” says Lucy. “All virtuosos in their own right. Although they may not have what you expect in terms of line or maybe flexibility, they can do lots of things that non-disabled dancers can’t do. Dave of course, dancers on his hands and you see him leap on to his them and walk on them throughout the piece. So for the non-disabled dancers it’s up to them to find something that will make them interesting to watch.”
The nine-strong company is resident at the University of the Surrey, and work in what Lucy terms as a “mock set” which has been custom designed by the creative team at Curious Space. Stopgap also holds classes at the university and in the past have led choreography modules for undergraduates as well as classes for disabled and non-disabled students.
As Lucy points out, professional dance training is often difficult to access for disabled dancers. “It is disappointing that vocational schools aren’t quite willing to open their minds to enable disabled dancers to get into the colleges,” she says. “But at the same time dancing starts so early on – non-disabled boys and girls go off to baby ballet class aged four or five and that is one area that we are now trying to help with.”
Stopgap is in fact the force behind IRIS (Include, Respond, Integrate and Specialise), an inclusive syllabus designed to train tomorrow’s disabled dancers. It aims to offer disabled children and young people the same level of dance teaching as their non-disabled peers, thus providing the framework for a future in dance.
“It means they can get dancing earlier,” says Lucy. “They can get to know their bodies and find out what there virtuosity and how to translate the movements – their version of a leap or a turn. It means if they audition for a professional college they have had the experience and have some foundation and know how to translate and adapt.”
The company is incredibly busy: following its run at Guildford, The Enormous Room will embark on a national and international tour taking in Sadlers Wells in London, as well as the Kammer Theatre in Munich. Alongside this, work continues on various community projects and summer productions, as well as youth groups and outreach work in secondary schools, now IRIS is on the syllabus.
As with any physical performers, touring can be very tiring and stressful. “Some places just aren’t as manageable for the disabled dancers, particularly if they are in wheelchairs,” acknowledges Lucy. “We’ve toured places like Albania and Algeria and they are just not as accessible even just getting around can be difficult. So there are considerations but really it just teaches you that you have treat your artists a bit better,” she laughs.
Since its beginning as a community group, Stopgap has garnered a loyal following and regularly plays to large audiences – especially on the international stage, were it has earned itself a worthy reputation. Its inclusion on the GCSE curriculum has also boosted audience numbers. Lucy is rightly proud of its achievements.
“We have people who have stayed with us from the beginning which is great that they still want to support us,” says Lucy. “We do attract a diverse audience. We have more disabled patrons and it’s really important that they are getting to the theatre as there are plenty of role models in the company.”
- The Enormous Room opens on February 28 in the PATS Studio, University of Surrey, Guildford (as part of Guildford International Music Festival) further information and tickets are available from surrey.ac.uk/arts
Guildford International Music Festival
This year’s Festival takes place between Friday February 24 and Sunday March 5 at venues across the town including the University, the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and G-Live to name but a few.
A plethora of world-class performers (including Keira Lyness who bills herself as the cycling soprano!) has been assembled and there really is something to suit all tastes, from baroque and brass to folk and theatre.
Tickets range from £6-£26 although there are concessions available for most performances and many events over the course of the 10-day festival are free of charge.
- For more information about what’s on, when, visit surrey.ac.uk/festivals
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