The ‘My Female Body’ journey began in 2016 when Dancer and Choreographer, Beth Payton, became a blogger for The Huffington Post UK.
Feeling compelled to speak out against an all too common experience of casual sexual harassment, something that she and many of the women in her life had experienced countless times, she wrote and published an Open Letter.
Her writings were met with an overwhelming response from women everywhere, from all walks of life which inspired Beth to do something more. Knowing that social change is possible through the Arts she felt now was the perfect time to bring her writing and dance work together.
The Film will use her poem of the same title as it’s stimulus, utilising the art forms of Contemporary Dance, Traditional Indian Kathak Dance, Spoken Word and Film to address gender inequality and convey a message of Female Empowerment.
Read Beth’s poem
My Female Body
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
With support from National Lottery funding through Arts Council England and corporate sponsorship from Jones Lang LaSalle and Teentaal Kathak Dance Company, Beth has been able to deliver creative workshops to nearly 100 local girls and women ranging in age from 10yrs-80yrs!
The workshops used Beth’s poem My Female Body as a discussion point, allowing the women to explore the inequalities they faced within their own daily.
The workshops have had a real and powerful impact on the women who took part
Having gathered stories, thoughts and creative input from the workshop participants, Beth was able to feed the Artistic Research back to her team of Female Collaborators. Having just one week to research movement and visual ideas, the team were able to create a Teaser Trailer, demonstrating the quality and concepts behind the work.
CREATION
Beth now plans to create the full Dance Film, with the hope of working with some of the women who have participated in the R&D again, in order to offer them the opportunity of dancing alongside the professional dancers in the film. The aim is to create community driven, community owned, professional artwork, addressing gender inequality and conveying an overall message of Female Empowerment.
Beth says “It has been so inspiring for me to meet so many women who are passionate about becoming part of the voice for change. I started this project just before the Hashtag Me Too and Times Up movements began, so It’s been really wonderful to feel like we have been part of this worldwide, collective female voice. It’s served as an important message for the girls and women that I’ve worked with, to feel like the Times Up movement isn’t just about celebrity women and challenging the powers that be at the very top, it is about women everywhere, gaining the confidence to question their experiences and to advocate for social change within their communities and beyond.”
ENGAGEMENT
The ‘My Female Body’ film will be utilised within a workshop programme where Beth plans to encourage discussion and awareness around gender equality. Workshop participants will explore the thematic content through dance and creative movement, offering the opportunity to question, discuss and creatively express their thoughts through movement and poetry.
Bespoke Workshop programmes can be designed specifically to suit the needs of each group. Workshops are available to book NOW for Autumn 2018, please email info@myfemalebody.co.uk.
