Originally from Barcelona, Joan is an independent choreographer based in Dundee. He has worked for fourteen years as a dancer, teacher and rehearsal director in companies across Europe, including Scottish Dance Theatre, the Ballet of the Graz Opera (Austria), the company of the Choreographic Centre of Valencia, and Ballet Carmen Roche (Madrid). He now runs his own company called Joan Clevillé Dance based in Dundee.
Personally I have very little experience or knowledge of performative dance and if I’m honest, I was pretty nervous going into the recording. I feel particularly uncomfortable talking about subjects I have little knowledge of. Luckily it turned out to be one the most relaxed and enjoyable conversations I think I’ve ever had on the podcast. Joan talks beautifully about his work and the thinking behind his productions and I was surprised in parallels I could draw from his design process.
We took a pretty deep dive into how Joan creates his work and how performances evolve over time. ‘Sketching’ in the beginning in a much more physical sense using movements in space rather than pen and paper. Then refining and organising these ideas and sequences through the use of post it notes on a wall. Where would designers and creatives be without those little yellow stickies? Joan then moves to putting rough versions in front of an audience to gather feedback and using the data collected to create the next iteration of the performance.
Once a performance is ready and goes on tour Joan is there at every showing. The production of Plan B for Utopia ran for 50 dates, that’s an incredible amount of hours but he still finds it fascinating to pour over the nuances and improvisations every night.
We also chat about putting on a show at the Edinburgh Fringe and knowing when to push and when to just embrace it. Even if you’re not interested in dance or theatre I urge you to listen to this chat, there’s something in it for everyone.
Creative Dundee Article – http://creativedundee.com/2017/09/blog-10-things-i-learned-from-podcasting/
Joan’s Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/cleville
Joan’s website – http://www.joanclevilledance.com/
Joan’s twitter – https://twitter.com/jclevilledance
Joan’s instagram – https://www.instagram.com/joanclevilledance/
Scottish Dance Theatre – https://www.scottishdancetheatre.com/
Dundee Rep – http://www.dundeerep.co.uk/
Tramway Glasgow – http://www.tramway.org/Pages/home.aspx
The North – https://vimeo.com/221713369
Plan B for Utopia – https://vimeo.com/132943878
Podcast recommendation #05 – http://adam-buxton.co.uk/ad/category/adam-buxton-podcast/
