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OF RIDERS AND RUNNING HORSES
CREATIVE TEAM
THANK you
Director: Dan Canham
Associate Director: Laura Dannequin
Music: Sam Halmarack & Luke
Harney
Performers: Anna Kazsuba, Isabelle
Cressey, Odilia Egyiawan, Tilly
Webber, Tanya Richam-Odoi
Costume Designer: Bianca Ward
Production Manager and Lighting
Designer: Greg Mickelborough
Tour Producer: Helen Edwards
Producers: MAYK
Bristol Old Vic, Emma Bettridge at
Bristol Ferment, Trinity Community
Arts, Jonathan Andrews at NCP,
Enlightened Lighting, Alan Burgess at
Amber Audio.
Of Riders and Running Horses is
commissioned by Dance Umbrella, Pavilion
Dance South West and Theatre Bristol
and produced by MAYK. Supported
using public funding through Arts Council
England. Research and Development was
supported by the Jerwood Choreographic
Research Project, with funds from The
Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Appetite,
Birmingham Hippodrome, Dance Umbrella,
DanceEast, DanceXchange, Greenwich Dance,
Greenwich + Docklands International Festival,
Independent Dance, Pavilion Dance South
West, and The Place. Additional research and
development support from Bristol Old Vic
Ferment and Trinity Community Arts.
Photo: Paul Blakemore
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The urge to transform one’s appearance,
to dance outdoors, to mock the powerful
and embrace perfect strangers is not easy
to suppress.
And why, in the end, would anyone
want to? The capacity for collective joy is
encoded into us almost as deeply as the
capacity for the erotic love of one human
for another. We can live without it, as most
of us do but only at the risk of succumbing
to the solitary nightmare of depression.
Barbara Enrenreich – Dancing in the
Streets.
The germ of the idea for what has
become Of Riders and Running Horses
was sparked some years ago in the Molly
dances of East Anglia, the straw bear
festival of Whittlesea, the tar barrels
of Ottery St Mary. At the time, the
immediacy and the humanity of these
folk events – inherent within them
the possibility for transformation and
collective joy1 – called out to me as a
captivating alternative to the sterile
conditions in which dance in particular
is so often presented for an audience’s
passive consumption.
I am incredibly fortunate to have
been able to work with a group of
extraordinary collaborators on this
project, from the dancers to the
producers – each of whom have led the
way by virtue of their generosity, skill
and fearlessness – all of them athletes
of the heart2. We have worked together
over five weeks, interrogating what it
means to dance, what it means to dance
to music, to play seriously and to allow
your humanity and your womanhood
be seen. By them all I am humbled and
full of respect and admiration. I must
thank Laura Dannequin in particular – my
partner and co-director on this project,
who has at turns guided, challenged and
inspired with her crucial interventions.
We have aimed to create an opportunity
for people to come together, for
strangers to look each other in the eye,
for the vigour and power of a group of
women dancing for themselves and for
others to allow itself to be seen. And in
spite of the state of the world, in spite of
continual personal and global existential
threats, in spite of it all, we’ve aimed to
give rise to “the chance, which we need
much more of on this crowded planet,
to acknowledge the miracle of our
simultaneous existence with some sort of
celebration”.
1
2
After Barbara Enrenreich
After Artaud
Dan Canham, May 2015.
CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES
Dan Canham works as a theatre-maker
and performer. At the heart of his work lies
an exploration that puts the performer(s)
and the stories of real human experience
in the spotlight. The aesthetic of the live
work is detailed but often stripped down,
leaving space for the performers to conjure
onstage without the clutter of overtly literal
design. Dan is interested in the collective
imagination of performers and audiences and
uses intricate sound design and movement
as playful narrators throughout the work.
Dan has previously worked as a performer
for Kneehigh Theatre, DV8 Physical Theatre,
Punchdrunk and Fabulous Beast among other
companies. Dan’s previous work includes 30
Cecil Street and Ours Was the Fen Country.
Laura Dannequin is a French-born
performer, choreographer and maker based
in Bristol. Previous work includes Dance Dark
Dance, Land, In the Making and Hardy Animal.
Laura is Associate Director at Still House, and
has collaborated with Dan Canham for many
years. Co-creations include West of Nowhere
(2004) and 30 Cecil Street, and Laura has been
outside eye on Ours Was the Fen Country, and
Assocate Director on Of Riders and Running
Horses and How Tender the Man.
Luke Harney is a producer, drummer
and DJ whose work is founded on the best
traditions of the craft but focuses clearly
on the unknown and unheard. He has
previously written music for a large number
of professional dance pieces including White
Caps by Wilkie Branson and Soundclash by
Kwesi Johnson for Phoenix Dance. Under
the name Typesun he produces rugged
underground UK soul music and frequently
receives DJ support from such luminaries
as Giles Peterson, Mr Scruff and Mary-Ann
Hobbs amongst others. His next single
(entitled ‘Icebergs/Water Song – a version
of which appears in this production) will be
released on the 25 May via Root Elevation
Recordings.
Sam Halmarack is a musician, theatremaker and sound-designer. Alongside
collaborations with artists including Tom
Wainwright, Bodies in Flight, Tom Marshman,
Duncan Speakman, Dearheart Ensemble and
the Engage programme with Bath Theatre
Royal. Sam also toured extensively with his
band The Master Chayniis and was one half of
Chew Magna, an electro-pop duo. His work
for theatre includes Sam Halmarack and the
Miserablites. In 2012, he joined forces with
Stuart Bowden and the inimitable Bryony
Kimmings for a A DIY Nativity at Cambridge’s
Junction. Sam is a member of Residence,
an artist led organisation creating space for
artists to make performance, live art and
theatre in Bristol. He is currently developing a
new show, Always and Totally Forever.
MAYK is a producing organisation based
in Bristol and led by Kate Yedigaroff and
Matthew Austin. MAYK works collaboratively
with artists and audiences to make
extraordinary projects happen in unusual
ways, including Mayfest, Bristol’s annual
festival of contemporary theatre. MAYK also
works long term with a number of visionary
artists to develop, produce and tour inspiring
new work. MAYK has worked with Dan on all
of his projects through Still House.
mayk.org.uk
Anna Kazsuba was born in
Wolverhampton, and graduated from London
Contemporary Dance School with a First BA
Hons in 2009. She became an apprentice with
Scottish Dance Theatre and was subsequently
contracted for their Autumn tour. In 2011,
Anna began working with Fabulous Beast
Dance Theatre for the production, Rian, and
the Stravinsky Double Bill production The Rite
of Spring and Petrushka (2013) touring both
nationally and internationally up until 2014.
She has performed in operas such Rusalka
(Grange Park Opera, 2011) and Candide (Opera
National de Lorraine, 2014) and co-founded
DISH Dance collective in 2012. More recent
projects include working with Dylan Quinn
Dance Theatre and Catherine Young (Ireland).
Isabelle Cressy trained at The
Northern School of Contemporary Dance,
graduating in 2009. Since then she has worked
nationally and internationally as a dancer,
actress and musician. Companies/Theatres
include: Punchdrunk, PINCH, Karla Shacklock
Company, Lisa May Thomas, Danceroom
Spectroscopy, Peut-Etre Theatre, Cscape
dance, The National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic
and The Egg Theatre amongst others.
Odilia Egyiawan is known for her
alternative hip hop style and in 2011 became
the UK winner of SDK (Europe’s biggest
Street Dance competition) and represented
the UK in Czech Republic. She has performed
with the top street dance companies
including Zoonation Into The Hoods, Boy Blue
Entertainment, D-Clash all female freestyle
group by Nike and is associate director for
Avant Garde. Her teaching experience includes
Pineapple Dance Studios, Dance Works, Studio
68 and workshops overseas. Odilia has also
danced for artists from the likes of Beyonce,
Usher, Rita Ora, Cheryl Cole, Major Lazer,
LaToya Jackson and The Brit Awards, MOBO
Awards, London 2012 Olympics, The Royal
Variety Show and many more.
Tilly Webber trained at London
Contemporary Dance School, where she
attained her BA Hons. On leaving she
started work with Michael Clarke Company
and since then has worked with various
choreographers and companies, including
Marc Brew (CandoCo), Lorena Randi,
Rosie Kay Company, Dam Van Hughn,
Aletta Collins, StillHouse (Ours Was The Fen
Country) , Junk Ensemble(Ire). Alongside
this she has performed in operas, music
videos and independent film projects, which
ultimately has determined a varied career in
performance.
Tanya Richam-Odoi is a freelance
dancer, choreographer, teacher and
performance artist. She has worked for
leading contemporary companies in the
UK, including Phoenix Dance Theatre and
DV8 Physical Theatre, and with renowned
choreographers Darshan Singh Bhuller, Henri
Oguike, Didy Veldman, Robert Cohan, Arthur
Pita, Javier de Frutos. Her love of performing
extends to operas, aerial work, puppetry,
film-making, script-writing, singing, musicals,
commercial and extra work, to all of which she
adds her unique Scottish flair.
Bianca Ward originally trained as a
textile designer. Bianca has honed her skills
and applied them to costume, working as a
Costume Designer/Supervisor and Maker. This
year she has costume supervised Our House
for Pimlico Opera at Belmarsh Prison. Other
recent projects include supervising Madame
Butterfly for Opera Project and 101 Dalmatians
for The Tobacco Factory Theatres. Bianca
trained at Central Saint Martins and Bristol old
Vic Theatre School.
Greg Mickelborough has worked as a
production manager and lighting designer for
numerous national and international touring
shows, festivals and theatres, including BBC
Proms, The Two Wrongies, Bryony Kimmings,
Ragroof, BandBazi, 30 Bird, the awardwinning theatrical production Dip Your Toe,
Sue MacLaine, Brightonshed, fanSHEN,
Karavan Ensemble, Stillpoint Theatre, Victoria
Melody, Spymonkey, Tall Stories, Arch 468
and aerial dance company Gravity & Levity.
Greg was the former Venue and Technical
Manager of The Basement, and Production
Manager for Festibelly music festival, and
is currently part of the team converting St
Mark’s Chapel in Brighton into an arts centre
and creation space. He lives in Brighton and
runs ultra-marathons. www.gregmick.co.uk
Helen Edwards has recently relocated
back to Bristol to work as a freelance producer
after several years of living and working in
London. Helen is the Assistant Producer with
Theatre Orchard on Theatre Shop which
reinvents an empty high-street shop into
a live arts performance venue in Clevedon,
North Somerset. Prior to freelancing Helen
worked at the National Theatre as the Youth
Programme Coordinator co-producing Young
Studio an artist development scheme for
16-21 year olds, the National Centre for Circus
Arts and Salisbury International Arts Festival.
As a theatre producer Helen specialises in
artist development and participatory work
and projects that engage with public and
community spaces. www.helencedwards.com
stillhouse.co.uk
mayk.org.uk
@stillhouselive
@maykithappen