Academy Mews Dance Studios, as part of the Camden and London community, is supporting artists in the development and advancement of their creative journeys through a 2021 Artists Residency Programme.
In this page, you can check out the latest and previous artists in residence. Our video showcases feature a filmed presentation of the work the artists developed during the residency, as well as an interview, which will offer some insight into them and their practice.
We are very proud of their work and hope you enjoy it as much as us.
RepLauryn Pinard – Youth Residency November 2022
– Showcase December 2022
Lauryn is a freelance dance artist and researcher whose practice engages with the question ‘How to Decolonise a Body?’. Trained in contemporary, contemporary African dance and theatre practices, her work centres around ideas of belonging, Afrofuturism, blackness within the land and the climate emergency, scenography and digital spaces, with access and disability at the essence of her creative process. Her recent short dance film series Moun Dlo premiered as part of the Dancing with Decolonisation Conference in August 2022.
To an island called Repo examines Rest as a creative practice and primary act of love to generate alternative realities and futures. The process-based project invites movers to manipulate the space around THEM, attending to their needs. From this place of tuning inwards, the group will engage with questioning notions of terminology, the performance of activism and radicality through research-based prompts, discussions, movement and non-verbal interaction.
PAST RESIDENCIES
MOŸ MOŸ collective- Youth Residency April 2022
– Showcase April 2022
We are Florencia and Daniela, a duo working within MOŸ MOŸ collective.
MOŸ MOŸ collective is a non-hierarchical artistic network that supports the work of each autonomous artist and promotes collaboration, a safe space to navigate and challenge the dance scene. The collective gathers seven female dance artists from Argentina, France, Finland, Brazil and Sweden who studied together at London Contemporary Dance School.
Laura Kenyon – 25+ Residency Nov 2021
– Showcase Nov 2021
Womanewer is a multidisciplinary work combining speech, movement, and text, to connect and empower women.
The work-in-progress piece addresses violence against women, who all over the world fall victim to abuse, assault and rape on a daily basis, yet are all seen as nurturing creatures that care, cater and feed. These gestures play an integral part in the research and development of the work. We explore this repeated occurrence, to contrast the daily abuse with the daily caring and challenge the limiting narratives of what it means to be a woman.
This is a process driven project, where the performance is a result of conversations, interviews and creative tasks with different Womxn sharing their stories of abuse, as well as our own experiences. We opened some sessions to different groups of women of all ages and backgrounds in London and Marseille to connect communities together and create a safe space for women to be heard. We believe in collaborative socially engaged art and use dance to amplify marginalised voices.
Brandon Walker – Youth Residency Aug 2021
– Showcase Sept 2021
Brandon is has been dancing for most of his life. After training in Ballet for several years his current focus is on Street dance styles.
He uses movement to share the stories and emotions that has positive impact on the younger generation and intends to raise awareness about mental health amongst them.
Follow Brandon on Instagram @brandzzjb to keep yourself updated about his upcoming projects⠀
Chester Hayes – 25+ Residency April 2021
– Showcase May 2021
London-based dance artist Chester Hayes performs and creates movement for live performance, film, theatre and night-club settings. Chester has performed and devised movement since graduating from Bird College (BA Hons Degree) in 2013.
Chester is heavily inspired by night-club culture and the dance that exists on a night-club dance-floor. He is exploring autobiographical narratives and how movement is shaped by personal experience. ⠀
April Gunawardena – Youth Residency January 2021
– Showcase February 2021
April started dancing aged 3 at Central School of Ballet. She trained at Trinity Laban between 2015 – 2018, achieving a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance. Since then, she has become a qualified pilates teacher, completed various independent projects, and choreographed a piece for St Marylebone annual dance show.
She is currently a teacher for the youth training dance programme at Thomas Page Dances in Oxford.
She also trains in Qigong and Tai Chi weekly.