Producing
Production: Dandyism.
Company : Patrick Ziza Dance
Choreographer: Patrick Ziza
Producer : Patricia Stead
Dandyism interview with Patrick Ziza
Patrick Ziza was born in Rwanda and moved to Newcastle Upon Tyne in the North East of England when he was 17. Having worked as a dancer with nationally acclaimed contemporary dance choreographers, Patrick became more and more interested in tapping into his own cultural heritage, identities, gender and how these are expressed and repressed. Now, as a choreographer, his work reflects the immense passion he has for dance and cultural eclecticism, but also the issue of humanism, gender and identity in a 21st century world which is, sadly, still divided.
Patrick creates a variety of works that explore the themes of African heritage and cultural norms and investigate the effect they have on black people who were born or have lived in the western communities (outside Africa) most of their lives.
Dandyism is inspired by the gentlemen of the Congo. The appropriation of the 18th Century French and English Dandy’s flamboyance by African men was a defence and a provocation against slavery, described by some as a resistance movement. By the 1960’s African Dandyism had become a phenomenon. Through his choreography Patrick embodies the raw and unrefined energy and expressive dynamism of dance originating in East Africa. It is a celebration of life and cool as well as an expression of a concern for humanism, gender and identity in our increasingly divided society. “Dandyism” is an expression of individuality. It is a statement of how African culture has and continues to influence Western culture and it says “we are here”.
Production : Exile
Company : Vivien Wood &Co.
Choreographer : Vivien Wood
Producer : Patricia Stead
Exile was a new dance/theatre piece of work, commissioned by Dance City, funded by Arts Council England Lottery Projects Grants and conceived for the Lindisfarne Gospels programme in 2013.
Exile poses the questions: Does exile make one disappear? Or does it grant freedom to escape the persecution of definitions, to exist as one’s true self? Director, Vivien Wood brought together an international cast of performers including contemporary dancers, musicians, singers, physical theatre performers and writers to create this exceptional production.
Vivien Wood was born into a working-class family in the North East of England. At age 11 she won a scholarship to study ballet at the Royal Ballet School in London. An international career in contemporary dance followed working with some of the most ground-breaking contemporary dance companies in Europe, including Pina Bausch, DV8, Michael Clarke Company to name but a few. Vivien returned to be based in the North East where she created Exile, as a directorial debut, touring the production across the region from the petite St. Mary’s Church on the Holy Island to the grandeur of Durham Cathedral.
Exile was nominated and shortlisted for the Journal Culture Award for best regional production in 2013.
Production : All the things you said you said before you thought you could ever say.
Company : Compagnie T’d-U
Director : Vivien Wood
Producer : Patricia Stead
Teaser: All the things you said…..
All the things you said you said… was created by the internationally renowned Compagnie T’d-U dance/theatre company in 2015. Working with Director Vivien Wood, ex DV8, the production explores personal relationships and the patterns we can find ourselves in, the said and unsaid and the importance of expression in our closest relationships.
Two female characters (Zuzana Kakalikova and Gema Galiana) and two guys (Guillaumarc Froidevaux and writer Anthony Nikolchev), play one couple (each character split in two and mirrors yet acts independently of each other). Repetition is key to the story – both female characters repeating their growing frustrations with the relationship, the men then only being able to respond with more gusto. All four characters accurately depict the daily routine of a couple through movement – sleeping, arguing over breakfast and doing the laundry – the mundanities of relationships.
It isn’t all doom and gloom. The passionate movement reminds us that there is still passion, even in the middle of the incessant nit picking and game playing.
The production includes a powerful and resonating text written by Anthony Nikolchev both devastating and laugh out loud funny in a heartbeat, including monologues and exchanges familiar to any audience member that has felt frustration in a relationship.
The international feel to the production is provided by the performers hailing from the USA, Spain, Switzerland and Bratislava. Foreign language is well used in some places to express anger. Kakalikova and Froidevaux created Compagnie T’d-U, and all the performers are part of Wroclaw’s Studio Matejka, where they do research into physical expression.
The soundtrack includes Bach with Northern Sinfonia Principal Violinist Bradley Creswick’s interpretation of Bach’s Musical Offering and modern jazz.
Toured to Newcastle, Northumberland, Gateshead, London, Cumbria (rural touring scheme) Switzerland, Spain and California.
Project : Roma
Company : Lo Giudice Dance
Choreographer : Anthony Lo Giudice
Producer : Patricia Stead
Set against the semi-biographical backdrop of choreographer Anthony Lo-Giudice’s mixed heritage upbringing, ROMA is the story of the tempestuous relationship between his English mother and Sicilian father.
Movement and theatre combine in a recollection of memories gathered up from childhood. From the mother who felt the pain of not belonging, to the father who drove her away. Both needing someone to love and believe in, but inevitably torn apart by cultural divide.
ROMA was Anthony Lo-Giudice’s first full-length choreographed work. It premiered at Dance City in April 2012 to a sell out audience and went on to perform at Stockton Arts Centre, St Marys Heritage Centre, Queens Hall and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as part of Northern Stage’s ‘Made in the North’ programme.
Anthony has since created “Distant Light”, “Savages” and “L’Uomo”
Project management
Company : Clore Social Leadership Programme
Project : Clore Social Leader’s Chapter start-up fund.
Project Manager: Patricia Stead
In 2019 I set up a programme to fund the start-up of 10 new Social Leaders’ Chapters across the country (Scotland, England, N. Ireland and Wales), each with £2000.
This programme helped Clore Social Leader Fellows find each other through our Fellow’s map, making contact with Fellows across programme years and strands. Chapter proposals were based on location of groups or a specific context through which people wanted to come together. In total 11 Chapters were established, most going from strength to strength in their first year and developing connections all over the country.
Company : Clore Cultural Leadership Programme
Pilot Board Match & Good Governance Days (diversity & digital)
Event Producer : Patricia Stead
A one-day event for cultural organisations interested in joining a pilot programme to support recruiting Trustees with digital/diversity skills to their Boards.
This pilot aims to support cultural organisations by combining governance training with tailored introductions to newly-trained trustees with specialist skills in digital.
The day is aimed at CEOs/Senior Management and Board Chairs/Trustees of cultural organisations.
This pilot is running in partnership with Cause4 and Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy. Cause4 is responsible for recruiting a pool of up to 40 aspiring Trustees through their ” Be a Trustee” programme with particular emphasis on younger people, diversity and digital skills. There will be an opportunity to meet and chat with these participants at the events on 26 January and 19 March.
If you do not meet anyone at the networking session who fits your requirements, Cause4 will work with you over the following months to introduce you to alternative candidates.
Company: Collective Impact Agency CIC
Project: Learning is a Luxury conference
Event Producer : Patricia Stead
Learning is a Luxury was a free, one-day event in response to our conversations with socially-minded organisations in Gateshead. Prior to the event we conducted 40 interviews into how learning happens within socially-minded organisations in Gateshead which painted a rich, nuanced picture of the challenges and the successes within the borough.
Learning is a Luxury was held on Friday 31 January 2020 at Thought Foundation in Birtley. We called this event ‘Learning is a Luxury’ in response to our headline finding that most organisations are so busy doing, they simply do not have the time to give to learning. A number of the people we interviewed said they were fed up with ‘talking shops’ and wanted to start doing things differently. We designed this event primarily with that desire in mind. The event was shaped to give participants a) the opportunity to engage with people from other organisations around the key themes that had emerged from the interviews, and b) a space and structure to identify concrete things we can actually do together to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged in Gateshead. It was important to engage both front-line staff and senior leaders in this work therefore we invited participants to bring another person from their organisation to this event with them. Sheena Ramsey, CEO of Gateshead Council, introduced the event. The event was supported by the Lankelly Chase Foundation.
Business Advisor, Strategy & Organisation Change Management
Prosper North Programme, Creative United
Client: Friends of Silsden Town Hall
One-to-one business advice and support, to deliver a strategy to broaden artistic programming, engagement, audiences, development of the Board and better Governance structures, identifying partnerships and ensuring a range of policies and procedures were implemented.
Client: Whippet Up CIC
One-to-one business advice and support for a new strategy to include research validation, new sources of income, increased reach and engagement across the North East and North Yorkshire regions and development of new partnerships including developing packages for delivering social prescribing.
Patricia Stead & Associates
Client: European Youth Circus Network
Research, consultation, delivering workshop sessions with 9 European circus representatives, writing and presenting EYCN’s first collective strategy and business plan.
Fundraising
The Cockpit Theatre, London : Emergence Jazz Programme & Jazz in the Round
Patrick Ziza Dance : Dandyism & Dandyism on Tour 2020
Independent Music Venue, Sunderland : Grass roots music support
Little Buildings, Newcastle: Grass roots music support
Vivien Wood & Co. : Exile & Unfulfilled Potential
Compagnie T’d-U : All the things you said you said before you thought you could ever say.
Lo Giudice Dance : Roma, Distant Light, Savages & L’Uomo
Evaluation
The Cockpit Theatre : Jazz in the Round programme
Patrick Ziza Dance : Dandyism
Patricia Stead & Associates 