Matthew Foster, Associate Director of Scottish dance company David Hughes Dance, reflects on the company's story so far and the exciting times that lie ahead as they bring their new show Last Orders to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Crossing Water...

I recently visited Sadler’s Wells to meet with Farooq Chaudry, Akram Khan’s right hand man and, simply put, genius. My intention was to unravel the secrets behind Akram Khan Company, one of the arts world’s big commercial success stories but, given my sixty minute window, perhaps I had over-estimated my capacity to interrogate him. In the final moments of the encounter, as I shook Farooq’s hand, I assumed the resemblance of a North Sea cod, freshly placed amongst the fishmonger’s wares; glazed eyes and mouth agape. I had spent an hour treading water with a great white and truly felt like a minnow in the ocean.

Fishy metaphors aside, what struck me about Farooq’s journey was the sheer persistence and persuasive power required to transform a dance company into a self-sufficient and self-sustaining business. What I also realised, however, is that developing a strong foothold in the international market has the potential to facilitate this progress in a relatively short period of time, particularly when the economies of other countries are stronger than ours. Some would say that using Akram Khan Company as a bench mark is foolish, but listening to their story, I simply felt reassurance about the recent activities we have been engaged in at David Hughes Dance.

After two years of ground work, our agent Roland Grevesmuhl (Bussarts) secured our first exclusive international date at the Staadttheatre, Aschaffenburg in Germany where we performed to an extremely welcoming audience. We were surprised to learn that the performance had been sold out for two months in advance and that a great curiosity had been developing around this wee Scottish company that had dared to venture into Europe. As it was our first assault on foreign shores we decided to present our strongest programme of repertoire which included Chris Bruce’s Hurricane, Tanja Liedtke’s Imploded: Une Reverie Romantique and our full length horror spectacle The Red Room. The evening was made even more poignant by the presence of Gerlinde Liedtke who came to see Imploded performed for the first time since her daughter’s tragic death in 2007.

In addition to this programme of work we also brought together a stunning cast of performers including Scottish Ballet veteran Paul Liburd MBE, Martin Lindinger (Hubbard Street Ballet, Canadian Ballet) and old friend Lina Limosani (Australian Dance Theatre). With this dream team of heroes we were making a clear statement that our first international experience should resonate. The Aschaffenburg MAIN ECHO reviewer stated that:

‘True art is what we saw in Aschaffenburg, psychedelic and eccentric, merging skillfully with a clear language of movement, in various styles. The dancers are perfectly matched in the reflection of who we are and who we could be.’

Two months on from this, David Hughes Dance was invited to perform The Red Room as the opening work of the Szene:Schottland Festival at the Societaetstheater in Dresden, Germany. Again we danced for a capacity audience who nearly broke floorboards with their appreciative stamping -  more liberated audiences being one of the cultural differences we have witnessed so far.

Both the performances delivered in Germany were supported by the Scottish Governments's Made in Scotland International Touring Fund which is managed by Creative Scotland. This additional support was extremely welcome as freight costs were a completely new concept to us (five rolls of mirrored dance floor are hardly eligible for hand luggage). We will return to Germany in February 2012 where we will perform in Ludwigshaffen and Saarlouis. It is my sincere hope that events like these become a regular part of our organisational activity and that we indeed continue to carve out a David Hughes Dance sized foothold in the international arena.

Home Turf...

Sandwiched neatly between these two European events was a mini-tour of Scotland taking in those venues who had not received The Red Room during the original 2009 tour. We made several new friends including: The Maltings, Berwick-Upon-Tweed; Universal Hall, Findhorn and The Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh in addition to returning to Dundee Rep whom we had not visited since 2008. The response was overwhelmingly positive from both the audiences and the venues with one audience member taking time to communicate the following:

‘I came in ignorance. without even knowing the title of your production (sorry), and now - days later - I am still in a daze brought on by your demented, demonic, delightful, exquisitely danced tale. I want to tell you I sat on the edge of my seat for the full fifty five minutes, absolutely mesmerised and entranced by the energy and creativity and sheer magnificence of the whole performance and the family of dancers. God bless you. I still can’t believe it.  And to keep buzzing with vigour and movement and quirky new gestures the like of which I have never seen. Enough disturbing revelry and machinations and murderous energy for a year or more. Thank you, thank you, thank you.‘

David Hughes Dance will again tour Scotland in the Autumn of 2011 bringing the new production Last Orders to audiences across the country.

Our Shiny, New Toy... = < success?

The trouble with succeeding at something is that expectations grow at an exponential rate until anything ‘less’ is somehow deemed failure. In 2009 The Red Room was the first dance work ever programmed during the Traverse Theatre’s festival programme. It was the best selling production in Traverse 1 that year. It received a Total Theatre commendation, a Herald Devil award and flawless press coverage. The prospect of building on this without tripping up on the pressure and seeing the broken pieces of ego scattered on the ground has been fairly alarming. However...

When we originally made The Red Room, the driving concept of Director Al Seed was to present the horror genre on stage in a cinematic fashion - hopefully resulting in the creation of something accessible and entertaining. Keeping in line with the notion of film, we considered the possibility of making a series of works (perhaps even a trilogy) which explored these dark themes and textures. The success of The Red Room simply confirmed that this template had merit and so the logical next step was to create the subsequent production in the series. Time gentlemen, that’s Last Orders! 

In November 2010 David Hughes Dance formed a new partnership with National Theatre Scotland who funded a development week allowing the company to bring together its creative team (including Director Al Seed) and explore the world of Sawney Bean, the 16th century Scottish cannibal. The development was a huge success and National Theatre Scotland subsequently chose to invest financially in the creation of the full work:

‘Taking the tale of legendary 16th century Scottish cannibal Sawney Bean as its inspiration, this original and enthralling work of dance theatre will lead you on a hallucinatory journey down the rabbit-hole, through subterranean caves and derelict nightclubs, to a radically different and unstable world of corrupted innocence where nothing is quite what is seems.‘  In Association with National Theatre Scotland. 

This relationship marked a new chapter in the story of David Hughes Dance. It also kick-started a phase of creative momentum and partnerships that quickly surpassed The Red Room’s achievements:

•  Following a three week devising period in March, we learned that Last Orders would be included in the Scottish Government's Made in Scotland programme which promotes Scottish work and secures involvement in a sophisticated network of international programmers (as well as providing supplementary funding to support our marketing and engagement of international performers).

•  We also learned that the Traverse Theatre would demonstrate their commitment to us by programming Last Orders in Traverse 1 (where it will premiere) during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011.

•  David Hughes Dance is also one of only four Scottish companies to be included in the British Council Edinburgh Showcase programme which also develops links and communication channels between companies and international programmers and producers.

Immediately after the Edinburgh Festival, David Hughes Dance will embark on an autumn tour of Last Orders in Scotland where the following performances have already been secured:

To our absolute joy, we have avoided vinegar and managed to sweetly ferment the success of The Red Room into powerful partnerships, financial investment and increased interest in David Hughes Dance and Last Orders. The Edinburgh Festival 2011 will be the most effective platform possible for us to build on our growing international profile and our association with the National Theatre of Scotland, the Traverse Theatre, Made In Scotland and British Council programmes will provide us with a set of circumstances we may never see again.

Jerry’s Final thoughts...

David Hughes Dance is in its third year as an FXO funded organisation and as we pass through this economic nightmare it feels like spring time. The Scottish Arts Council has metamorphosised into Creative Scotland and we will wave goodbye to FXOs and welcome a future of Strategic Commissions. But somehow we have thrived through this bleak winter. During the worst recession in modern history we exceeded our financial targets by 20% managing to raise 50% of our FXO grant as additional revenue in cash alone. At some point this growth will need to plateau out but with Last Orders and all it entails ahead of us....if there is a time to secure a foothold in the international market, conceal my gaping trout-pout and have fire in our eyes it is now.

Matt Foster
Associate Director
David Hughes Dance Productions LTD
David Hughes Dance Productions LTD is Associate Dance Company of the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.
For more information on our organisation and for links to footage please visit:
www.davidhughesdance.co.uk

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