Niki News 2004
By Robin Chase, Archive Editor
MERLIN RESIDENCY --- As part of Niki's appointment as Associate Artist for Somerset County (see news item below), Niki is now based at the Merlin Theatre in Frome, Somerset - one of three residencies currently being hosted by the Merlin (the other two being Crysse Morrison as Writer-in-Residence and a new theatre company, Pip Utton@The Merlin). This residency program is one of several recent exciting developments for the Merlin - a 240-seat, professional independent theatre located on the campus of Frome Community College. The Merlin has also invited two leading practitioners, performer-writer-director Guy Dartnell and film-maker Kathy Hinde to become Affiliated Artists. Director and co-creator of Niki's Heretic, Guy is an award-winning solo and collaborative artist whose work crosses the realms of theatre, music, dance, circus and film. An Associate Artist with the internationally-acclaimed Improbable Theatre, he is also associated with Your Imagination, an independent company based at the Battersea Arts Centre in London. Kathy, a multi-disciplinary artist based in Bristol, is collaborating with Niki on a major work for 2005 entitled Relative.
These developments, among others, are the result of the Merlin receiving an award of £35,895 from Arts Council England (ACE) to undertake an eighteen-month period of extended community, education and outreach work. The theatre was invited by ACE to produce a plan responding to the needs of Frome College, the wider community of Frome and Somerset-based artists. Various people who regularly use the Merlin - whether as audience members, teachers or practitioners - were asked how they wanted the theatre to develop. It was from these opinions that this successful bid was produced. The Merlin is already involved in a number of community and outreach projects, and in addition, provides a valuable resource for local and national artists offering the theatre auditorium for research and development, often in exchange for workshops with Frome College students.
Expressing her delight at this recent fortune, Merlin Director Paula Hammond says, "This demonstrates enormous confidence in the Merlin's future. It is very important for us not only to continue presenting a programme of professional and non-professional work, but to develop further community links and support the work of artists living and working in Somerset." College Principal Barry Bates echoes Miss Hammond's comments: "Frome Community College is unique in having an independent professional theatre based on its campus. This funding enables both of us to build on a close working relationship and to benefit all the schools in the Frome Federation."
(Posted 29 October 2004)
ASSOCIATE ARTIST APPOINTMENT (UPDATE) --- As previously announced, Niki has received an appointment from Dance South West (DSW) for 2004-05 as Associate Artist for Somerset County. (See "Niki Named Associate Artist" - Posted 10 August 2004.) However, I was remiss in omitting that this appointment is in conjunction with Dance Somerset, a new service within Take Art! (the arts development agency for Somerset County that is partnered with DSW), providing a range of dance opportunities for the county. Their aim is to initiate, develop and sustain a vibrant dance ecology for the people of Somerset and the South West. According to their Mission Statement, Take Art! "advocates the important role of the arts within rural and social contexts in the development of the community and the individual, developing arts work and dance in rural and other areas of Somerset." They are focusing their approach through five "core strands": Performance; Participation; Professional Development; Advocacy, Advice & Information; and Research & Development.
Take Art! has a series of stated beliefs for their new dance venture which are quite intriguing in the context of where dance fits in the everyday world (and in rural England in particular), how it can foster regional and individual identity, and how it can be relevant socially. Specifically, those beliefs are: "Dance Somerset believes that everyone can dance and that dance is for everyone, and our work will reflect that belief." ..... "We believe that Dance can reflect the uniqueness and diversity of the landscape, and the lives of all who work on and visit it." ..... "We believe that to be locally distinctive does not mean being parochial and we will strive to combine the vernacular with the contemporary." ..... "We believe in the creation of a rural dance aesthetic." ..... "We believe that the central question facing us today is that of identity. What does it mean to be living and working in rural England at the beginning of a new century? We believe that Dance can begin to address this question, to define our sense of who we are and our place in the world." ..... "We imagine a future where the place and the people meet, and where Dance Somerset is synonymous with such meetings." ..... "We believe that Dance can be harnessed to the wider social agenda (eg: social inclusion, crime prevention, healthy living, cultural diversity, environmental sustainability, life-long learning and rural regeneration)." ..... "We believe in the need to create a range of dynamic and innovative new partnerships to enable these aspirations to be realised, and we invite individuals and organisations who share our vision to join us."
As an Associate Artist, Niki is involved in one of those partnerships. If you would like more information about Take Art! in general and Dance Somerset in particular, please Click Here to visit the Take Art! website and Click Here to visit the Dance Somerset section of Dance South West's official website.
(Posted 29 October 2004)
IT'S ALL RELATIVE --- As there has been a fair bit of material gathered together thus far concerning the summer project entitled Relative involving Niki and Somerset multi-disciplinary artist Kathy Hinde, I decided to give Relative its own section on the website and transfer all news reports to that section. And certainly, there will be more material to come before this unique work receives its unveiling in Lancashire in the spring of 2005. Updates to the section will be announced in Niki News. Please Click Here to visit our Relative section.
(Posted 2 September 2004)
NIKI NAMED ASSOCIATE ARTIST --- Niki has been named Associate Artist for Somerset County by Dance South West for 2004-05, a position described as a "unique partnership" among artist, venue, county agency and community. Under this partnership, according to the DSW website, "the dancer has a chance to make new work, the theatre promotes it and everyone else has the chance to work alongside the artist – finding out what it's like to be a professional." In her position, Niki will create a new solo children's show entitled Muttnik: The First Dog In Space, and devise dance both for a local women's group and for the annual Christmas show put on by the Merlin Theatre in Frome, Somerset.
Somerset is one of five counties in South West England to thus have their own dancer appointed by Dance South West which is the new National Dance Agency for the region - a consortium of local dance agencies working together to encourage more people to make, watch and take part in dance - and funded by Arts Council England. Through the Associate Artist scheme, says the DSW website, "everyone wins: The dancers make and perform, but also learn from the theatre management how to run a business and market their work, while everyone else has the chance to dance." Adds DSW Director Kate Castle, "Contemporary dance isn't something difficult and obscure but exactly what it says – dance of today – with something for old and young alike. And the best way to discover this is by working with an expert, who lives and works in your neighbourhood."
(Posted 10 August 2004)
TOUR PHOTOS ADDED --- With reference to an earlier "News" entry concerning 2003 North American Tour photographs, the aforementioned Terry Costa has generously given permission to download photos that include Niki. I have created a webpage in the Heretic section to house these images. To view the photos and a brief description of each, please Click Here.
(Posted 26 July 2004)
PHOTOS BY PIERS RAWSON --- I've added a new photograph of Niki to the top of the home page (2006 Note: Now at top of Niki's Biog), a positively beautiful colour photo taken in the fall of 2002 by Piers Rawson, a professional photographer based in South West England. (It is a different shot from the small black-and-white pic, also taken by Mr. Rawson, that accompanies the Niki News section. Both photos show Niki choreographing young dancers.) Mr. Rawson specialises in reportage (particularly arts, community and performance) and landscape. The old adage that goes, "every picture tells a story," most certainly applies to his work. His attention to detail and composition is outstanding. The colour photo was included in an exhibition of his work, on tour in 2003-04, entitled Creative Ambush which completed a four-week showing on June 18 at the Bridgwater Arts Centre. It was a selection from work that Mr. Rawson did in late 2002 for South West Arts Marketing by whom he was commissioned to produce images of audiences and participants in the arts in South West England. For more information on
Piers Rawson and his background in the arts, and to view some excellent slideshows of his work, we invite you to visit his website. Please Click Here.
(Posted 29 June 2004)
2003 FRINGE TOUR PHOTOS --- I forgot about this for the longest time, but Terry Costa, the absolutely brill playwright/performer from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that we have the pleasure and honour to know, has included a page of photographs on his website from the 2003 North American Fringe Festival Tour, many of which include Niki. They were at several of the same festivals, plus Terry assisted Niki with some cross-country transportation at one point. To see those photos, Click Here.
(Posted 27 June 2004)
ONCE MORE, INTO THE WORM-HOLE --- Niki resurrected Worm-Hole for three performances from 4-6 March 2004 at the newly-re-opened Nightingale Theatre in Brighton, Sussex. She said it felt good to get back into the habit (ahem!). The perky nun will never lose her charm or appeal.
(Posted 27 June 2004)
PAST TMAB PERFORMANCES --- While the website was on hiatus over the past several months, Niki was very busy touring her first-ever solo children's show, Throw Me A Bone, throughout the United Kingdom and especially in the southwest portion of England where she lives. Of special note, in conjunction with her mid-April performance at the Arc Theatre in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, Niki also presented a Children's Dance Workshop there for ages 7-11. This gave children a delightful chance to try out some of Niki's dance routines from the show as well as use their imaginations to create movement from their ideas of what it's like to live a dog's life.
We'd also like to take particular note of at least six performances of TMAB that Niki gave this year as part of a continuing initiative by the Somerset arts organization called Take Art! This arts development agency was established in 1987 as a rural touring agency to bring the arts to villages and small towns across Somerset County. Take Art! is based at Flaxdrayton, a farm near South Petherton in South Somerset, but all of their work takes place in other people's buildings - village halls, schools, youth clubs, churches, community centres, pre-schools - anywhere where people want to make and watch the arts. So artistes such as Niki are quite literally able to take their art and talent right out to the people rather than those people, in some cases, having to travel long distances to urban centres to enjoy the arts. Niki's Take Art! Somerset performances (the ones that I know of) were at: Ashill Village Hall, Backwell Playhouse, East Harptree Theatre, Hornblotton Village Hall, Mark Village Hall in Highbridge and Meare Village Primary School.
(Posted 26 June 2004)
A CHANCE TO WORK WITH THE PRO'S --- Niki was among the instructors at a performing workshop for young people earlier this year. Courtesy of the Merlin Theatre in Frome, Somerset, youth 10-18 years of age were given an opportunity during the 2004 Easter holidays to experience what it is like to work with a professional choreographer (Niki), a voice coach (Emma Harris), a stylist-presentation skills expert (Marina Sossi) and a film-maker (Neil Light) during a four-day workshop in early April. They were taught dance routines, vocal exercises and presentation skills or film-making, special effects and editing. By the final night, the participants were ready to perform to friends and family at a special evening show.
(Posted 25 June 2004)
WE'RE BACK! --- Well actually, we never left ... it's just that the website has been on hiatus for a considerable time and Niki's domain name (nikimccretton.com) was unfortunately disabled for several months beyond our control, meaning that unless you knew the server URL, you weren't going to find us except through the search engines. But according to the website statistics, many of you WERE finding us and we so very much appreciate your interest, your loyalty and your patience. Now we can once again offer you updates on a somewhat regular basis and the domain name is back in business as well. We'll first be catching up with some of the old news and then start throwing new stuff at you, so please plan to visit us from time-to-time and check out the Niki News.
(Posted 25 June 2004)
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