'Battlefield Boy'

The outcome of this creative research project was a Dance performance piece devised and co-choreographed by myself and Debbie Milner, from the Department of Performing Arts. The work entitled Battlefield Boy was performed by 12 Degrees North Graduate Dance Company in 2014. The process of researching and devising the work began from focusing on the lives of young teenage boys who enlisted during the First World War. Drawing from soldiers’ poetry and text, the piece explored the juxtaposition between childhood and their experiences as young soldiers. There were two main research stages within this project. Alongside the empirical research, the practical research and performance was located in and around the grounds of the Imperial War Museum North where we explored and questioned: How site specific approaches to creating choreography can be embedded into theme based work? How resonance of remembrance can be drawn from a specific location, from stories and from memories related to childhood and war? – How the content of the work can be conveyed to encompass cross generational audiences? The second stage of this project required the dance company to tour the work to venues in the North West. This led us to additional question of: What might be the most effective methods for transitioning and relocating site specific work into theatre spaces? The work was commissioned by Falinge Park High School in Rochdale and was initially performed at The Imperial War Museum, North as part of Project Tommy in June 2014. This piece was subsequently selected to be part of the existing repertoire for 12 Degrees North’s Autumn Tour 2014 and has been performed in a number of theatres and schools in the North West.