Blue Elephant Theatre, Camberwell

Katie Serridge's Tulips for Polly is the first dance film we are sharing as part of Elefeet on Film. Described as a 'digitised gift to a dear friend', Tulips for Polly came out of existing research into the delight and potential of flowers as nature blossomed and humanity retreated indoors in March 2020.

Katie answered some questions for us about Tulips for Polly and being a dance artist:

What inspired Tulips for Polly?
Tulips for Polly came about during my research into flowers during March 2020. After a call out asking people to film the flowers they encounter on their daily walks, I received over 60 responses from 13 different countries, which were made into a series of short films during last spring. This noticing and unconditional adoration of all the flowers in the footage was a wonderful throughline of the films. I then wanted to explore if this same approach could be applied to the female body, which is so often a warzone, when really, we're all just flowers.

What’s special for you about dance?
Dance is a universal language, recognisable across continents and an accessible means of engagement to all of us with a body. It also offers a unique method of sharing and presenting information or research, and as a result opens up new possibilities in our ways of understanding through embodiment, outside the limitation of language and into the felt, lived experience.

What have you missed about dance since the start of the pandemic?
I've missed 3D-ness, hugs, seeing strangers' smiles, accidental introductions and chance-encounter friends. We are also very physical people and I miss the variation and the significance of different actions and gestures, away from screens.
I do think that the dance industry has undergone a lot of important, overdue and necessary self-reflection this past year and should not return to the way it was previously. Rather we should use recent discussions and realisations to create a more balanced, fair and inclusive industry.

Tulips for Polly (2020) Credits:

Choreographer: Katie Serridge
Performer, Co-Creator and Videographer: Polly Constance
Music: Nick Zammuto

A KatieSerridgeDance Film