BRIDGET FISKE

THE PROJECT

 

There were several things that led me to this development project: 

• a love of writing when I was younger (short stories about vampires that give birth to 300 babies, and essays where I could argue a point or share with others fascinating things I had researched), 

• working for over a decade in theatre as a Choreographic, Movement and Rehearsal Director (and feeling that there is something in me to put on the page), and 

• spending several years creating visual and text-based choreographic scores (from thinking into accessible language for facilitating people into movement, to expanded experiential and fiction texts that offer new narrative of place). 

 

To my dear high school friend Kristi thank you for that moment when I mentioned that i was working on my writing and you so genrerously and warmly expressed your positive memory of my writing when we were at school. You affirmed for me that this has always been present, just not given enough attention across the past 25 years.

 

With these experiences present, and a deep desire to feel into potentials, I designed a programme of activity in order to understand what focusing on writing could do for me and my work. How does it support me to find ideas, be more rigorous with ideas, to develop new ways of expressing ideas, and to develop new methods that can be integrated into my choreographic, directorial and facilitation practice?

 

I have been fortunate to meet and work with some incredible people in my life and whom I was able to invite to be present in different ways across this process. In Mexican award winning Novelist, Choreographer and Director Marcela Sánchez Mota, I found a Mentor. Someone who had lived in the process of writing a novel who also had movement and theatre practice I admired. I created a Critical Peer Group to further process what was emergent as I took this journey. This became about dialogue around specific questions on story and the ethics of telling stories, and how to take specific steps through the writing process. I have worked with Sarah Sayeed, Michèle Steinwald and Keisha Thompson in various ways across the past few years and was so thrilled to have time with these pertinent thinkers and makers.

 

Time in studio with dance artists Amy Voris and Joseph Lau, grounded my research. I was able to find a dialogue between movement and different texts, ways of creating new text from a movement practice, and the instincts of artists receiving these texts. These created an essential infinity pattern between writing, devising and directing.

 

Feeding into all of this was time researching, reading, listening and writing on my own.

 

Thank you to you all from the depth of my heart for so openly being present with me in the unknown, offering reflection, provocation, pathways and encouragement. 

 

Although this is all incredibly positive. This journey hasn’t been without its challenges. The balancing of life as a freelance and independent artist, meant this project extended in its time to a 12 month journey. 

 

At the end of this 12 months where am I now?

 

I feel excited that I have discovered two pieces I feel highly connected with to keep writing and that are stories I feel I can tell. I am now working towards writing a script and a short story. 

 

I am actively looking for opportunities to be working on both of these and continue to be in researching and thinking to support each of their development, This is easy when the subject is meaningful and interesting. Each has their own themes, ambitions and subtleties, they connect with themes of inequality, risk, and mythology. It is interesting for me, thanks to the witnessings of my Peer Group, to identify that each includes environment as a character. I can recognise where in myself this interest or leaning into comes from and is something I will write more about more widely. 

 

I need to hold these stories close for a while and find the opportunities to develop them, but will share more when the time is write.

 

As I take this journey, I look forward in time to sharing more with you here.

 

Bridget

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*This project was supported by an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant.