Job Description
The Place is delighted to launch the fourth in the series of Artist Led Labs. Gillie Kleiman was selected via our 2023/24 open call. You can read more about her lab in the drop down menu below!
These labs intend to support artists to share their research and skills, as well as delving into their own practice and movement styles. We're excited to create space for artists to connect, move and learn together; without the pressure of creating a finished show or product.
All the Artist Led Labs are free to attend, with some travel bursary places available for participants.
About Gillie
Gillie Kleiman works with and in dance and choreography, creating performances, texts, events and pedagogical encounters.
Gillie’s work has a persistent interest in both the figure and the activity of the non-professional, and many of the projects have involved participation of non-professional collaborators or of the audience. In 2020, Gillie initiated a new cycle of thinking and working about fat and fatness, which has included a DIY workshop with the Live Art Development Agency, a trip to Japan to see a Sumo tournament, a scholarly book project (forthcoming 2025), a residency at Body Home Fat Dance in Portland, Oregon, and a short film with fat screendance specialist Magdalena Hutter.
Gillie has degrees in dance and performance, including a PhD in Dance Studies. Alongside her artistic practice, she is Head of Higher Education at Dance City, a Trustee of People Dancing, and external examiner at the Danish National School of Performing Arts. She is a member of the trade union UVW-DCW.
Gillie lives and works in Newcastle upon Tyne.
About the lab
Fat Contact is Gillie's artistic research project, she describes the lab as follows:
Fat Contact explores the ways in which the bodies of fat people come into contact with each other. Inspired by early versions of the American dance form Contact Improvisation, the Japanese wrestling practice Sumo, and the sculptures of Eva Fàbregas, this exploratory lab will focus on creating choreographic structures in a playing field informed by and curious about our own fat embodiments and their capacity to create meaning. We will fall, fold and falter, spoon and smush and spread; we will push and prang and ping.
The lab has a movement research and choreographic research focus, rather than the teaching of an existing form. We will be moving through a series of experiments with the idea of a performance in mind, either a performance that any of us might make in the future, or the rough performances we do for each other within the sessions. There will be trying-out, improvising, composing and discussion, which Gillie will hold and guide; there will be not-knowing, and thinking about how we make meaning together, and being seriously silly. Because of the theme, we will be in physical contact with one another; while we will discuss boundaries and consent, it may be less possible for you to engage with the activities if touch is out of the question for you.
An additional note on the word ‘contact’: this is not a lab on the existing dance form Contact Improvisation. As inspiring as it is, we will also explore other ways to be in contact, like holding hands, or human pyramids, or massage, or blowing raspberries on each other, or things from other dance forms like the detailed contact of Argentine Tango or the partner graphics of Skinner Releasing Technique. This context is offered to indicate the breadth of the palette, as well as to make clear that this is not a Contact Improvisation workshop.
Dates and Times
Mon 24 - Thu 27 Feb 2025
10am - 1pm and 2pm - 5pm each day
Who can get involved?
This lab is directed towards dance professionals. However, we understand that fat people are routinely and systematically excluded from many dance and dance education environments, which means that the ways in which fat people gain and activate dance experience can sit outside accepted norms. Because of these exclusions, there isn’t a very clear way of talking about this, so please be in touch if you’re not sure or would like to talk it through. To help with thinking about this, people who might best make use of this Lab could include:
Current or former dance artists with professional training and/or a dance degree etc.
People with significant pre-vocational or recreational dance experience, such as very experienced community dance participants, ex-CAT students etc.
Performers from other disciplines with movement knowledge and interest acquired through training or independent exploration
We will ask you to describe your existing dance experience on application.
This Lab is only suitable for fat people. ‘Fat’, here, is used as a neutral descriptor, the way you might describe another person as ‘tall’ or ‘brunette’. There is a lot of material online about this word, but a good place to start could be here. If you’re not sure if you think of yourself as fat, this might be helpful.
We will assume that if you are applying, you are fat, even if you usually use other words to describe yourself.
Participants are invited to attend all four days or just part, organised in morning and afternoon sessions. We ask that you sign up accurately and inform us of changes to your availability. This is to ensure all available places are occupied.
How to apply
There are two narrative questions; you can say as much or as little as you like, but 200 words for each might be a useful guide.
Please fill out this Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form.
In taking part, participants are expected to adhere to The Place's Code of Conduct for collaborative working. You can read this here.
All applications that demonstrate appropriate experience and understanding of the Lab will be offered a place. Should there be more applicants than places, we will use a randomised selection method.
If you have any questions about the lab, please email artistdevelopment@theplace.org.uk