Bridget is a multifaceted artist and creative with a 20 year portfolio working in local, national and international contexts in the areas of: choreography, movement and rehearsal direction, performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, dance, movement & embodied practices, artist-led initiatives, facilitation & producing.
Bridget's responsive practice engages and collaborates with people, ideas, feelings, dreams, environments, histories, philosophies, living experiences, activism and change making.
Bridget's work occurs on various scales and in various ways, from: the international touring of urgent theatre productions with the renowned Belarus Free Theatre as Choreographic / Movement & Rehearsal Director (including the New York Times 'Best Theatre of 2017' listed work 'Burning Doors'), to sharing the story of revolution and inspiring audiences to move in 'Counting Sheep: Staging A Revolution' as Choreographic & Rehearsal Director, to creating and performing works for public space festivals and galleries, to supporting and facilitating ways for young people to develop their creative practice, skills and voice, to performing in dance, theatre and film works, to making projects happen such as the independent, tri-national and multi-modal project 'They Gather'.
As an international artist, and via my dual identity as both an Australian and British citizen living and working between the UK (Manchester) and Australia (Brisbane), I aim to make meaningful contributions to both places where I practice, work and live, as well as contribute wider internationally via partnership building and collaborations with artists, communities, change-makers, producers, curators, advocates and organisations.
I acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where I was born, have and do live, learn and work.
Always was. Always will be.
This site as a growing archive of my work, practices and thinking, as well as the experiences and the contexts that these occur within.
Current & Selected Projects
Approaches
Bridget has an accomplished portfolio of roles in performance, choreography / direction, movement & rehearsal direction, teaching & facilitation in community, education and professional contexts as well as producing & dance development (including initiatives prioritising the artist’s voice in strategic sector development).
As an artist Bridget strives to respond to underlying conditions of how we experience, create meaning & cohabitate in the world: engaging with what is challenging & what is wonderful.
As both an Australian and British citizen Bridget lives, practices and works between both homes. as well as working on projects extending across Europe and further internationally. Bridget aims to utilise being an international artist to create opportunities for other artists, communities and audiences to exchange, learn and grow. Bridget aims for her work to have local and personal meaning with international awareness, connection and dialogue.
20 years in contemporary dance, theatre & interdisciplinary collaboration has defined responsiveness, embodied considerations, shared experience, discourse and rigour as central to Bridget's practice. These interests have opened opportunities for Bridget's artistic work to tackle and engage with a broad range of subjects including: urgent human rights issues, cultural identification and tensions and areas of scientific research. As a consequence, each work and project reveals unique processes and sensibilities that emerge from a desire to be authentic to the subject matter, intention and context, as well as to engage with audiences and participants on kinaesthetic, conceptual, imaginative, social and emotional levels.
Career Highlights
Co-creator/Choreographer/Director & Producer of 'They Gather' an international, interdisciplinary and multimodal independent project with partnerships in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands. www.theygatherproject.com
Choreographic and Rehearsal Director of the highly acclaimed 'Counting Sheep: Staging A Revolution' at the VAULT Festival, London, 2019.
Movement Director on 'Trustees' a Malthouse Theatre and Melbourne International Arts Festival production. Directed by Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin (Belarus Free Theatre).
Choreographic, movement and rehearsal director with Belarus Free Theatre, collaborating and working on international touring productions: ‘Burning Doors' with Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina (winner ‘Best Ensemble’ Off West End Awards and listed in the New York Times 'Best Theatre of 2017'), 'Trash Cuisine’ (winner 2013 Impacto Totale Award) and ‘Red Forest’ (including undertaking research in Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Australia on the impacts of man-made and environmental disaster on vulnerable communities).
Bridget's work reaches a breadth of audiences at festivals, in galleries & museums, in public spaces, at major events and in venues including: a Be SpectACTive! EU residency project commission engaging with individuals and families seeking asylum (in and out of detention), Roma youth and artists, people 'erased' during Slovenia's independence, emigrant workers activists and Romanian youth, 'Because Of Gravity' for The Future (a partnership between Rambert and The Lowry), 'The Body Of Us' presented at festivals in the UK (Dance: Sampled at The Lowry) and Australia, several projects as a collaborating co-founder, choreographer & performer with new music and dance collective Out of the Blue Productions including projects in partnership with BBC Philharmonic and eu-art-network as well as works/projects in Manchester Day, Rugby League Magic Weekend (choreographer of large scale youth performed work as an associate artist of Company Chameleon), Manchester International Women's Festival, moves - International Festival Of Movement On Screen, The Lowry Digit Fest, Liverpool Biennial, Illuminating York, Supercell Festival Of Contemporary Dance and many more.
As a performer Bridget has: worked on Cheryl Stock’s international, intercultural and interdisciplinary project ‘Accented Body’ (2006 Brisbane International Festival, https://www.cherylstock.com/projectsall/accented-body), been a company dancer with Australia's premier company making work for children and young people as audience Buzz Dance Theatre performing works by Paige Gordon, Carol Wellman Kelly and Felicity Bott, performed the role of 'Weird Woman' as part of touring cast of imitating the dog's 'Hotel Methuselah' to Cena Brasil Internacional, as well as research projects and performance works by Rosetta Cook, Joseph Lau (including the 2010 TURN Prize-winning work 'Abandoned Things'), Xanthe Beesley, Tarcisio Teatini-Climaco and Louise Deleur.
As a respected creative, facilitator & teaching artist Bridget has worked in many community, education and professional contexts. Guest and regular delivery and facilitation engagements have included amongst others with:
(companies) - Expressions Dance Company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Dancenorth Australia and Ludus Dance Company.
(higher education training institutes) - The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, University of Roehampton, University of Central Lancashire, University of Salford and Queensland University of Technology.
(Centre for Advanced Training programmes) - The Lowry, National Centre for Circus Arts, The Place and Yuva Gati (South Asian CAT).
(community & youth projects) - 'Baby Fever' by Contact Youth Company, STRIDE a Greater Manchester young Men’s Dance project (Dance Manchester & Company Chameleon), UDance (North West youth dance festival), Powerkids (Brisbane Powerhouse), The Out Of the Box Festival, Rio Rhythmics 'Rio Jam' and Dance Manchester's sessions for home educated children.
(adult and professional training organisations / activities) - Expressions Dance Company, MAD Dance House, Rio Rhythmics Latin Dance Academy, River City Dance and The Place Summerhouse.
Bridget Fiske & Co is a banner for creative and producing work of Bridget Fiske.
Through this identity the significant role of collaborators, collectives, community and partners in the realisation of projects and artistic works is celebrated, valued and acknowledged.
Working with Bridget
Bridget's strong, rigorous and sensitive practice as a choreographer, movement director, rehearsal director, performer, teaching artist, facilitator, curator and producer enables Bridget to work with partners, commissioners, employers and collaborators in the following ways.
Direct and choreograph for events, stage and screen as well as interactive live & digital projects in artistic and commercial contexts.
Design and deliver creative and training based workshops for a breadth of contexts.
Design and direct creative projects in response to community, venue, organisation or festival and event aspirations & needs.
Deliver training and development for professional artists across disciplines.
Deliver wellbeing through dance and movement sessions drawing upon a wide breadth of practices.
Collaborate, mentor and consult in a range of areas.
Bridget brings the following knowledge and experiences to her responsive practice.
Working with a people across a breadth of ages from 2 years to 80 years in education, community participatory and community creative contexts.
Working with professional dance, music, sound, theatre and performance artists.
Collaborating with artists in interactive digital media, filmmaking, visual art, music, sound design, lighting design and theatre.
Working on and building international, intercultural and interdisciplinary projects and collaborations.
Delivering learning and artistic development in:
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dance & digital practices,
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choreographic, movement, performance and ensemble centred devising & improvisation practices,
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sited performance and creative practices.
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various performance and movement techniques,
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application of dance in learning environments (e.g. CPD for educators),
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developing independent projects and practice, and more.
20+ years of practical ongoing training including in: various contemporary dance techniques, varied somatic movement approaches (e.g. experimental anatomy), contact improvisation, yoga, pilates, classical ballet, various physical theatre and actor training methods and various conditioning, health and well-being training approaches.
Photographers who's work appears on this site:
Ekua Bayunu, Maureen Billeau, Victor Isabel Bueno, Lisa Cullen, Costin Chesnoiu for Teatrul National Radu Stanca Sibiu, Christine Fiske, Jessie Giraud, Joseph Lau, Nikolai Khalezin, Matt Kowalczuk, Stelios Manousakis, Nadia Milford, Stephanie Pan, Jana Sedláčková, Brian Slater, Eamonn Sweeney - CreativeImageworx and Sammie Williams.
Website created by Bridget Fiske