NOT A HOUSE, A HOME
‘Not a House, a Home’ is a 4 part series that explores relationships, connections, communication and inherent empathy, through 4 one hour performances, each set in a different room of a house.
‘Not a house, a home’ is a production that explores the notion of free love in the modern society, it looks at the queer origins of polyamorous and open relationships that are becoming more frequent, and how they are challenging monogamous relationships which follow a heteronormative ideology. The work will look at the positive and negative side affects of both versions of relationships and the history of communication within all formats of relationships. The jealousy, the openness, the idea that we can love more than one person at a time and more.
This production will be an accumulation of a contemporary dance show, a theatre play and a concert.
PART ONE - THE BEDROOM : LOSING LIMBS TO THE FURNITURE
This work depicted the bedroom of the house and was a 50 minute solo looking at self-discovery and catharsis through sexual experience and trauma. Delving into past experiences and the cycle of traumatic moments and how to unlearn them or let them go. This show delved into the experience of queer youth and their sexual education & environment.
‘Losing Limbs to the furniture’ premiered in July 2020 in the garden of About Blank Berlin and was re-adapted for The Palace Residency in Poland in September. This work depicted the bedroom of the house and was a 50 minute solo looking at self-discovery through sexual experience and trauma.
PART TWO - THE BATHROOM : WHEN WATER REMEMBERS
The setting for this piece is the protagonist's bathroom, where the audience will witness the dualities of public and private intimacy; performed and internalised experience; using real stories shared through contemporary dance, text and music. This work explores the cyclical process of relational trauma in a personal exploration of intimacy, passion, destruction and beauty.
'When Water Remembers' premiered in July 2021 at the Palace Residency as a Work in Progress and was an 1 hour show with a cast of 5 actors, dancers, Dj's and musicians.
PART THREE - THE KITCHEN : SOMETHING SMELLS GOOD!
This work explores family dynamics, and looks at how our early memories of familial relationships affect our relationships in the moment. This work will be made in collaboration with a restaurant and will play with our connection to food and relationships.
"Something Smells Good!" is still to be developed and created.
PART FOUR - THE LIVING ROOM : WE'LL NEVER BE STRANGERS AGAIN
This work looks at the multitude of identities within our friendships with others, it is an ode to the parallels of platonic and romantic polyamorous relationships.
"We'll Never Be Strangers Again" is still to be developed and created.
GONE OFF
Gone Off explores the loss of an atmosphere within the UK's 1970's and 80's queer club culture,
'The UK has always been known for its inimitable LGBTQ nightlife. We make sure we’re sillier than our New York counterparts, more anarchic than any night in Berlin and dirtier than the clubbers in LA (or so we like to think). However, over the last five years it’s hard to deny that the scene has undergone a rapid transformation. London especially has seen the closure of many of our most beloved queer spaces, from the Joiners Arms to the Black Cap, to Candy Bar, to Area and perhaps soon the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. We've also just found out that Hackney's cult pub The George and Dragon will be joining this long, depressing list.' (dazeddigital.com, Daisy Jones, 2016)
Clubbing has long been seen as a way for people to freely express themselves, especially amongst the LGBTQ+ community. but the 70's and 80's saw a rise in a number of gay clubs and its attendees, spawning a new haven for people of the LGBTQ+ community. The first ever gay club in the UK opened in 1912. It was called the The Cave of the Golden Calf but was closed down two years later However the 80's was a real turning point for queer club culture but it also saw devastating effects from the aids crisis and many people lost their loved ones. However dancers who were part of the vogue scene found comfort in their "families". Voguing is a dance style that originally takes its inspiration from the magazine Vogue and the pictures of the models' posing. It combines the linear shapes and poses with many different dance forms such as breaking and hip hop to create what we know as vogue and has become a prominent and meaningful dance to many people within the LGBTQ+ community. TobyLikesMILK have combined this with contemporary dance technique, Hip hop and Commercial dance to create a piece that displays the liberal nature of clubbing whilst integrating lip syncing and spoken word as a nod to the drag community. Gone Off is a piece that aims to visually stimulate and please the audience with its strident soundtrack and choice of dynamic movements with the hope of reigniting that sense of freedom that has perhaps slowly become suppressed within the modern queer club culture.
ENOUGH
This show was a mixed media show that included a 15 minute dance and text based - performance and a 15 minute talk on the history, origins and classifications of Trans Non-binary experience. This work was performed as part of 15Minutes of Femme 2021 music festival in Berlin.
The Alternative Dairy Selection
The discussions surrounding identity in 2018 have sparked profound movements within society. The LGBTQ+ community has long been a pioneer for recognising multiple different genders and for the first time the general public and mainstream media are joining the discussion.
We will be presenting an evening celebrating the diversity, strength and passion of the queer community in its various forms and the way it has enabled people to embrace their identity. The evening will present a range of queer and queer-adjacent artists who will give their take on what the queer community means to them and how they exist within the mainstream. At times celebratory, at times sombre and poignant, The Alternative Dairy Selection is a night that will leave you gagging for more.
We are also inviting our friends Faye Revlon & Hannah Milan, Haus of Anxiety, B-hybrid and The Yonis to join us on stage where we will use vogue, drag and contemporary dance to celebrate the multiple identities that do exist within society.