Stasiland Artist Workshop

Stasiland Artist Workshop

I am so pleased to be able to bring Stasiland's repetoire and creative processes to Chichester University for local dance artists from BA1 through to professional level. We'll warm up together using improvisation tools that we developed during the creation period in Summer 2024. I'll then teach some repetoire from the work allowing artists to understand the movement language unique to Stasiland and from there we'll engage in the creative processes used to create the repetoire and build the vignettes that tell the stories of Stasiland's characters.

Stasiland is a dance-theatre piece set in the shredded document ruins of East Germany. Delving into a world of total surveillance where anxiety is the regime we explore the stories of East Germans living under the eye of the Stasi and their informants. We watch as through the reconstruction of documents left in the wake of the police state the characters discover the secrets of their own lives revealing their poignant stories of connection and loss.

Inspired by the book Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder & designed in the round for audiences in Galleries, Libraries & Theatres.

Bio:

Olivia Wallis Jackson is a British-German Contemporary Dancer, Choreographer, Photographer, Teacher, Rehearsal Director & Administrative Support Worker currently based in Hampshire and working across the South and in London.

As a dance artist with an exciting blend of technical and explorative movement, she uses her unique performance skills and intellect to collaborate deeply with other artists. She strives to understand choreographers’ artistic aims and processes, fulfilling their visions to make work that is impactful and meaningful to a wide range of audiences. During her time working on DownTown Pompey’s Sticky Floors and Palm Trees, an immersive theatre show, utilising dance, theatre, cabaret and drag she was given the role of Movement Assistant in which she was responsible for choreographing sections of the show and leading the movement team.

Throughout the course of her training and career she has worked with artists and companies such as Luke Brown Company, Amy Foskett Dance, Stefan Puxon and director Polina Kulbachevskaia, DownTown Pompey, Tom Weinberger, Michael Getman, Jonathan Fredrickson, Samm Anga, Morvell Dance, Charles Linehan and Alleyne Dance.

In 2024 Olivia launched her own company Premier Dance Theatre, creating her first work Stasiland with the support of Arts Council England, Thrive (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance) Luke Brown Company and generous donors. Premier Dance Theatre strives to make works that can be situated in multiple environments, allowing outstanding dance-theatre work to be accessible to communities across the UK and internationally.

Alongside her work as a dancer and choreographer, Olivia is also a dance photographer. Highlights include photographing Lost Dog’s Summer Residency and artists from Resolution Festival for New Choreographer at the Place in 2023 and 2024. Additionally, she works with independent dancers in outdoor settings to photograph their improvisation, creating images for their portfolios.

Olivia engages with community dance work as Rehearsal Director for ORB Youth Dance Co., under artist director Luke Brown. This role led her to work with Luke as both his administrative support worker for ORB Youth Dance Co. and his professional company Luke Brown Company. Furthermore, she teaches adults, teenagers and children Contemporary Dance Technique at Basingstoke Academy of Dancing and is an assistant in We Create Dance and Drama sessions for adults with learning difficulties. Previously Olivia was a role model for vulnerable young people at Wessex Academy of Dance.

Olivia is an alumnus of Nuova X, at Nuova Officina della Danza in Turin, Italy – where she worked with world renowned choreographers Jonathan Fredrickson and Michael Getman in two five-week R&Ds, diving into their process of exploration and creation, while discovering the depth of her own. She graduated with First-Class Honours from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2021. Prior to professional training she trained at Trinity Laban’s CAT Scheme (2013-2018) and was a member of Hampshire Youth Dance Company (2016-2018).

Host or Publisher Olivia Wallis Jackson