It's a fairly chilly - but surprisingly sunny - day in late October and the com.dance team (three leaders, three dancers) have just arrived in Leicester. The path to their UK arrival hasn't been smooth: Anjali needed to change the location of our activity due to some last minute challenges (but were gratefully welcomed by De Montfort University and the dance faculty), rising train prices are denting the budget, and problems with an Airbnb mean that it's a frantic, slightly stressful couple of weeks before our second exchange, the first of which took part in Germany earlier this year.
But all of this has only built our resilience and determination to make the visit a successful one where we can share practice, explore co-creation between the companies and think about what's next for our exciting partnership.
And so, after a day to recover and do some sightseeing, it's into DMU's dance building to start working together again. With an unfamiliar city, new studio and some different faces, it takes a while for everyone to feel comfortable in the space and with each other. But, after some warm up games, a rendition of our movement 'handshake' and a 'circle of joy' (passing/copying movement to our favourite tunes), we're soon back dancing and communicating through physical movement again. A trip to Pizza Express at the end of the day helps too!
Over our three days together we begin to think about creating a shared movement language, fuelled by our interest in how we interact, communicate and connect with each other through dance, rather than verbal methods. We think about gestures, facial expressions and signing and improvise how we might greet someone using movement alone.
We also think how this creative idea might extend to wider society and barriers our dancers may face when in new, unfamiliar or inaccessible environments and situations. It's an idea we want to explore more, particularly given the obvious language barrier between our companies and the deep, meaningful way we have been able to connect with, and impact, each other.
During the visit, we're also joined by university students and local professionals interested in learning more about inclusive dance practice. It's great to share our knowledge and inspire emerging and established talent to work with inclusion at the heart of their work.
On our final evening we collaborate with Leicester Pro Class to connect with local dance professionals, to dance and improvise together, accompanied by live music from a PhD student. Although everyone's tired, new people in the room boost everyone's energy and we end on a high, thrilled with what we have learnt and discovered during the visit and excited about future possibilities together.
It's been another incredible, thought-provoking visit that has provided an opportunity for both companies to learn and grow that otherwise would not have been possible. We have learnt how to collaborate and work together through communication barriers; have gained a deeper understanding of what each country's cultural landscape looks like and what possibilities there are for international growth, development and advocacy; and have built our resilience, patience and producing skills when things haven't always gone right!
The exchange will ensure we go forward with a renewed sense of the value and potential of our work - and of international collaboration - and has offered a valuable platform to connect and inspire on a wider, more ambitious scale.
All images © Marcus Patten