A message from Fleur Darkin
I am delighted to be joining Scottish Dance Theatre at this unique moment for Dundee and Scotland. The opportunity to develop the potential of this globally celebrated dance company fills me with inspiration.
Scottish Dance Theatre is a cultural leader, and its unique relationship to Dundee Rep is a tremendous breeding ground for collaborative practice and innovation. There is no other organisation like this in the UK!
I am passionate about virtuosity and the power of dance to engage and liberate audiences. I look forward to broadening the possibilities of what an internationally touring dance rep company can be. Working with the exceptional SDT dancers, we will pioneer a dance inquiry that leads us into a new artistic era.
I look forward to collaborating with artists from everywhere as we push the national dance agenda forward and create a space for artistic excellence – that can inspire Scotland and the world.
Thanks to all the dancers, artists, producers, critics, funders, venues and technical teams who have made our last ten years of touring possible.
We have been supported by incredible relationships with individuals and organisations who support new dance inquiry and have enabled our passion to innovate ways of bringing dance and audiences together. In particular, I am indebted to Laban who have nurtured me as a professional independent dance artist and have provided resources which any artist would be honoured to practice with.
I also wish to thank Arts Council England who do a vital job of supporting art that follows its own vision and doesn’t just replicate the artistic status quo. Dance and culture are an important part of any society that wishes to think of itself as developed, and across all areas of the UK I have met individuals and organisations who have inspired me as an artist and inspire others – specialists and non - to live bigger and dream higher. We must all support our local arts organisations and the Arts Council and fight for culture to be understood as an important tool in healing the problems we all face.
Artistic Policy is who you work with. Thank you Brian Brady, Anneliese Slader, Kate Castle, Chris Fogg, Ian Abbott, John Ashford, Ben Harrison, Salmon Youth Centre, Sri Sarker, Rebecca Dawson, Alan Rivett, Bush Hartshorn, Wieke Eringa, Kate Yedigaroff, Emma Stenning, Tom Morris, Richard Lee, Gill Clarke, Guy Hilton, Wayne McGregor, Dr. Jo Butterworth, Chris Lomas, Lucy Cullingford, Mairead Turner, Karen Feys, Feras Al-Chalabi, Caroline Kenny, Brian Kelly, Fatema Ahmed, Jo Probitts, and Loesje Sanders, Wendy Martin, Eva Martinez, Chantal Bardouille, Marie McCluskey, Lou Cope, Andrew Broadley.
My heartfelt thanks goes to all the dancers who have given themselves to our projects, At times being an independent dance artist can feel like an exercise in the imagination… I hope this company’s journey inspires independent dance artists to fight another day. The future is ours.
Fleur Darkin, 7 March 2012
Fleur will be joining Scottish Dance Theatre as Artistic Director in Autumn 2012.
To see the dates of our current tour have a look at our Calendar.