Interview with Stuart Waters published in One Dance UK Magazine

Originally published in:
The One Dance UK Magazine | Spring 2017

Stuart Waters and Wendy Hesketh-Ogilvie embarked on a two-week Research and Development Project (R&D) in January 2017, working with a range of collaborators to create two solos and one duet about hitting ‘rock bottom.’ In parallel, the project also explored how to safeguard mental health during the creative process. One Dance UK Healthier Dancer Programme Manager Erin Sanchez chatted with Stuart about this fascinating and extremely useful research.

So, what do you think RockBottom is? And why did you choose this as a theme?

I chose the theme of RockBottom because after years of struggling with my own mental health, I thought I had reached my own ‘rock bottom’ at various points. I think my own personal experience – a near-death experience – would be considered ‘rock bottom’ and, thanks to Arts Council England funding, I have been able to explore that.

Tell us about your collaboration with Wendy. How did you two meet?

Wendy and I first met at Motionhouse in 2005. I had worked for her as a performer and rehearsal director at Wired Aerial Theatre and we had been close friends over the years so this collaboration happened very naturally – but this is the first time she had worked for me!

For me, as a maker, I felt that I’d arrived naturally at this point; that I’d found something authentic to communicate. I’ve always stressed that we should make work that we feel passionate about, about things that we really understand. Wendy and I supported each other through our own mental health issues. We also reached the same point where we wanted more from our own careers: further self-development and a desire to move to a new phase.

As part of the creative process for the research, you were looking at mental health. What do you think are the key things that you need, to stay mentally healthy in challenging rehearsal environments?

I began my own day with Reiki meditations, and we both decided that we would do ‘check-ins’ and ‘check-outs’, during which we would sit down and ask each other about the day when everybody else had gone. We left time in the day to meditate, debrief, and write down and record what happened that day.

The second week was something we were nervous about, because emotional triggers through discussion and improvisations had come up during the first week, and we were worried about how these might ‘spill over’. We stopped improvisations when we felt they were getting too intense.

We also chose good collaborators – this was important – everybody was completely sensitive and incredibly generous in listening to our experiences and stories, helping us find a link in a safe way.

I’ve taken away from the process, that your creative environment is important, perhaps even more so on a piece like this. Fortunately, we were in almost a ‘retreat’ situation where we were surrounded by countryside, so didn’t have to go into the hustle and bustle of city life each day, adding stress to what might have been an already emotionally stressful day.

You’ve finished the R&D, so what’s next for this new work?

I now have the ‘participation’ section of the project to do, including workshops at a range of colleges and universities. We are applying for residency at various institutions and creating a documentary about the project.

We will be approaching national dance agencies and other bodies, for partners to join us and support this important work in Phase 2. I envisage this phase will be a further and deeper research period, ideally with different groups of people involved with mental health and the arts, such as dance therapists. I feel like we’ve scratched the surface and our work is just beginning.

Stuart Waters will speak about the next phase of this work at One Dance UK’s second 2017 Healthier Dancer Conference, on 26 November, which will focus on psychological and social aspects of healthcare for dancers.