Niamh Keady

Niamh Keady is a dance artist currently in her 3rd year of training at Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, UK. She is interested in mixing movement, music and words, and the body’s potential to create and tell stories. She is drawn to sensitivity, vulnerability and empathy as sources of power and forces for change. Instagram: @niamh_keady 

In many ways, for a dancer, lockdown could’ve hit the hardest. All studio and rehearsal spaces shut down, the whole industry going into decline with no end date in sight for when they’ll reopen. But for Niamh, dance is everywhere. Just dancing at home in the space you have, expressing yourself and creating movement is a joy. We all like to dance but hearing about someone who explores and lives their passion is always inspiring. Niamh’s positive and thought provoking outlook on life and her sector is ever intriguing. It was so lovely to catch up with her a few weeks ago.

Take a read of our full interview with Niamh below.

‘Saudade’ - a Portugeuse word meaning “A somewhat melancholic feeling of incompleteness”

Ostrich [OM] How are you doing this morning?

Niamh [NK] I’m doing good, thank you.  A little tired but coffee will sort me out.

 [OM] Good to hear. What’re you working on at the moment?

[NK] Relaaaaaxing - I’ve got some time off for Easter so I’m mainly spending time with my family and catching up with friends. Since I’m graduating this summer, I’m mostly working on applications, writing cover letters, that sort of thing.

[OM] The fun stuff then! Where are you when you answer these questions?

[NK] At the kitchen table, in the good company of a coffee mug and an empty porridge bowl.

[OM] What sort of dance is it that you do? 

[NK] Contemporary dance, which is kind of a mix of everything nowadays; ballet, modern dance, improvisation, and there’s specific techniques with influences from acro, martial arts, capoeira… I could go on and on! But really, any movement can ‘count’ as contemporary dance. The definition is always changing.

[OM] So great that it spans such a wide range. So what inspires you?

[NK] To get up and dance? Anything can inspire me to be honest. I mean, for me I see movement as one of the most natural things. On molecular levels, everything is vibrating. Our cells expand and contract. You ever seen those time lapse videos of how much plants move in one day? I love that stuff! With this in mind, if I allow space for a bit of inspiration to take hold, it can and will. It’s one of the things I love the most about dancing - you are the artwork and the tools to make it simultaneously. Dancing with other people keeps me going in that sense. I mean I think it’s just amazing that we can and get to make art together in the moment - you watch and do and share all at the same time! I can’t think of a more joyful ritual, and that continually inspires me.

When I make stuff, I don’t really think in terms of like, finding a painting or watching a film and being all, ‘Ah ha! This thing is my inspiration’ and sticking with it. I tend to find stuff and connect an aspect of it back to something else, and I end up stitching together in my head words, images, music, emotions. I find I just have to accept however my brain goes through this process, even if I can’t articulate myself how I even got there. There’s too much going on to realise where stuff’s come from. I might be assuming but I think a lot of dancers have that thing of not being able to explain it in words, because it only makes sense in movement, or visually in your head, or when you hear that piece of music, you know?

I often write and sketch, both when inspiration strikes me and while I’m in a process.. Not necessarily anything fancy, but just articulating things and trying to sort out what I’m finding out. I draw a lot of stick men hahaha! That and getting up and moving to music keeps my own curiosity alive. I could spend hours on Spotify, making long queues of stuff I haven’t listened to yet and combing playlists made by my favourite artists of what inspires them.  

Niamh’s sketchbooks that she uses to choreograph and plan routines.

[OM] Ah that’s amazing, it’s always so nice to hear when people are truly exploring their passion. Is there somebody/group/movement that inspires you in particular?

[NK] Ah that’s so difficult! I could go on forever… I’ll try to keep it short.

“As long as I’m still dancing/moving in some capacity and continuing to share my love for it, I’ll be happy. ”

In terms of contemporary dance some of my favourites are Peeping Tom, Botis Seva, Hofesh Shechter, Holly Blakey, Sita Ostheimer, and Russell Maliphant. And, honestly, my peers inspire me every single day.

Elsewhere, on instagram @womenhiphop always gets me inspired. I love FKA Twigs and I’m an avid Drag Race watcher. And recently I watched a documentary on Olafur Eliasson. I love his focus on the audience’s experience of art as defining what it means.

[OM] Your most recent dance, is there something in particular that you drew inspiration from?

[NK] Yes, I made a solo a couple of months back! I took the concept of sampling in music, and how it’s been used to create new genres. I improvised with music a lot and came to making a short phrase to some text in a track, then experimented with ‘sampling’ the movement to create the work, messing with contrast and the music’s layers. I enjoyed making it and dancing it a lot :)

Before that I made a piece in the first lockdown combining dance, film and text called ‘Saudade’ - a Portugeuse word meaning “A somewhat melancholic feeling of incompleteness”. I was interested in homesickness as a feeling anyway before COVID hit, as I think it’s one of the few feelings that is universal yet everyone feels it completely differently. So lockdown was an opportunity to explore this through this new, situational lens. Home means something different if you never leave it, since in my research I read that the very sense of home is formulated in the act of leaving and then returning back to the comfort. How do you still feel that if you can’t leave at all? It was an interesting process, and I learnt a lot.

[OM] How long have you been dancing for?

[NK] I’ve always enjoyed dancing, but only in the after school club as a hobby or a very enthusiastic Macarena at the kids disco... I had stage fright for years! I took it up more at secondary school with the youth dance group, but I didn’t start taking classes in ballet and contemporary until I was 14. As I began dancing more, I realised it’s what I wanted to do with my life.

[OM] What was it that drew you to dance?
[NK] It honestly makes me feel amazing to move - to music, with other people -  and it just brings me the most intense, beautiful joy that I want to share. I’m a sensitive person, and it sets my nerves off in the most insane, ecstatic way. Dancing feels like a superpower, with all this contained feeling zipping around my body. Sounds like some kind of high when I put it that way! I guess maybe it is a bit. It can be.

I also love the innate vulnerability in dance. Your body is the art form, there’s no third party of paint or an instrument or whatever. For me that’s so powerful. And that sense of no-equipment-required means it’s something we can all do. That’s another kind of thought I have around why I love it and believe in it so much. Whatever capability our bodies have, we all have a body; so we can all move (together)! The possibilities are never ending, and dance is - it should always be - about people, in my mind.

[OM] Where would you see yourself in 10 years time?

[NK] God, I feel like I can’t think beyond next week because of how this last year has been! As long as I’m still dancing/moving in some capacity and continuing to share my love for it, I’ll be happy. 

Though, I guess a goal of mine is to contribute in some way towards making contemporary dance more accessible and to get more people into dancing who have been deemed ‘non-dancers’. We have a lot more work to do as a sector in that, I feel; both in terms of socio-economic boundaries for people, and the aesthetic hierarchies that continue to be upheld. In my opinion it’s the direction we need to go in to elevate the art form.

[OM] What inspires you to keep producing and dancing in the current climate and COVID times?

[NK] I think I can speak for all of us in that it's been really hard… Giving ourselves space to not necessarily produce has been essential. For me to keep going, I’ve been leaning into what keeps me interested and engaged in dancing and in art in general and just following it. I’m trying not to think about all of the could-have-beens and just make sure my heart’s in whatever I’m doing, and that I’m still listening and still hungry to learn. Exercising trust in what I do and what I can make; I’ve been placing a lot of faith in that... Right now I have no idea if it’s paying off in any way! But at least I’m fulfilled in what I’m able to do at the present moment, whatever the outcome is of anything. I’ve managed to keep myself going by trying to be more open to the potential form that inspiration, motivation, drive could take.

[OM] Is there a certain type of genre of music you like dancing to?

[NK] I guess I’m often drawn to the music I described when talking about my most recent piece; hip hop & electronic, all the subgenres from that. I’m attracted to layers, fun rhythms and melody; I like to dance to music I feel like I can play with. Either that or just something groovy! Can’t get enough of soul & disco for dancing around the kitchen, and it reminds me of my childhood.

[OM] Thanks Niamh, so lovely to talk to you. Got any plans for the rest of the day?

Thank you so much for having me! I’m going to go on a run, then probably back to my laptop to do some admin, and I’ve got to mend a dress. Very chilled. I hope you (and anyone reading this) have a beautiful day! :)