An interview with Ruby, NYDC Alumna and Purple Group Home Turf Dancer;

     What motivated you to take part as a dancer in Home Turf?

     Home Turf sounded like a really exciting project to me – getting together groups of so many different types of people and putting aside our differences to unite in one big show via the excitement of dance and football. I don’t know much about football at all, so I thought it would be an intriguing process to combine something I am quite experienced in with something in which I have very little experience.

    ..Also, a chance to perform on Sadler’s Wells main stage is an offer you can’t turn down!

     What has been your favourite part of the Home Turf experience thus far?

      It was great to work briefly with the Company of Elders. Their enthusiasm for the project was infectious and we all loved their spirit in rehearsals. It is an invaluable opportunity to work with very different groups of people, learning endless amounts from each other.

What is your relationship with dance and football? How have your past experiences with dance and football shaped your time at Sadler’s Wells for Home Turf?   

      Dance has been important in my life from a very young age; from being taken to various performances as child, to taking it up as a hobby, and then going on to vocational dance training for my degree at London Contemporary Dance School. My relationship with football has been quite different. It was still a part of my childhood – getting family and friends together to watch the World Cup etc – but wasn’t something I invested much interest or time in. Having said that I’ve always loved the energy and community spirit of football.

     My experience in dance has prepared me well for the intensity of the rehearsals, but my lack of experience in football has definitely made the rehearsals much more challenging! The choreography is unusual in that it has lots of football related movement in it, so not only are we dancing but we are also having to learn about how football works and let that inform our physicality within and performance of the choreography.

      What are 3 words that would describe your feelings around the Home Turf rehearsals or project as a whole?

Intrigued, excited, inspired.

                               

                                  Rehearsal photos by Gigi Giannella