Residencies
tangled feet undertake bespoke residencies in schools and community settings.
Over a week, the company might work intensively with one or more groups of
students to develop ideas, practice our methodology and create performance.
We might also do guerilla performance at break times to transform the normal
environment, hold 'open rehearsals' or share some of our work with the whole
school.
Example Residency: Thomas Tallis
In July 2009, tangled feet were commissioned by students at Thomas Tallis
School, in Kidbrooke. The whole company of Home worked intensively for a week
with a 'company' of 30 students from across the year groups, exploring the
themes of 'home', and more broadly, how the school can become a more creative
physical environment. Over the week, students and tangled feet created daily
'interventions' including guerilla performances, sound installations and rogue
tents that popped up all over the school site in surprising places. The week
culminated in a site-responsive performance 'trail' all over the school grounds
in which students and tangled feet performed side-by-side, and a performance
of 'Home' at lunchtime for the whole school.
See documentation of our residency at Thomas Tallis secondary school.
See photos and
video of the residency.
Example: Beaumont School
Tangled Feet were in residence for a week at Beaumont School in St Albans during the making of their show ‘Home’. We rehearsed sections of the piece in school both with students and with the company having open rehearsals after school hours. We made performances with students that happened at break times and lunchtimes.
Aims of community work/residencies
Free-to-access engagement with professional artists
Opportunities to create work around the theme of performance
Sharing and learning TF’s methodology
Opening dialogue within the group about community and associated issues.
Beginnings of potential longer-term engagement and contact with professional arts company and with regional venues.
Tangled Feet sees this kind of work as creatively reciprocal, as our work grows and is informed by these workshops. We see the participants in these workshops and residencies as making a creative contribution to the work, as ideas and work developed in the workshops is incorporated into the show for future performances.
Numbers of participants can vary, but as an average will would look for 15-20 participants per session. As an ensemble we have a track record of managing similar projects, all artists involved are experienced in similar work, and the participatory projects would be modelled in previous successful residencies as shown above.
Each workshop will be tailored to the group and will use age-appropriate methods. Using a play or performance as a vehicle for creative discussion, we will use theatrical exercises and games to explore our relationship with that world. The outcome may be images, scenes, movement or story telling. The workshop is based on sharing, in a non-risk way, our thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards our homes. We also work on performance skills, including devising methods, ensemble work, chorus techniques, improvisation, physical theatre, group working and confidence building
We look to work closely with various groups, including:
Young people in and out of education
Teachers
Homeless Charities
Non-English speaking groups
Older people
Recently-arrived people, both in and out of education
Community performance groups (non professional)