More video extracts and interview with apprentice dancer Hannah Wintie

At the end of our third week of creation, our intern Kate has put together another short video collecting together some snippets of material from our rehearsals for The Imagination Museum. We think this gives a sense of just how much fun we're having creating the movement vocabulary for this piece! Rob, Jessamin and Lucy are now well acquainted with their 'tour guide' characters Henry, Mildred and Harriet, and we've also had time this week to develop some of our material responding to artefacts, including an Ice Age artefact (the Robin Hood Cave Horse) and carvings by Grinling Gibbons, as well as our fossil movement.

Dancers: Rob Guy, Jessamin Landamore, Lucy Starkey, Hannah Wintie
Filmed/edited by Kate Thomas
Music: Max Perryment

Kate also took some time this week to interview our apprentice dancer Hannah Wintie about her role within the creative process:

What does your role as an apprentice dancer entail?
My role last week was to be part of the creative process which was helpful for me because I got to explore my own ideas of each character. This week it's different because I can be an outside eye as some material is devised and set. I'm often an extra body for when we are exploring ideas; if we are working on a duet for example, there can be two groups working on something. It means we can create something and share it with each other and the two ideas can merge and adapt into one.  My role also involves stepping in when someone can't be at a rehearsal or performance. Therefore, I have to learn all of the material for the three different characters! It can seem quite daunting, but it is also refreshing to be able to change between characters. If I get a bit bogged down with an idea or character, I can say "right I'm going to try something else" and then return when I feel ready.

Photograph Kate Thomas

How do you learn all the material?
I'm trying to pick up as much as I can just by watching the other dancers whilst they are devising and playing with material. It can be really difficult though, as it isn't set yet, and they might decide to change something so I have to keep watching and adapting. I'm learning anything that gets taught and while the three of them are working on a section with Katie, I'll pick one character to focus on and try and learn their section at the side. At the end of every day I'm writing down 'What I know'; I'm accumulating a big list so I can look and see that I've learnt Henry's part, for example, and I still need to work on Harriet and Mildred. Sometimes I feel really involved in the creative process and other times I need to take a step back and observe the other three.

Do you feel like you are connecting to one character more than the others? 
For some reason I'm finding I’m connecting to the Henry character. He is cheeky and I like that. I really like Harriet's character as well because she is so inquisitive. I'm finding Mildred the biggest challenge. I sometimes find it hard to be authoritative, whereas I feel like Jessamin has really found her and has a certain control which is interesting to watch. I'm just going to continue to find a way to embody each character in my own way.  I'm not trying to be Jessamin, being Mildred, but being Mildred in my own way with Jessamin's influence.

Which subject have you found most interesting to work with?
There are times where we aren't working solely on the characters and working more intensely with a piece of research or an idea. For example, today we were working with the idea of fossils. It is really interesting the way we are working with a subject and then finding a way to translate it into movement. The stimuli we are using to create movement are so rich and detailed, which is helping to create some really exciting movement material. 

We are very pleased (and very lucky!) to have Hannah with us, and she will be teaching company class at the beginning of next week - come along and join us! More information here: http://madebykatiegreen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/company-class-in-london-september-2013.html .

Behind the scenes at our photo shoot with Chris Nash, on-site at Ipswich Museum; photograph Katie Green