Crossings: a fusion of maritime history and dance

Crossings: a fusion of maritime history and dance

Allan Irvine, Participation Manager at Dance Base
Allan Irvine, Participation Manager at Dance Base
Allan Irvine, from Dance Base National Centre for Dance, talks about his involvement with the Crossings project.

Crossings was a community project which started in 2016 and resulted in a trio of dance films, created by diverse communities in Edinburgh who were responding to the vibrant heritage of Leith. It was accompanied by an exhibition of historic objects, selected by the participants of those groups.

This was one of the biggest projects I have worked on in my 20-year career as a teacher and participation manager, in terms of both the materials produced, and the impact on those involved.

The youth groups involved included Unusual Suspects (Dance Base), Upward Mobility, Edinburgh Young Carers, and latterly, Great Feats (Dance Base).

Exploring the history of Leith

The project was a deep dive into Leith’s maritime history, and it led to the creation of three new works of choreography (which, in turn, became three new dance films), an exhibition, written content, and the creation of a continuing professional development (CPD) teacher training pack, which went on to be distributed to every primary school in Edinburgh.

[quote]"Together with the groups, we were able to explore aspects of Leith’s often overlooked maritime history."[/quote]

It was a true multimedia project, and a really enjoyable challenge for me and for the other artists involved in creating the choreography – Beverley Grant, Luke Pell, Katie Miller, Jamie Tindal, Will Thorburn and All or Nothing.

Together with the groups, we were able to explore aspects of Leith’s often overlooked maritime history, with one group drawing from the imagery of ropes, knots and nets to tie in with the aesthetics of aerial dance, another creating the sense of a journey from the objects in the Trinity House Maritime Museum, and the third taking inspiration from the compass and from the working lives of dock workers to explore the meaning of home as the end of the journey and the end of the working day.

Those works of choreography then took on new life when they were made into dance films by filmmakers Maciej Czajka and Pedro Vaz Simões, with scores from sound artist Barney Strachan.

Making an impact

It was a project that had an impact on the participants and the artists in equal measure. 

Katie Miller, a Dance Artist, said: “This was only the second time I had worked with people with Autism and I really enjoyed creating some dance with them that had stemmed from a history project that they were interested in rather than just starting from movement for movements sake. Separately to the Crossings project I attended a training workshop on inclusive dance practices and was happy to see that one of the carers from Upward Mobility was there as she had seen the positive impacts that dance can have and wanted to know more.”  

Crossings was a unique project, and has taken on a life well beyond its original scope, as the exhibition continues to be shown.

You might also be interested in...