This summer I was delighted to receive a commission from Push the Boat Out Festival for their Poetry Feast of Mythical Beasts! They invited applications from poets to reimagine Scotland's mythical creatures in a contemporary context. I've long been fascinated by the ghostly portent of the bean nighe, a woman who dies in childbirth and … Continue reading Bean Nighe: New Poetry-Dance Piece
Hello all! After a poetry-packed Edinburgh Fringe, I'm looking forward to busy autumn full of gigs, workshops, and lots of exciting projects. One that I'm particularly looking forward to takes place this Thursday (15th September) in Aberdeen. I'm delighted to be reprising my dance-poetry piece 'Cutty Sark' at the Fabulous Cabaret, a free event coordinated … Continue reading ‘Cutty Sark’ Reprise in Aberdeen
Hello all! After a hectic, wonderful weekend of gigs, I'm spending this week in rehearsals for a brand-new commission. This year the Scottish Storytelling Centre and Edinburgh City of Literature have joined forces to produce Figures of Speech, a series of events bringing together writers and artists to take you on a road trip through … Continue reading Dancing Cutty Sark! Figures of Speech this Friday
Today I'm sharing a project really close to my heart, one that's been in the works since early spring. I was asked by the wonderful Glasgow agency Brand Calibre to create a poem and dance to raise awareness of mental health challenges. This year, the Mental Health Foundation's focus was Nature, so in composing and … Continue reading ‘Breathing Space’: New Poetry/Dance Video
Hi everyone! I'm so excited to announce that today we're publicly releasing the new video for my poem "Polos"! The poem is linked at the bottom of this post, but rather than just posting the video up here I thought I'd also share the creative process that went into conceiving and producing this work. It's the product … Continue reading Dance & Spoken Word: Making Polos
Hi folks! We're halfway through the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and I'm writing with some brief reflections. This month I've been working with the spoken word collective Loud Poets on our Fringe show at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. It's a dynamic slam poetry show with a live band improvising onstage, with ten poets swapping out each … Continue reading Mid-Fringe: Brief Reflections
Although today I identify chiefly as a poet, dance has always been a fundamental element of how I define myself artistically. I began training in classical ballet at the age of five and continued through university, getting a degree in Dance and choreography in the modern style ('contemporary' in British terminology). I’m grateful for this training for … Continue reading Artistic Crossovers: How Dance Helps with Performance Poetry
As artists, we often get flack about the practical usage of the skills we spend so much time developing. "OK, so you're skilled in [dance, poetry, music], sure," people often say, "But how does that help in the real world?" At university, I double-majored in English and Dance, with a minor in Educational Studies. The time spent … Continue reading Transferable Skills: How Dance Experience Helps in the “Real World”
Earlier this week I had a difficult day. I was feeling defeated, powerless, guilty, homesick, and exhausted. It was a day where I sensed being alone in the world, making me prone to self-pity and frustration. But I had planned on going to a dance class I’d seen online (a Contemporary class at DanceHouse Glasgow) so in … Continue reading Fall and We Will Catch You
The other day I watched an excellent TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love (link here). I’ve never read the book or seen the movie, but Gilbert’s theories about art-making and responsibility have been sitting with me. Her argument is that today we place too much pressure on artists by assuming that … Continue reading The Creative Impulse: External or Internal?
Katie Ailes 