friend

The collaboration between Gillie and the local participant performers takes place remotely, connecting via video calls, telephone and postal mail. The project will accommodate five performers in each locale but Liverpool, chosen through a targeted open call supported by the local partner; in Norfolk this will be five parent-child-dyads, and in Liverpool this will be an existing group, the Blue Room studio, discussed below.

The criteria are that the applicants should not be professional performers and should live in the particular town/city of the host organisation. Participants are given a stipend to make possible the leisure time for this activity.

Working with Gillie Kleiman and a local partner organisation, performers take part in a series of group and one-on-one online and task-led workshops which allow them to find their own version of the choreography. As part of this process, they identify and invite a number of friends who will be sent a written invitation asking them to come to watch the performance in the performer’s home. They will be the only audience members. There is no ticket price; instead, the audience members are asked to bring a dish to share. Following the performance, the group eat together whilst using prompt cards to reflect on the show in interesting ways (including recreating moments from the performance, and a whispering game). 

Through the seven week process, each performer is sent weekly instructions running up to the performance, beautifully designed by Kaiya Waerea. These turn into a memento folder for the performers to keep. There is a weekly drop-in meeting and a WhatsApp group; the performers get to know one another and move through the process together.

What: new phase of highly successful (testimonials below) participatory dance project friend, extending impacts to new places and people in England

What's new: Four new locations for the work, with new demographic priorities (see below); a brand new theatre-style version with young people for public audience (Norfolk) and a brand new version with learning disabled/neurodivergent adults for gallery space (Liverpool)

Who: Gillie Kleiman (bio below), non-professional dancers, including young people and families and adults with learning disabilities, professional partners and cultural workers

Why: contemporary choreography, especially of a more experimental nature, can be found to be exclusionary and opaque. This project enables non-professional dancers to engage in a thoughtful creative process and be supported to present the work in their homes, making contemporary dance an everyday act for performers and their friends. The project supports creative exchange, promotes friendship, and injects fun into the everyday.

Where: Norfolk, Berwick, Camden (London), Liverpool

When: this project runs from May 2026 to May 2027

I have made a wide range of work over the past 17 years, all rooted in dance and choreography, and presented in contexts associated with dance, theatre, Live Art, social practice and visual art. Some of my work addresses mostly a professional audience, akin to scientists publishing technical work in an academic journal. This work is formally inventive, responds to my expertise in dance and performance practice in the 20th and 21st centuries, stretches and exposes the stretching of conventions of practice, and speaks into a political and social context. This has included a radio show about the action of rocking (The Rocking Show, with Hannah Buckley, 2021) and a theatre work where the roles of director and performer are confused, amplified, and drawn into focus (Familiar, with Greg Wohead, 2019). 

Other parts of my work address a non-professional audience, and is invested in demystifying contemporary dance and performance, carefully offering agency to dance- or art-sceptical people, and finding new interfaces for complexity. This has included a cabaret of sorts (A Lyrical Dance Concert, 2012, with Sara Lindström) and dance class-cum-performance (DANCE CLASS: a performance, 2011). I have a special interest in the non-professional performer in professional artwork, and how their contribution can challenge ideas of professionalism, labour and the public. This has resulted in such works as Recreation (2017), a theatre work for a mixed cast which invokes a ‘leisure aesthetic’, a festival with and for Yorkshire Dance (Juncture, 2016), and an ongoing collaboration with four non-professional fat performers in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Gillie initiated friend in 2019, with support from Dance4 and Yorkshire Dance. We undertook a pilot project with performers in Nottingham, Newcastle and Leeds, which taught us more about the process, the materials required, and the impact.

In 2024, with support from FABRIC, Home Live Art, GIFT, Creative Crawley and SPILL, we undertook a larger project, disseminating the work to five new places in England and creating public events in each location. This project enabled us to refine and develop the back-end processes that make the experience for the performers and audience enjoyable, straightforward and rich.

We are in an excellent position to expand the work’s reach through this new project, and through the new relationships this project includes.

We have thought deeply, in collaboration with each of the partners, about whom we will be engaging through the project. This is different for each partner, as follows:

With The Maltings, Berwick: friend will take place in the community surrounding Berwick Academy, where The Maltings has been doing long-term work. This will be the first project that focuses directly on the adult parents and carers of the young people who attend the school, extending the reach of The Maltings' work and embedded the cultural offer more deeply into the community in a mutually-supportive exchange. 28% of the children attending Berwick Academy are eligible for free school meals, and the school has been rated as requiring improvement. In the ward of Berwick East, in which the school sits, Census data indicates that 44% of the population is economically inactive, with 25% of the population having no qualifications. 22% are disabled. We are sensitive to these challenging circumstances for cultural participation and will work with The Maltings, and through The Maltings with the school as appropriate, to identify a suitable group for participation through a targeted open call. We will ask appropriate monitoring questions at both application and selection to test our work to meet the demographic environment.

The audiences for the performances will be the friends and family of the performers. While friends and family can be different to each other, our experience demonstrates that this friendship model can bring new people to dance. For this project, we will gather monitoring data which also includes questions about experience watching dance and engaging with culture; this is crucial not only for our ongoing work but also to supply information to The Maltings about impact.

With Norwich and Norfolk Festival, Thetford: friend will take place in the town of Thetford, which NNF has identified as a key area for developing participatory work, especially involving children and young people. This is an opportunity to stretch the framework of the friend project, working with five adult-child dyads from the same families. We have begun preparatory work with the town's Local Cultural Education Partnership, who will support the recruitment process. We will target in-school, home-schooled, and out-of-school young people and their families. In Thetford, 21% of the working-age population has no qualifications, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government; the same source indicates that 34% of the population is economically inactive and that 26% of young people live in relatively low income families. As with Berwick, we are sensitive to these challenging circumstances for cultural participation, especially for families with children, and will work closely with NNF and the LCEP to target the open call and appropriately gather and maintain monitoring data carefully.

As with The Maltings, the audiences for the at-home performances will be the friends and family of the performers. While friends and family can be different to each other, our experience demonstrates that this friendship model can bring new people to dance. For this project, we will gather monitoring data which also includes questions about experience watching dance and engaging with culture; this is crucial not only for our ongoing work but also to supply information to NNF about impact. Additionally, the public performance will bring community members - as any youth dance performance does - but also wider audiences through NNF's marketing activities and regional reach. We will collect data about experience as audience members and about demographic information to understand better how these two parts of the Thetford iteration interact, to support ongoing work in developing the friendship/community model of audiencing friend proposes.

With Old Diorama Arts Centre, London: friend will take place in the Regent's Park Estate. Daniel Pitt, ODAC's CEO, has indicated key demographic information which ODAC uses to guide its activities in the Estate in his statement of support (below). We are fortunate to be working with this partner who already works carefully to gather and maintain public data about its environs as well as thoughtfully gather appropriate monitoring data; we will be following the team's lead here, and work similarly to how we work in Berwick and Thetford.

As with The Maltings and NNF, the audiences for the performances will be the friends and family of the performers. While friends and family can be different to each other, our experience demonstrates that this friendship model can bring new people to dance. For this project, we will gather monitoring data which also includes questions about experience watching dance and engaging with culture; this is crucial not only for our ongoing work but also to supply information to ODAC about impact.

With Bluecoat, Liverpool: Bluecoat have commissioned a new version of friend to be performed by members of the Blue Room supported studio. In her statement of support (below), Laura Yates, Head of Participation at Bluecoat, has indicated the particular demographic attributes of the group and the importance of opportunities like this collaboration. In turn, we are fortunate to be working with this group of participants whose contributions will allow an expansion of the work as it is, in an important creative exchange.

Here, we expect the audience for the public performance to be not only friends and family of the performers but the wider public who attend Bluecoat activity. As dance is not a primary focus for Bluecoat, this offers an unusual opportunity for people who usually take part in activities at Bluecoat, visit the cafe, or see visual art work in the gallery. Bluecoat will market the performance in its usual methods including print, online, and social media, and we will gather audience data to test the assumption that a majority of audience members will be new to dance or not regular dance-goers. We will use these data to evaluate the potential of future gallery-based versions of friend.

The process is necessarily very private. However, each performance is recorded in a home-movie style; this output befits the performance. Audience members, as part of the post-show event, take photographs of themselves recreating the performance, creating a document for them to take away. We are able to share one of the home movies, from participant Rupert performing friend in Gateshead in 2024:

Video testimonials from Elene, Fatima and Rupert, three of the performers from friend 2024:

"I joined the project a few weeks in and felt immediately welcomed and a part of the project. It was really fun developing the performance over the weeks, meeting and hearing the other participants’ stories and building a connection across what we had to do. I liked meeting with Gillie and everyone else a lot, and I liked how each performance was based around the same concept but everyone had different takes because of the stories and song choices and way of moving, It felt really cool to be part of something that was different. It was really special doing the performance and seeing the impact it had on my friends."

Cazimi, performer, Hastings

"Having a high pressure job and some difficult life experiences I can take things too seriously and sometimes struggle to take up space and express my true self, without fear of judgement. This project was a huge practice in those things. It helped me to ‘get in the arena’ in a fun and light hearted way. This has aided personal growth, opened me up creatively. Thanks very much for the opportunity, I will try to remember my own dance, and listen to those songs if I feel I am losing touch with my inner creative, free and playful child. It was a process that helped me to look at myself and the world differently. I could connect with my body, my voice and my friends in new and exciting ways."

Ruth, performer, Gateshead

"friend was a gift in my life. Whilst I am a confident person, there were aspects of the project were I noticed how much I apologise for myself, make myself smaller to make others comfortable. I was so aware that I did that and friend has been a turning point in my life to make space for myself and to own it. For this alone I'm very grateful for. The way Gillie has structured the entire friend project from the weekly roll out of information in the perfect order to build confidence to the piece itself has been for me, and my friends on the night, a very special process that has highlighted the connections we hold and to treasure them. If you go in with an open mind and open heart, the friend project can only be a transformation and bonding process for all involved." 

Sam, performer, Ipswich

"Absolutely loved the whole evening, from arriving, sitting on the sofas awaiting the performance to start, through to watching and experiencing the dances - Carli was a warm host who brought the evening to life with her movement, creativity and song choices, as well as her amazing way to softly involve everyone in the room. Absolutely wonderful to sit together with a glass of wine for a chat afterwards, and to spend some time being creative ourselves drawing and doodling on our place mats, loved every minute and came home feeling content and entertained!"

Anonymous audience member, Hastings

"A surreal and wonderful experience watching a friend bravely step out of their comfort zone to perform for a group of acquaintances in their living room!"

Anonymous audience member, Birmingham

"As friends and family of the performer the dance felt close and familial - even biographical at times. I referred to it as a 'compilation', sneaking snapshots at points in our shared experiences of social moments - both intimate and in the throng of strangers. We laughed and we reminisced, and most importantly, we supported our friend as they stepped out of their comfort zone to provide us with their artistic expression; after all we've all been there, singing our hearts out from the next room, masked in the smog of the cloaking ice machine, whilst avoiding eye contact with our closest peers, who in reality are sat there, rooting earnestly for their friend to express themselves to their fullest."

Anonymous audience member, Gateshead

"Norfolk & Norwich Festival are thrilled to be collaborating with Gillie Kleiman on 'friend'. Through considered conversation we are excited that this particular version of 'friend' that NNF will receive and support has been developed to integrate young people and for there to be a public performance to take place as part of our Connect & Create programme in 2026. As Senior Producer for the Festival Connect & Create place-based work across East Anglia and a representative of a festival that champions ambitious and socially engaged work, I believe 'friend' is a vital and timely work that aligns strongly with our curatorial priorities and values. It is a work we are proud to platform raising awareness and appreciation of it with the festival’s audiences and communities across Norfolk. We were drawn to this project not only for its concept and warmth, but also for its relevance. We believe that 'friend' is rooted in care, intimacy, and develops sustainable relationships. We are fully committed to supporting this work and will work with partners in Thetford to realise the work with the community there. We are confident that 'friend' will resonate deeply and spark meaningful conversations amongst the participants, their friends and family as well as the residents and community. We strongly endorse this application as this socially engaged work is thoughtful, timely, and generous and we trust that 'friend' taking place in Thetford will have a lasting impact."

Alex Anslow, Senior Producer Norfolk & Norwich Festival

"I am pleased to confirm our support for your application to Arts Council England for funding for friend. The concept for this production is interesting to us for several reasons and we are delighted to have the opportunity to be one of the partner producers of this work in 2026. The Maltings (Berwick) is undergoing a period of significant change and due to the redevelopment of our building we are not based in our usual venue at Eastern Lane in Berwick upon Tweed. This is a huge opportunity for us to work in a different way with our local community and friend is a good fit for this approach, as we are delivering performances and creative engagement projects in a range of community settings in the town. We have developed a very positive relationship with the only secondary school in town, Berwick Academy, and are interested in working with you to offer the opportunity to be a part of friend to the Berwick Academy community of parents/carers, as well as others in the town who don’t easily access cultural engagement."

Lucy Vaughan, Head of Creative Engagement, The Maltings

"ODAC is a centre for arts creation and communities in Euston. We produce participatory projects that take place out in the world around us - whether that's public art programmes, dance programmes in local theatres, outdoor festivals on the streets, or - for friend - inside people's homes.

friend combines several key interests for ODAC: community collaboration with the Regent's Park Estate, dance with and by non-professionals, new sites for performance, community connectedness and cohesion, and housing. 

Remix Dance is a community dance project, delivering free weekly Street Dance classes. After 18 years of Remix Dance (before it became an ODAC project), there is a whole community in Regent's Park Estate that has grown up dancing. It also builds on a working class dance heritage that goes back more than 100 years.

Over half of households rent from the Council (40%) or from Registered Social Landlords (13%). Euston sits within Regent’s Park ward, one of the top 25% most deprived areas in England, with high levels of social housing and child poverty (Area360, 2025). Over half of households rent from the Council (40%) or from Registered Social Landlords (13%).

ODAC's is actively supporting community connectedness in the Regent's Park Estate: 75% of 1000-1200 attendees at ODAC's Regent's Roots festival stated they met someone that they didn’t know before in 2024, and 68% in 2025.

Regent’s Park is ethnically diverse and has the 3rd largest Bangladeshi community in Camden.

To recruit dancers, we'll build on our deep community connections, and other groups that ODAC hosts, such as Camden Collabs, and we are excited about the opportunity to collaborate on friend."

Daniel Pitt, Creative Director & Chief Executive, Old Diorama Arts Centre

"I am writing in support of your Arts Council England application to support the future development of
your performance piece, friend. The work demonstrates ingenuity in responding to the creative capacity
of arts audiences. We would be very happy to invite you to collaborate with members of Blue
Room, Bluecoat’s inclusive arts project for learning disabled and neurodivergent adults.

Blue Room members have learning disabilities and/or neurodiversity. Our members are from different socio-economic backgrounds with about 85% living in neighbourhoods that would be classed in the most deprived 1% in the country. In studies, people with learning disabilities are overwhelmingly excluded from civic and cultural life although this is slowly changing as seen by the Turner Prize Victory of Nnena Kalu. [Our members experience] much less opportunities to engage meaningfully in society and experience much higher rates of loneliness, face multiple levels of discrimination and barriers to participation and unfavourable health outcomes, lack of choice and access to personal power.

friend would fit within a context at Bluecoat in which we are focused on human senses and finding new
and innovative ways in which the public can experience artworks. Your work is not only relevant to
Bluecoat, but has clear significance in wider artistic discourse."

Laura Yates, Head of Participation, Bluecoat