If you’re a creative woman my no.1 advice is surrounding yourself with women you admire.
I still struggle to believe my luck that I managed to found a company with women as talented, resourceful, resilient and playful and Anna Korolainen Crevier, Bergdís Júlía Jóhannsdóttir and Henriette Kristensen - with our latest addition Tinna Þorvalds Önnudóttir.
Even though we now all live in our separate countries, and even on separate continents, being able to conference call one another to strategise, brainstorm and problem solve has been such a steady resource of comfort and inspiration.
Spindrift came together in 2010 as a study group where we wanted to explore storytelling through the body further during our training in London and Estonia. We wanted to share our inspirations, limitations and weaknesses with one another in order to improve through a supportive community and practical exercises.
As we developed our work we started leading workshops that focused on these vulnerabilities: movement aspects and vocal qualities we felt we weren’t exploring to their fullest in our traditional acting training, parts of our identities we felt disconnected from and emotions we felt we had blocked off through numerous subconscious influences.
In our desire for social value as individuals we grow up disassociating from socially devalued elements of the human experience. As we embrace certain emotions, behaviours, labels, vocal ranges, movement qualities, we subconsciously reject others. These aspects of our being can be incredibly vulnerable and valuable for any person, not just artists, to revisit. And so our exercises have focused on creating a safe space to expand our instruments and explore our entirety knowing these parts of our being don’t define us or our worth. That our colours are so much more vivid and nuanced than we usually allow ourselves to believe. That the things we tend to devalue in other people also live within us, bridging a performer’s gap to empathy and understanding while giving them an opportunity to reflect on their own personal values and choices. That our abilities reach further than we may have anticipated, giving us further resources to draw from and an enhanced sense of confidence. This practice became an entryway to devising scenes and creating theatre productions.
During our residency at Villa Salin in Finland.
Our practice takes time. We gravitate towards topics where we feel we can grow as individuals and artists. Topics that we feel a need to share. And then we dive into investigation while juggling independent artistic careers in our separate countries. We are so grateful for the support of the European Union, Reykjavík City, The Nordic Mobility Fund and art institutions all around Europe that have made our collaborations possible.
We share our inspiration with one another during our monthly meeting, and then explore and research independently. That inspiration may be from an article we read, a painter we discovered, a social topic that has been burning on our minds, a thought we had during breakfast one morning, a book we just keep coming back to and we want to discuss why, or an idea brought to us by a potential collaborator beyond the core company members. During our following meeting we then share our independent findings. Some of our productions have largely begun taking shape on Google Drive until we come together in person in London, Reykjavík, Helsinki, Oslo, Dublin, Glasgow, New York etc.
Researching for “Them” in Finland.
Storytelling is everywhere, built into us intuitively as human beings. We ourselves have to practice healthy and constructive storytelling within our own daily lives. We must be watchful for the storytelling that finds its way to us without us seeking it, in our media, radio, gossip, politics. We have to practice being truth seekers and train our critical thinking to see the stories beyond the surface. We should seek stories that fulfil us: our sense of joy, our sense of self, our sense of community, our sense of hope, our sense of playfulness, but also those that challenge us and our preconceptions. Through experiencing different stories we can make better decisions about the storyteller we want to be in our lives, and the stories we wish to give and receive from those around us.