Milestones

Graduated from The Northern School of Contemporary Dance with a BA (Hons) Degree in Dance.

Graduated from The London Contemporary Dance School with an Masters Degree in Contemporary Dance Studies.

Stuart’s MA dissertation: Evaluate how internal and external awareness constructs moments of truth within performance

The dissertation and research explored how internal and external awareness is used in order to construct truth within live performance, and how the notion of being ‘in the moment’ defines this moment of truth. It explored and recognised that this ‘moment’ is not only experienced by the performer but also the audience in a united experience that can not always be clarified with words.

“First we embody practice of contradictions between internal and external expression. Second, we, are so fully engaged in each task that our real bodies become an empty surface for ambiguity to play. This is the performers work.” (Claid,2006,P.204)

Awarded a Scholarship from the Lisa Ullmann Fund.

With this award Stuart was able to travel to New York and study ‘Klein Technique’ with Susan Klein herself. It was an experience that influenced Stuart’s career and this introduction to Klein technique opened the door to a more somatic approach to his practice particularly his delivery as a performer looking inside to find authentic ways to be present in the moment during performance.

Identified as a future leader in dance, and accepted onto the Dance UK mentoring programme.

During this programme Stuart was mentored by Janet Smith (Principle of The Northern School for Contemporary Dance).

“Being mentored by Janet Smith was an honour. Janet was wonderful at guiding me into a reflective practice which gave perspective over the hard landscape of the dance world I had navigated as an independent artist up to this point. This gave me the confidence and focus to honestly develop my ambitions for the creative adventures I wanted for my future.”

Trained as a Reiki therapist.

The opportunity to train in another somatic practice enabled Stuart to self heal, meditate and bring a fresh perspective on his practice as a dance artist. This training was thanks to the financial support from Dancers Career Development Fund and has been incorporated in the developing practice within ROCKBOTTOM.

Accepted onto The Kerry Nicholls Dance Performance Mentoring Programme.

Stuart found it was joyous to be part of such an inspiration programme for dance and creative leaders, and to bond, connect and practice with other artists. This was a chance to get back into the studio to face the fears, re connect to technique, be faced with new challenges, build power and confidence and to literally dedicate every second of the day to change. It was a rich and challenging schedule hosted by Kerry Nicholls herself where Kerry’s signature masterclasses pushed and changed with rigorous joy.

ROCKBOTTOM begins.

Stuart developed the structure and focus of the performance piece, and his central practice to the inclusivity and education work for ROCKBOTTOM.

Bregenz Festival.

Stuart joined the cast of Carmen in Wired Aerial Theatre’s collaboration with Bregenz Opera as an Aerial Stunt Performer. In 2019 he returned, this time as Assistant Movement Director, in the world premiere of Rigoletto.

ROCKBOTTOM national tour.

ROCKBOTTOM toured successfully to dance venues, community arts festivals, a queer cabaret, rural arts centres, and dance industry events.

Post-show discussions proved invaluable for the safeguarding of audiences and featured local Police, mental health volunteers, arts professionals, and specialists. Stuart was featured on BBC Radio Merseyside, Radio Gloucester and BBC Radio Birmingham talking about the tour and its impact.

Stuart presented his story at “Gayness in Queer Times”.

Stuart wrote and delivered a presentation entitled ‘A Survivor of My Own Community’ about the internal and external barriers he faces as a gay man in a Queer world:

Collaboration with Rhiannon Faith.

Stuart collaborated with Rhiannon Faith – a socially conscious artist whose work is an agent for discourse and change – I Talk to The Clouds and They Cry with Me is a work based on a true story about one man’s struggle through illness and suffering. Find out more at: www.rhiannonfaith.com/clouds

Research and development.

Stuart completed foundation training in ‘Humans Givens’ thanks to support from the Dancers Career Development Fund and was selected to be part of KND Coaching Circle Autumn 2020.

Stuart was accepted onto The Place’s Choreodrome 2020 programme, with support from Wellcome Collection and further funding from ACE. His residency enabled him to complete research for A Queer Collision, a new piece of work exploring stories of marginalisation and queerness, and how audio description and captioning could be embedded into the storytelling.

Leading national debates.

Since 2018, One Dance UK has been a valuable critical friend for Stuart, and in return he has regularly shared his discoveries and evolving practice through speaking at their national conferences, articles for the magazine and affiliated blogs. With their support, Stuart presented ‘Safeguarding the mental health of the artists in the creative process: calming emotional arousal’ at The International Association for Dance Science and Medicine.

Stuart was featured on the Dance Dialogues podcast with Rachel Elderkin talking from a very personal perspective about his work towards developing a safe mental health practice in dance.

Arts based activism.

Stuart was commissioned by Suffolk Pride to create a series of doorstep portraits and ‘Parade at Home’ as part of their Suffolk Virtual Pride 2020 celebrations.

He launched Head:ON:Inside – a growing collection of solo films exploring mental health stories held within narratives of identity and life experiences as a celebration of difference.

Writing and delivering mental health training in dance.

Stuart devised training for dance students and dance artists, focusing on ‘Emotional Highjacking: How to recognise it and how to stay safe’ – he delivered this training for dance conservatoires, dance colleges and dance companies.

Developing practice and creation.

Stuart received funding from Arts Council England, firstly through ‘Developing Your Creative Practice’ to evolve his approach to generating autobiographical material safely, and then to begin researching his next major creation. The R&D is due to be a partner-piece to A Queer Collision and a sharing of the discoveries made was hosted by the Ledward Centre, Brighton.

British Council and Unlimited Micro Award selected Stuart to work with Unmute, the only full-time integrated company in South Africa, on Unmuting the Mental Health Conversation.

Working with others.

Stuart was lead artist creating Me, My Body and I with EncoreEast as part of the ‘Reimagine’ celebrations for Protein Dance, supported by DanceEast – follow this link for an Audio Described version of the film.

The dancers filmed their own individual responses to choreographic tasks enabling this thriving, energetic independent company of older dancers to be creative during the global pandemic. He also created Move-Talk-Pride in collaboration with Rosie Powell for ‘Celebrating Pride in Suffolk’s past’ facilitated by DanceEast.

Stuart worked extensively with Wired Aerial Theatre during the summer. He led training in the way he works with autobiographical material and was Movement Assistant as part of their team for the opera Rigoletto performed at Bregenzer Festspiele.

He was cast as Vinnie in Out Late by VOXED. In addition to touring, the piece has been filmed for ‘Dance Passion 2022’ which is a collaboration between BBC Arts and One Dance UK and is supported by funding from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants programme.

BBC Arts and One Dance UK, along with BBC Connected Studio, will present Out Late on ‘StoryFormer’, the BBC R&D’s flexible storytelling tool for personalised visual experience.

Profile.

Stuart continued to give interviews to local papers to promote projects, and for artist-led networks to advocate for greater understanding and compassion, particularly during the pandemic-enforced lockdowns.

Head:ON

Sussex Dance Network supported Stuart to curate and lead Head:ON Conversations Café – a series of discussions exploring mental health needs within the sector, with guest speakers offering their unique perspective giving a specific focus each session.

Further Head:ON:Inside films were created and launched.

Stuart worked with Viv Gordon to develop a series of training workshops which he used to lead sessions with Wired Aerial Theatre, and further training for conservatoires and universities. Stuart also worked with Sharon Watson to co-lead a day with Rambert MA students that explored ‘Narratives and Identities through dance’.