Dit Workshop Callout – Birth the Musical with Jo Hellier
What
Birth the Musical is a three-day workshop for pregnant people and people who have recently given birth to explore the weird and world-bending metamorphosis into parenthood.
Through conversation, writing, improvisation and vocal experiments, we’ll process the physical sensation and phenomenon of pregnancy and create compositions and performance scores. These will then be structured into a short, funny, beautiful ‘scratch musical’ at the end, performed for our own pleasure rather than a public view (friends and family welcome).
Mainstream heteronormative narratives around pregnancy can feel restrictive and alienating particularly to queer people. Jo experienced pregnancy as a transformation, but not just from person to parent, it felt far more complex and strange. Existing as two people in one body for a time, then splitting gorily into two: pregnancy is body horror, love story and identity crisis all rolled into nine months and a birth.
We’ll discuss the social conditioning around pregnancy and birth – the ‘rules’, advice and culture that shape how we are expected to experience and perform it. We’ll unpick those cultural scripts and see what happens when we write (or sing) our own. You don’t have to identify as queer to join this workshop, but we will be exploring how we reclaim birth as a creative, queer and profoundly transformative experience.
The workshop will offer participants a creative space to process pregnancy and birth collaboratively. It will introduce experimental vocal practices and embodied techniques for collective composition.
As a group we will develop new ideas and material for Birth the Musical, which is an ongoing project about the queer experience of pregnancy and birth (started when Jo was pregnant two years ago). She wants to make this work with other birthers and explore if working in this way could become part of the work’s future.
Jo will be pregnant again whilst running this workshop – bringing an urgency to exploring this live, with peers from the inside out.
When
Wednesday 8 April, daytime (10am-4.30pm)
Thursday 9 April, daytime (10am-4.30pm)
Friday 10 April, daytime (10am-4.30pm, sharing from 3pm)
Where
Lowry, Pier 8, The Quays, M50 3AZ Salford
Who
Artists/practitioners who are pregnant or have recently been pregnant (within around 1 years postpartum).
We are quite flexible with this criteria, so if you feel like this work really resonates with you, but fall outside of the 1 year postpartum threshold and within 3 years, please still apply!
What to expect
Lots of singing and extended vocal techniques: making weird sounds with your voice, throat, lungs. Improvising to scores set by Jo but also devised by the group. Discussions and chatting about pregnancy, birth and parenthood. Writing alone and in a group. Long (1 hour plus) improvisations with slowly evolving sounds.
There will be unlimited comfort breaks for weeing, snacking and feeding your baby if they are close by.
Access
Lowry is a large arts centre based in MediaCity, Salford. The following access provisions are available:
- Step-free access to Box Office, toilets, theatres and galleries
- Accessible toilets throughout the building
- Lift access to all floors
- Wheelchair spaces available in all three theatres
- Assistance dogs are welcome in all public areas, including theatres and galleries
- Please note that the Ground Floor has a slight incline.
For more detailed information on travelling to and accessing Lowry, please see here.
Childcare/caring responsibilities
We recognise that childcare and caring responsibilities can be a barrier to participation, and we are aiming to offer support so that parents can take part. A £500 budget has therefore been reserved to contribute toward participating artist’s childcare support. The details of this are still being finalised and will be allocated after selection. If you would like to discuss this before applying, please email willy@thisisliveart.co.uk.
Travel
Practitioners based outside of Manchester will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation.
Bio
Jo Hellier (she/her) is an artist, choreographer and vocalist creating experimental performance across live art, dance and music. Drawing on improvisation, somatic movement and extended vocal techniques, she makes multi-art-form work that is discordant, embodied and playful. Current projects include directing an opera about bogs and a musical about birth, devising a new children’s show with Rosana Cade, and performing as a musician. Jo is currently touring as a vocalist in The Thicket (Yas Clarke) and Everything Slips (Verity Standen), and also tours with The Making of Pinocchio as a camera operator/performer. A graduate of Dartington College of Arts, Jo’s work has been commissioned by Jerwood, Artsadmin, In Between Time, SPILL, Bristol Biennial, Buzzcut, and Battersea Arts Centre. Her practice is rooted in collective processes and the transformative potential of voice, sound and embodiment.
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How to apply
Application Form: Each DIT has a different online application form, depending on the needs of the project. You can find the link to the online Application Form and Word document version at the top of this page.
Alternative formats: We accept written, video, and audio applications. For video or audio applications, please answer the questions listed in the Application Form within a recording of 5 minutes. Send the file to willy@thisisliveart.co.uk.
Access: We cannot provide or pay for access support to help with writing or preparing the application. Should you need support accessing or submitting the application, please contact us using the phone or email details below and we will be happy to help.
Further questions/support: Please see the FAQs below, email willy@thisisliveart.co.uk or call us on 020 8985 2124.
Banner image credit: Jo Hellier, background image from Louise Ahl’s Skunk Without K is Sun