Rosemary Lee, Part 2 of 3. Q. Who do you make work for?

A.

My response could be my audience or could be my participants. Like I said for the Square Dances, I wanted to make it for the women, give them a sort of gift. Though I feel like that piece is a gift for the women as much as it is a gift for those who see it. I would say the same for Common Dance – I am trying to give something to the participants which I think is a little bit different to when you work professionally, although I try to do that for any dancer I work with, professional or not. But you could argue there are some subtle differences there. It is about the kind of experience you want to give them, I really believe that. Having been a dancer myself and dancing for someone like Sue MacClennan, it is such a gift to be in someone else’s piece, to interpret that work, to discover it and to find a way to let that work come through you. I loved that opportunity, so I try to give all the dancers I work with and chance to find themselves in the work but to also find the work in them.

Equally, for the audience… I think it would be naive of me to say it’s for ‘everyone’. It is for anyone who finds it. Which is why when I work outside or for films on BBC I have no idea who turned the telly on then and caught it! I like that side of it. Having said that, there are audience I wouldn’t go out and make work for because I don’t feel I would get through in the same way. I don’t think my work is perfect for a teenage audience in a very deprived area. I don’t know whether I can speak to them, I think I’m too far removed. Having said that I’d love it if they were in the audience!

Who’s it for? It’s a very good question. It sort of depends on each commission, so Square Dances felt very much like it was for Londoners, for people who’d made the journey. I wanted to give them something in the heart of London. Something like The Suchness of Eddy and Henny I knew was going to go to more dance festivals, so I knew I was going to be playing to dance audiences in a sense. So that was made with that thought. I’ve got to make a work of art, as to whether people are trained or not. I don’t know whether I’ve quite answered that! Good question.