Listen to a full audio intervew with Nadine HERE
SCARLETT FEVER’S PERFORMANCE is provocative and is really designed to get people thinking and to challenge their normative thought patterns about society, particularly about women. At the Nerve I will be performing Salem’s Secret which is a blend of two different dance styles bookending some dialogue. It proposes the question what is toxic masculinity, when does it begin and how much are men the victims of this as women are. It’s a kind of parody and bounces between two characters and is quite a fast-paced thing. Visually it’s very interesting. Content wise it can be very sad so it does come with a trigger warning. It is designed to provoke questions about what we really think and to make people uncomfortable. I’ve had lots of different feedback from audiences about this piece in particular because it doesn’t presume to answer anything, it just presents questions. I never want my performance work to be preachy. I want it to be something people can think about and talk about because I believe that conversations - and uncomfortable conversations - are the way forward.
FIREWORKS DANCE DRAMA THEATRE COMPANY is my company, founded about eight years ago. I’ve rewritten the curriculum which is multi-disciplinary and the core pillars of the company are inclusion and the promotion of creativity. It’s not really your normal run of the mill dance school. I don’t do grades, I don’t do competitions, I don’t do anything like that. It follows more of a European approach to education, more of a home-schooling approach as well. It’s my lifeline and I think it’s how Scarlett Fever actually came onto existence. I’ve just expanded into Belfast and the curriculum is running well and we are at full capacity with students. It’s great getting kids and teenagers into an environment where they can train to go on to the professional dance or theatre industries but also into an environment where they can just come and have fun and use dance as a form of expression and storytelling and communicating.
DURING LOCKDOWN I started teaching all my classes online. All of my performance work went completely out the window. My other job is as a choreographer and all my choreography went out the window too. I was very grateful to get a contract going with Cre8 Theatre which is run by Sarah Lyle here in Belfast. I worked with her last Christmas as Assistant Director which was fantastic. I found it quite interesting because a lot of people during lockdown gave up on their performance careers or maybe decided to step away and do something different. The arts industry is notoriously unstable and it comes with all the challenges of being self employed but the other side of that is it really reminded people how much we need theatre and performance art and how much we love our work too so for me, I just could not wait to get back to work and not for a second did I think about doing anything else.
MY NEXT BIG PROJECT is as choreographer and movement director for The White Handkerchief which is being produced by The Playhouse Theatre and that’s going to be on stage at the end of January. I’m continuing the running of my school and working on expanding the business into Belfast as well so that’s keeping me really busy.
Scarlett Fever will perform at the Promising After Party on 26 November at the Nerve Centre.
Further details HERE
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Festival Club is an event curated by Dead On Events by way of Nerve Centre's OCN Events Management course.