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Heads Together first came into existence
for a collaborative project at Leeds City Art Gallery
in 1985. The project set the tone for a whole series
of residencies in art galleries from the Mappin in Sheffield
to Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands. An average project
lasted six weeks; based in a public gallery. It would
include performers, visual artists and sometimes live
music or singers. The schedule consisted of workshops,
open rehearsals and presentations of work in progress,
leading to public performances at the end of the residency.
In 1987, a collaboration based outside
the Elizabethan Gallery in Wakefield saw the Company
begin to develop outdoor performances. The first one
- "Dreams of Midsummer Madness" - toured parks
throughout Yorkshire in 1987 and nation-wide in 1988.
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Style
The full-time Company - Heads Together Physical Theatre
- was set up in 1986 by three performers, Gerry Turvey,
Adrian Sinclair and Tamsin Spain. The performance style
was part of the European 'Movement Theatre' tradition
rather than the brash, desperate 'Physical Theatre'
of Britain in the 80s. The work was imaginative and
sensitive - but always with a sense of humour - questioning
rather than didactic. Heads Together set out to "create
unusual performances in unlikely places". To that
end apart from the "traditional" small-scale
venues - The Green Room, The Alhambra Studio, The Riley,
etc - Heads Together performed in sports centres, flower
shows, city centres, shop windows, canal banks ... even
got within a whisker of getting an underwater show at
Tropical World in Leeds!
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Access and Involvement
The Company has always enjoyed getting to non-traditional
audiences. That was partly achieved through the "unusual
places" remit and partly through a very successful
workshop programme. Heads Together was regularly doing
60 days of workshops each year and had a particular
commitment to working with disabled people - both those
with learning and physical disabilities. Audiences at
the end of residencies included a high proportion of
disabled people, sign language interpretation was always
available and the Company had a good reputation with
disability rights organisations such as Valid! in Bradford
who co-hosted one residency at the Community Arts Centre.
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Achievements
This phase of Heads Together's development (as a full-time
touring company with a different summer and winter programme)
lasted until 1991.
Two particular highlights
were:
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Soap: An outdoor performance in 5 episodes
- two performers, cellist and trumpet player. Played in city
centres all over the place in the summer of 1989 and achieved
massive publicity including national TV. Directed by Thierry
Crozat with additional choreography from Lloyd Newson - it
was great fun and did a lot for the profile of the Company.
Laughing at Life: - a story of sex, love and
carnations. Performance created over three residencies at
Cartwright Hall, the Mappin and Aberdeen Art Gallery. Started
off looking at the concept of "madness" - more specifically
the moment in everyone's life when they think "Am I going
mad?" Both the English and Scottish Arts Councils put
money into the creation of the performance together with a
specially commissioned video.
Heads Together in decline
The Arts Council pulled the plug in 1991. After receiving
project funding for a couple of years, they pulled out. We
tried to find out why but didn't get any coherent response
or thoughtful criticism - just "we don't have enough
money to fund everybody". The Arts Council money had
made a big difference in terms of being able to pay realistic
wages. We couldn't face going back to doing it for the love
of it and a couple of quid here and there. So the decision
was taken to split the partnership and Heads Together came
to a grinding halt.
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Phoenix-like...
It took at least 18 months to find a way out of what
could so easily have been a terminal demise. Heads Together
Productions chose to focus on developing the educational
and training work of the Company which was gaining increasing
recognition. The Self-Image
Project at Shipley College was cited as "an
example of outstanding practice" by an independent
evaluation of all the British projects funded by the
European Social Fund's HORIZON Programme in 1994. At
the same time the Company continued to work in "unusual
places" - but this time using a range of arts activities
in neighbourhood settings - the turfing of Methley Terrace
being the most infamous example.
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From theatre to
film...
Following the success of the Company's first venture
into video in the "Laughing at Life" project,
Heads Together decided to further develop the use of
film and video in its work. Adrian Sinclair secured
a BBC/Arts Council traineeship on the "Dance for
the Camera" Series and the company began to incorporate
video in its projects - commissions, educational and
creative projects.
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Heads Together has developed a pool of freelance
artists over the years; artists who have an understanding
and commitment to our way of working. The Company now talks
about 'Creativity With Purpose'. Investing time in considering
the issues facing people in particular situations, ensures
that the project design and development with these people
truly addresses the areas that will make a positive difference
in their lives; Creativity With Purpose.
Summary
Whilst the nature of the Company has changed and its activities
have diversified, there have been strong themes running through
the work since 1985. From collaboration to partnership, unusual
places to access and involvement, the Company is in a dynamic
and successful phase of its development and has a healthy
combination of public funding and fee-paying projects and
commissions.
About us | Freelance Workers | What Other People Think
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