DANCER ARTIST ENTERTAINER

Kitchen Dances is an 85 film series of me dancing in my kitchen I created between June and November 2014.

For 20+ years have committed myself to creating work that is accessible.  Ironically, since becoming a single Mum in 2012 I have found myself significantly disabled from creating or participating in the cultural scene. This has given me sensitivity to the difficulty of finding space to create work as well the challenge of finding work that is accessible.

In June 2014 I developed a notion to dance for 30 minutes a night after my toddler son was in bed, my only free time.  I was partly influenced by Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk about how sometimes we just need to set aside 30 minutes a day to do that thing we love, in order to cultivate our 'genius'.  I was partly influenced by Virginia Woolf's seminal work 'A Room of One's Own' and the need for me to carve out a space that is entirely my own.  I was partly influenced by the fact I really really MISS dancing.

Most were filmed and edited between the hours of 10-midnight. I would stream a 30 minute improvisational dance online and then edit together a short film to the music I had been listening to (I listened to the same song on repeat on my iPod).

My only rule was to be authentic, in the moment. The dance encapsulated, expressed, what had gone before and was my only time to be ‘on my own’- in theory, in actuality I was never alone, as sometimes my dance would be interrupted as I had to tend to my son, the kitchen retains reminders of domestic chores needing doing- dishes to be washed, laundry to be done, meals to be planned…  

I had hoped to do 180 dances between 21 June 2014-21 December 2014 symbolizing the space between summer and the winter solstice - and the return to the light— this became impossible as my son’s needs became greater in November 2014.  Even 30 minutes became too much.

I streamed each 30 minute dance via a live interactive webstream and I set an egg timer for this time.  All were welcome to join in publicly or privately online.  I had viewers across the globe from Saudi Arabia to Australia; Fiji to Mongolia.  Each day I choose a theme song or other people choose it for me which I played on repeat on my headphones.   At the end of the dance I edit together 2-4 minutes which is shown on Vimeo.

Here are a sampling of short films that encapsulate the spirit of the dance posted on my vimeo page. (https://vimeo.com/kateedeeming/videos)