After her first week of working with the company I asked our Causeway Young Artist in Residence, Charlotte Edmonds, if she had any expectations creating a new work for Yorke Dance Project. Charlotte began by saying that she had high expectations of herself. She was extremely nervous coming into an adult and professional environment. She wanted to come in with the right approach and said she was aware that her experience was limited.
I then went on to ask Charlotte if her expectations were met. She said that she felt relieved to have started working with the dancers. She added that as a choreographer she had already had an incredible journey in just the first week and that she had come so far and yet had so much more to learn. The most thrilling part of the first week for her was watching the material build and felt that is was a real collaboration with the dancers, working with them and pulling it all together.
Both Stephen Pelton and I felt that Charlotte had learned a great deal this week and we were excited to see her take on new challenges. It was great to see her give the dancers the freedom to create new material that she could mold and manipulate into the rest of the material. The dancers have been incredible and I am really proud of the way they have worked with Charlotte. A lot of people have said what an amazing opportunity for Charlotte but I think it is an amazing opportunity for all of us as we are all learning from this experience.
I will report back after week 2 !
Yolande Yorke-Edgell