Words by Florence Nicholls.
Choreographer Emma Martin – the creator of dance company United Fall – is making her London debut this February with Birdboy. This production is a celebration of individuality, set to an eclectic soundtrack featuring pop cultural references and the universally touching storytelling in Daniel Johnston’s music with sound by Dunk Murphy. Kévin Coquelard generates a kinetic frenzy, bringing to life a world built on childlike fantasy and untethered emotion.
In conversation with Dance Art Journal, Martin provides an insightful look into her creative process and the importance of building aesthetics for world making on the stage.
DAJ: Do you see Birdboy as a show to celebrate the weirdness in all of us, a way of accepting that we all have something curious and unacceptable about us?
Emma: Yes, absolutely. It’s to celebrate that we’re all completely unique and no two people are the same…for people to accept themselves a bit more and that their weirdness is something to offer to the world. It feels like an effort nowadays, doesn’t it?
DAJ: There’s a whole world being created in every facet of what you’re making. I wonder where this has come from?
Emma: When an idea comes into my head, it’s a visual one. I feel I might have an idea about wanting to touch a theme or a thought or something, but it’s never whole until I can see the universe that it fits into. I just have to wait for that. I need to see it in my mind’s eye … it’s really a tricky one with designers because really, you’re asking a designer to come in and add to this image. So I’m learning how to collaborate all the time.
Emma Martin collaborated with visual artist, Orla Clogher to produce Birdboy’s recognisable ‘junk aesthetic’.
DAJ: To ask people to be part of your practice is letting go. It’s sharing something quite vulnerable. The collaboration is like an audience watching your work, in a way.
Emma: Absolutely. It’s very vulnerable because you are sharing what feels like it’s come out of your whole system of thinking; of your emotional and your mental state. All of those things…your history. Aesthetics can seem like a cold fashion thing but actually I think we’re building aesthetics our entire life. The things we like, tonally, atmospherically. You see something and you’re like “Oh, that speaks to me, I know that, it feels familiar.” I think they’re not trends. Aesthetics aren’t trends. You’re sharing something with an audience that’s been formed over many years.
DAJ: Does your work have to feel like you when you watch it?
Emma: Yeah. It does. It really does.
DAJ: Birdboy is suitable for all ages. For the adults going to watch, who might still feel like the weird kid at heart, what should we expect from Kévin’s performance?
Emma: Oh, virtuosity, precision, and a lot of sweat. I mean, he really sweats! He is on from the beginning. On a physical and performance level, I think they can expect to be excited by his performance and also touched because he really never stops. And I think he feels a lot of ownership over the creation of the piece with me, and also he identifies a lot with the ideas we’re working with. He commits with every fibre for every show and I’m still moved by watching him in the show.
Birdboy marks a series of firsts for choreographer Emma Martin. As well as being her London debut, it’s Martin’s first solo show and her first work made for children. Birdboy is, in many ways, a tribute to her daughter, but Martin’s work is inherently community focused as she brings the audience and performer into close emotional proximity. When asked what she carries forward with her practice, Martin replied “I think something I want to carry forward is the idea that we’re all aware of where we are, why we’re doing this and we’re doing this for you, for an audience.”
Birdboy comes to Sadler’s Wells 20-22 February. Get your tickets here.