About
Hold Tight features lullabies recorded with Ukrainian refugees living in Poland. Four adults and three young people reflect on home, family and belonging and how, when we long for intimacy and connection, sometimes we just have to Hold Tight.
Hold Tight has been made in response to years of isolation and dislocation – where global events have been at the forefront of everyone’s lives. The production is suitable for audiences 14+ and contains images, sounds and scenes that some people may find upsetting. There are references to war, violence, suffering, death and sexual assault, loud sounds of gunfire and shouting in the work.
Hold Tight was supported by South East Dance.
Credits
Directed and Designed by
Charlotte Vincent
Artistic Director & Chief Executive (She/Her)
Charlotte formed Vincent Dance Theatre (VDT) in 1994 and has directed all the company’s collaborative work to date, on stage and on film. Vincent has also designed the work since 2005 and performed with the company until 2002. Vincent’s distinctive, contemporary choreography ‘stages ideas’ and embeds her own and her collaborators’ lived experience within the work, raising awareness of personal and political issues, breaking down the barriers between professional and non-professional performers and in VDT’s film installation and engagement spaces, between audience and participant.
Vincent is recognised as a sector leader in movement based socially engaged creative practice and creative health, particularly around her work with care-experienced young people and women at risk, championing gender equality and advocating for best practice to support parents and carers working in the performing arts. Her pioneering work on film ensired VDT were ‘covid ready and able to work through Covid and consequently allows Vincent’s work to be purposefully ‘applied’ in non-arts settings as well within conventional arts venues and settings.
Charlotte is an experienced speaker, lecturer and Mentor, working with early and mid-career artists to develop their creative practice and production work. Vincent has also worked as a director, dramaturg, and facilitator for other artists and companies, most notably Two Destination Language (Near Gone, winner Total Theatre Awards for Innovation and Experimentation 2014), Keira Martin (Here Comes Trouble Sadlers Wells Wild Card and Good Blood) and facilitating early R&D for Sue MacLaine’s Can I Start Again Please (2013).
In the past, Vincent has performed and collaborated with Professor Liz Aggiss as V&A Artefacts, curated an inaugural 4-week festival of experimental performance practice, Juncture at Yorkshire Dance in Leeds and co-hosted The Table, a forum to nurture dialogue across disciplines between established female artists with Dr Claire Macdonald. Charlotte sat on the Artists Advisory Group at Yorkshire Dance for several years and Steering Group for Dance UK’s National Choreographic Conference in 2013. Most recently she has been a driving force behind the development of the London Road Network in Brighton, a collaborative group of organisations and individuals working towards deeper interaction between arts orgs and grassroots organisations in one of Brighton’s more deprived areas.
Vincent is Safeguarding Lead for VDT, trained in Trauma Informed Practice, Mental Health First Aid, therapeutic parenting, and First Aid. She completed a Clore Leadership Short Course (2010), the Clore Programme for CEO/Artistic Directors (2011) and Clore Brave Conversations Programme (2013). Vincent is also trained in FA Football Coaching.
Vincent has written chapters and been written about in several Routledge Publications (resources) and PhD’s, and her work Art of Attachment lies at the heart of Dr Cath Lambert‘s imminent publication Troubling Adoption.
In 2023, Dr Vincent gained a PhD in Performing Arts from Canterbury Christ Church University, reflecting on VDT’s socially engaged practice, supervised by Professor Angela Pickard, Director of the Sidney de Haan Centre for Arts and Health.
Dr Charlotte Vincent lives in Brighton with her son, who loves mountain biking, fishing and gaming.
Performed by
Robert Clark
Artistic Associate
Robert Clark is a contemporary dance performer, choreographer and teacher working across Europe and the USA.
Robert worked with VDT since 2011 as a collaborator on many of our productions. He became Artistic Associate in 2022, faciltiating workshops and writing resources, also working as Rehearsal Director on PLAY in 2024.
Other companies include: Charles Linehan, Fevered Sleep, Sasha Waltz and Guests, Cie Felix Ruckert, Cie Soit/Hans van Der Broek, Le Grand Jeu/Louis Zeigler, Lisa Torun Dance Company, Barebones (Rui Horta and Garry Stewart/Australian Dance Theatre), Ben Wrights Bgroup, Alletta Collins and Troika Ranch amongst others.
Robert’s choreographic work has been recognised through a number of awards and prizes including the Simone Michelle Choreography Award and selection for the “Escalator Dance” programme, becoming a supported artist in the Eastern region of England. Robert has been; a Work place (associate) artist with The Place, London; a Resident Artist with Greenwich Dance, London; and an associate with Dance4 in Nottingham, England.
Robert regularly undertakes commission work. Recent commissions include work for Mapdance (University of Chichester), Wellcome Collection, Academy of Dramatic Art Zagreb and Koreokroj (Croatia).
Robert initially trained at the Laban Centre London BA (hons), before going on to complete his training at London Contemporary Dance School with EDge.
In 2024/5 Robert shifted his focus to pursue a career in Paediatric Physiotherapy in London.
Antonia Grove
Participation Producer (She/Her)
Toni is a choreographer, writer, filmmaker, facilitator, lecturer and award-winning performer with over two decades experience leading Contemporary Dance and cross-artform collaborations. As Artistic Director of Probe (2004-2018), Toni reshaped the industry with ‘boundary-blurring’ (The Times) multidisciplinary & experimental productions, devising and performing work commissioned by internationally celebrated choreographers, directors, writers and cross artform collaborators.
As a performer she has worked in prestigious companies including Rambert Dance Company, Walker Dance Park Music, Company Wayne Mcgregor, The National Theatre, Bonachela Dance Company, Teac Damsa, The Cholmondeleys, Charles Linehan Company, Clod Ensemble and Vincent Dance Theatre (VDT). Performing physically & technically demanding contemporary dance repertoire (Merce Cunningham, Mats Ek, Christopher Bruce, Jiri Kylian, Richard Alston, Siobhan Davies, Ohad Naharin etc), alongside cross artform dance and theatre work (Lindsey Kemp, Lea Anderson, Michael Keegan-Dolan, Wendy Houstoun, Matthias Sperling, New Art Club etc).
Toni has worked with VDT since 2015, performing and collaborating on: Underworld, Virgin Territory, Art of Attachment and Hold Tight.
Toni was a winner of the first Place Prize by Rafael Bonachela, has been nominated 3 times for the Critics Circle National Dance Awards- best female dancer (modern)- and a Time Out Live Award. Awards for Probe include: Guglielmo Ebreo Award & London Theatre Award nomination. After six full-length touring productions with Probe she now leads projects under my own name.
Toni regularly leads, facilitates and designs trauma-attuned creative spaces for marginalised, mixed ability and multi-generational groups and individuals to find artistic expression through art/dance with safety and access at the core.
Toni recently obtained her MA: Creative Practice from Trinity Laban, researching relationships between female hormones and creativity. She has 3 children and is an activist for mothers working in the Arts.
Photo: Jo Thorne
Janusz Orlik
Artistic Associate
Janusz Orlik is a performer, choreographer and dance practitioner.
After graduating from ballet school in Warsaw, Janusz became a student of Brucknerkonservatorium Linz in Austria. During his studies he became a founding member of x.IDA Dance Co. and performed in productions created by Olga Cobos, Peter Mika, Catherine Guérin, Rebekka Murgi, Nicole Caccivio and Charlotte Vincent. Since 2002, Janusz has been a regular member of Vincent Dance Theatre. Simultaneously, Janusz creates his own choreographic works, including “Exérèse monobloc” (2004), “and thy neighbour as thyself” (2006), “Live on stage” (2008), “The Rite of Spring” (2011), “Insight” (2013) awarded by The Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland for Janusz Orlik and Joanna Leśnierowska for the best choreography granted as part of Polish Dance Platform 2014, “Mute” (2018) and “Koda (a tribute)” (2019). In 2007 he performed in “nothing” by towarzystwo gimnastyczne and in 2009 in “Happy” by Nigel Charnock, in which he was also involved as choreographer’s assistant.
In 2010 Janusz joined Kwaad Bloed Company performing in “Forces”. In 2011 he joined Nigel Charnock + Company to create new work “Ten Men”. In the same year, he collaborated and performed in “Reconstruction” by Joanna Leśnierowska and in 2012 with Gary Clarke performing in “Horsemeat”. In 2013 he began a collaboration with Daniel Landau. In 2014 he performed in “… (Rooms by the sea) from the series Exercises in Looking” by Joanna Leśnierowska, in “Unintended Consequences” by Sjoerd Vreugdenhil, “Back to bone” by Rosalind Crisp and “Collective Jumps” by Isabelle Schad. In 2015 he performed in an excerpt of “Shirtology” by Jérôme Bel. In 2016 he worked as a movement director in “Ojczyzna” (Polish Theatre in Poznań), collaborated and performed in Polish-Brazilian production “Yanka Rudzka Project: Leavining”. In 2018 he collaborated and performed in Polish-Brazilian-Georgian-Armenian production “Yanka Rudzka Project: Polyphonies”.
Janusz is an author of a series of dance and movement workshops “Moved” which in a cyclical form took place throughout 2018 in cooperation with various institutions in Poland. Other works include “High heels” for the ballet ensemble of The Opera House in Kraków, “Alpha” for The Contemporary Dance Scene in Poznań, “Adagio” for the Musical Theatre in Poznań. As well as performing Janusz delivers movement and choreographic workshops in various venues, dance schools and community centres in Poland and abroad. Scholar of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland in 2011 and 2018.
Aurora Lubos
Artistic Associate
As an independent artist she created solo performances “Knife, Horse and Stairs.”, “Unfinished” and “Zanzibar”, and installation/performances “Still Alive” (2011) and “Food Cycle” (2011), ” Four corners” (2010), ” .No 1″ (2003), and several short animations “winter 2010”. In 2005 she was nominated to The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. In the past she has worked extensively with Dance Theatre of Gdansk and Dada von Bzdülöw. She collaborated with Avi Kaiser, Tatiana Baganowa, Jerzy Mazzoll, Bronek Duży. With other three artist Jacek Staniszewski, Oskar Martin and Patrycja Kujawska she co-founded KLM’S Group and created “Te Takie Te”.
Aurora first came across VDT’s work when Charlotte was invited to Gdansk to workshop choreographic ideas as part of the Baltic University of Dance Winter Explosion festival. For VDT Aurora has performed in Caravan of Lies (1999), made and toured Drop Dead Gorgeous (2001), Let The Mountains Lead You To Love (2003), Punch Drunk (2004), Broken Chords (2005), Fairy Tale (2006), Look At Me Now, Mummy (2007), If We Go On (2009) and Motherland (2012-2014). Aurora lives in Poland.
Young Performers
Understudy
Composer
Jules Maxwell
Sound Design
Jules Maxwell has composed music for a wide variety of choreographers over the last 20 years, including Wayne McGregor, Dog Kennel Hill Project, Jasmin Vardimon, Jane Mason, Cathy Marston, Charlotte Darbyshire, Theo Clinkard, Filip Van Huffel, New Art Club, Laila Diallo, Charlotte Darbyshire, Hofesh Schecter and Jeanine Durning.
His background is in theatre and he regularly works at the National Theatre, The Young Vic and Shakespeare’s Globe. He also has a long standing relationship with artist Mark Storor with whom he has created many small and large scale promenade and circus pieces.
He composed the soundtrack to Tim Loane’s Oscar nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance (1996).
As a musician and song writer he has collaborated with Dead Can Dance, Foy Vance, Iain Archer and Duke Special.
He has recently co-written a collection of songs with Lisa Gerrard for a forthcoming album by Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares.
At the heart of his music and practice is a curiosity to find links across theatrical disciplines. He is as interested in drama as he is in sound. He cannot avoid hearing music in movement and light and language. He is drawn to the truth found in flaws and scars and people singing badly.
Since moving to France he has begun presenting monthly solo concerts of his own songs in the Café Gallery where he now lives.
Lighting Design by
Nigel Edwards
Lighting Design
Nigel Edwards has been working with VDT since Virgin Territory in 2017 and subsequent shows, Shut Down, Art of Attachment and In Loco Parentis. He has also worked with Forced Entertainment for 29 years, Remote Control/Michael Laub for 17 years, The People Show for 7 plus Dessert Island Dances, Dance Dance Dance and 50 Acts for Wendy Houstoun. He has worked as a lighting designer on Lanark (The Citizens) Cleansed, 448 Psychosis (The Royal Court), Crave (Paines Plough), Robert Zucco, Victoria, The Tempest (RSC) as well as The Maid (ENO) and Hansel and Gretel (Opera North). He has also designed and toured with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Carsten Nicolai, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Jeff Beck and Nightmares on wax.
Recent engagements: Lighting Designer The Tell-Tale Heart (National Theatre); Flutter (Natalia Osipova at Saddlers Wells); The Lion and the Cobra (Christeene at the Barbican); Rolling (Michael Laub).
Production Managers
Mat Ort
Production Manager
Over the past 15 years Mat has worked as Production and Technical Manager for a diverse range of theatre, dance and arts companies delivering touring productions, site specific work, international arts festivals and numerous one-off site responsive commissions. Companies include Salisbury International Arts Festival, Inside Out Dorset Festival, Milton Keynes International Festival, Inside Out Dorset Festival, In Between Time Festival, The World Famous, National Theatre of Scotland, Frantic Assembly, Dreamthinkspeak, AndNow:, Bgroup, Vincent Dance Theatre, Theo Clinkard Dance, Probe, Unlimited Theatre, New Movement Collective, Stan Won’t Dance, Paines Plough and Trestle Theatre.
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Press
“The intensity of the work had me gripped throughout. The multiple and layered references to the reality we find ourselves in, combined with the rollercoaster like structure kept me on the edge of my seat”
Emily Davies, Brewery Arts Engagement Officer: Dance, 2022
Audience feedback
“An amazing, moving, thought provoking performance”
Audience Member, Hold Tight Tour 2022
“This show made me laugh out loud and sob at the end. It is right to be deeply affected by theatre. It was poignant to have children as part of this story. I can’t get the show out of my mind. The acting and dancing were beautiful, gripping and surprising. It was ok to show real distress and loud shots and bombs to shake us up. We need to see the individual in their plight and not shrug people off. We need to engage”
Audience Member, Hold Tight Tour 2022
“Tough but honest, disarming insight and account of the ‘human condition’…This was not a rescue operation but a window on the secret that we speak of as empathy and compassion. The machinery of war and seeming helpless, endless fall into violence is the very soil where that gift of new life is given and nurtured. The dance passages of disclosure and mysticism interpreted by the damp mist, living forms and birdsong”
Audience Member, Hold Tight Tour 2022