ARTIST PROFILES

12/7/2020

We have five wonderful and varied emerging artists presenting work in Insights Digital 2020. The platform will be available to watch on our website for four weeks, ending on December 11th, and during this time we will bring you artist profiles; giving you a further look at our artists, their backgrounds and what they do.

ALEXANDRA TSIAPI

As part of Insights Digital 2020, Alexandra Tsiapi shares her work Naiads and Nereids, the result of her ongoing research into femininity and its association with the element of water. Naiads and Nereids explores myths and folklore about female creatures that are in some way associated with water as well as rituals involving water as a means of purification/blessing/afterlife.

Alexandra Tsiapi is a Glasgow based dance artist specialized in contemporary dance, improvisation, choreography and performance. In 2015 Alexandra started her professional dance training at Anniesland College and in 2019, graduated from the Scottish School of Contemporary dance with a First Class BA (Hons) Degree in Contemporary Dance. Alexandra’s choreographic work created during her final year of the BA was selected to be showcased at the end of year production at the SSCD.

Alexandra toured work both nationally and internationally as part of the National Youth Dance Company of Scotland in 2017 and she has collaborated with organisations and companies including Scottish Ballet, Ydance, Shaper Caper and Dance Base.

Alexandra’s first solo performance was featured at the Lacuna festival 2020, presented by The Lacuna Studios in the Canary Islands. As a choreographer, she is interested in different ways of composing and making, and the variety of forms that one encounters when looking at various art disciplines.

“I take every opportunity I get to study the composition of other art forms and bring whatever I gather into my practice. I aspire to create art that inspires people, provokes critical thinking and discussion. I am interested in the collaboration of different art forms in order to create work that is accessible to wider audiences. I believe in the constant growth of my artistic practice which inevitably brings change; I like to look at different possibilities and skills that can inform my practice and I am always willing to allow new influences to carry me to different artistic ventures.

During the past months, I have started working on screen dance projects, adapting my practice to fit in the current global situation. As a dancer, I take delight in work that is organic and honest and that allows my body and creative mind to express their own needs. To achieve this freedom of expression, I often choose to work with improvisation. Through improvisation I find my artistic voice and myself. It is a tool I use to choreograph, to loosen up, to tune in with my body, to relax. Throughout the years I have come across various somatic practices which inform the way I improvise.” Alexandra Tsiapi

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ARTIST PROFILES

11/30/2020

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MISS ANGELA LEGG

As part of Insights Digital 2020, Miss Angela Legg shares her work ‘In a Box’, created during lockdown and detailing her experience in a relatable and comedic way.

Angela Legg is a Glasgow based creative person currently studying MLitt Theatre Studies at Glasgow University. Prior to relocating to Glasgow, Angela lived in London for several years and graduated from Roehampton University in 2014 with a 1st Class BA in Drama, Theatre and Performance studies.

Angela performs regularly as a solo performer at comedy, cabaret and variety events with a blend of amazing alliteration, ridiculous rhyming, silly singing, preposterous props and dazzling dancing (often with donuts). During lockdown, as well as creating In A Box she has turned to other screen projects including live streamed events with The Spangled Cabaret at Home, and Funny Women Alternative Interviews. She has also been creating comical silent videos in collaboration with friend and fellow comedy performer Sara Palomarr, together they are The Daft Duo and have so far created four short videos together which are available to watch online.

Learn more about Angela and her practice on her website: www.missalegg.com Or catch her on social media; links can be found at www.linktr.ee/missalegg

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ARTIST PROFILES

11/20/2020

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PENNY CHIVAS

As part of Insights Digital 2020, Penny Chivas shares her work, Phased Isolation. Self-shot, edited and danced by necessity, "Phased Isolation" was created amid the growing uncertainty and isolation created during Lockdown. Inspired by the need to be both visible and yet slip away at the same time and be somewhere else. The work represents a moment in which Scotland realised that Coronavirus was a far reaching problem with longer term repercussions than originally imagined. Phased Isolation was based initially on exercises from Katrina McPherson's Screen dance course supported by Dance Base in 2020.

Penny has created several other screen dance works, most notably, Dissipate, made in collaboration with Paul Michael Henry and Alan Patterson. Dissipate has been shown as part of; Screen.dance Scotland, Mexico City Video Dance Festival Platform and Exchange Choreography Festival (US) (all 2020) and will screen as part of Rogue Dancer Journal in 2021, as will Phased Isolation. In 2020, Penny received a micro-commission from Magnetic North to further investigate self-filming practices.

Dissipate

Originally from Australia, Penny Chivas is a dance artist based in Glasgow. Penny is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) BA (Dance), the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) Honours, and is currently studying part-time on the Master of Education and Learning in the Performing Arts at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Learn more about Penny and her practice on her website: www.penny-chivas.squarespace.com

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