ROOM TO ROOM Brings Three New Danc Solos to Life On Film

Dance artists Ana Maria Lucaciu and Catarina Carvalho (long-time dancers with Cedar Lake and Company Wayne McGregor respectively) have joined forces with four more exceptional dance artists to create three new dance solos, filmed by Ravi Deepres, for Room to Room.

Room to Room was born when Lucaciu and Carvalho, out of work due to the pandemic, created a long-distance dance solo based on a set of tasks they devised together. Working via Zoom with Carvalho in London and Lucaciu in Helsinki, the week-long collaboration resulted in a 13-minute solo, filmed on a smartphone. From that early expression of anxiety and hope sprung a global project involving more than 50 artists around the globe and this September sees the first UK version.

The UK project pairs just three teams of choreographers and dancers.

Hip Hop and contemporary dancer and choreographer Joseph Toonga was in the studio last month collaborating with Natalia Osipova, a Principal of The Royal Ballet, to create a solo for her. In the studio this August Catarina Carvalho is working with hearing-impaired dancer Hearns Sebuado to make his solo (Sebuado's many performance credits include Deaf Men Dancing) and Ana Maria Lucaciu is working with Kathak and contemporary dancer Vidya Patel to create her solo. Each duo was given the same set of prompts by Lucaciu and Carvalho to use as a starting point, along with guidance and support for the creation of the solos.

Award-winning filmmaker Ravi Deepres will shoot and edit the finished pieces in early September.

Natalia Osipova says: "Joseph and I hadn't met before, yet we clicked at first sight. We connected as humans and quickly realised that our collaboration would work out which doesn't happen every time. I have always admired Hip Hop and street dance and wanted to try it myself but the techniques and physique of ballet are so different that I assumed I could only keep watching. In this work I wasn't trying to do Hip Hop, but I was fascinated by the way the body acts. As a dancer, Joseph has such a strong energy - all his movements and his sense of the music amazed me. I was trying to feel this groove, to catch it."

Joseph Toonga says: "It's fun sharing the space with Natalia and exchange the different ways of looking at movement. She's been open and incredibly reactive to ideas. I'm looking forward to see how things turn out on screen."

Ana Maria Lucaciu says: "I'm looking forward to getting to work with Vidya. Having never met before, we connected because of Room to Room, so first of all, there is the excitement of getting to know each other as people. Second, Vidya's incredible background in Kathak is so enticing and inspiring. I can't wait to learn more about it, to fuse it with my own way of approaching movement and see what comes out of that. Last, working over Zoom presents extra challenges, but also offers an intimacy that is special to this project, a direct connection to the person on the other side of the screen. I'm looking forward to sharing this process and seeing where it brings us."

Catarina Carvalho says: "It's been very inspiring collaborating with Hearns for Room to Room, with a lot of smiles and many laughs. It was very important for us that the project was diverse and inclusive and that in some way we could share and connect in an open way, and reflect on what dance can be. Also, I've always been fascinated by sign language and I'm curious to see where this journey will take us creatively and what we'll both learn from it."

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