I think Coachwerks...
"I am a choreographer and dance artist based between Ireland and Brighton and I was in residence at Coachwerks in January and February 2010 whilst carrying out research and development for my current choreographic project, ‘Notions of Journeying’. I started spending time in Brighton in September 2009 and was keen to find potential spaces to create dance work whilst also feeling part of a wider artistic community. Brighton is the home to South East Dance, but is yet to house any good rehearsal studios that are possible to book for more than a couple of hours at a time. I fell across Coachwerks and was struck by how inviting the group of people who run this space are. Their attitude seems to be ‘yes lets’ to an enthusiastic suggestion from a passionate artist, and this is both refreshing and infectious!

I met with Ana to talk about my project and see if Coachwerks would be interested to have me on artistic residency there at a subsidised rate for the hiring the performance space. I was also interested to hold a weekend workshop and to open up morning company class during my residency to other local practitioners as part of the project. Ana was enthusiastic about the whole idea and suggested that I could be artist in focus as part of their ViewFinder series - a regular artist ‘show and tell’ event.

Although the space is somewhat chilly and leaky, I love the character and rawness that it holds. I often find plush dance studios quite sterile environments to work in. By contrast, the space at Coachwerks is full of life and texture and I find that an inspiration. I also really enjoy that there are artists of all disciplines working at Coachwerks - the conversations that arise over lunch or a tea break between all the people involved in the space make for new ideas, perspectives, and inspiration to be shared.

My training background is in dance and choreography, but I often feel that my artistic vision reaches far beyond those parameters, I just don’t have all the necessary skills to realise my ideas. Being surrounded by such a diverse group of artists makes me feel the possibility of branching out into some of those other fields - gradually finding the most appropriate mediums for saying what I want to say. For example, as part of my current project I want to make a series of drawings I have into large prints on canvas as a choreographic art exhibition. But I know nothing of screen printing or the ‘visual arts’ way of doing things. Over the past few weeks I have been in touch with Clare from Coachwerks - she is in the process of building a screen printing room at Coachwerks and is happy to collaborate with me on this aspect of the project. I feel that within the walls of this building many things can be drawn together.

It is through Coachwerks that I start to feel a strong and supportive community around me in Brighton - a rare pleasure I think!"

Charlotte Spencer