Stuart Waters ROCKBOTTOM Comes to Edge Hill Arts Centre

Rockbottom is a powerful, topical new dance theatre solo from Stuart Waters which starts its spring 2019 tour at Edge Hill Arts Centre in Lancashire on February 12th. Combining bold story-telling with highly physical choreography, Rockbottom is a deeply moving portrait of one man's journey through depression and addiction.

While the subject matter of Rockbottom is semi-autobiographical, the piece is accessible and is designed to alternately move, challenge, and illuminate the audience. The themes of depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal are leavened with unexpected humour and warmth; the mood of the piece skyrockets between existential angst and irony while prominence is given to the roles of resilience and support networks along the road to recovery. Rockbottom is a thought-provoking piece as well as a reflective tool for everyone concerned with mental well-being.

Stuart Waters' critically acclaimed physical theatre identity, honed over many years of performance with high profile contemporary dance companies is centre-stage in this riveting exploration of one man's personal struggle to find the light. Rockbottom marks his debut as a solo writer/performer.

Rockbottom tour dates for spring 2019:

January 26th London, Duckie at Royal Vauxhall Tavern - 11pm excerpt www.vauxhalltavern.com
February 12th Lancashire, Edge Hill Arts Centre www.edgehill.ac.uk/artscentre
February 20th Norwich Arts Centre www.norwichartscentre.co.uk

March 1st Brighton, Marlborough Pub & Theatre www.marlboroughtheatre.org.uk

March 6th Oxford Old Fire Station www.oldfirestation.org.uk

March 8th Glos, Uley, Prema Arts Centre www.prema.org.uk
PR: judy.lipsey@premiercomms.com

Post-show discussions will be held after each performance.

Originally from Devon, Stuart Waters graduated from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and has been a successful performing artist and dance maker for 20 years working at the cutting edge of the devising processes with Luca Silvestrini's Protein Dance (in which he created central characters in the company's award-winning tour of 'LOL (lots of love)' and 'Bordertales') Bare Bones, Motionhouse, Experiential Dance Company and Wired Aerial Theatre. Stuart has been part of the One Dance UK mentorship programme and in 2011 was awarded The Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund to travel to New York for further dance study. He has collaborated with a variety of directors including Mike Ashcroft (RSC), Henri Oguike, Helen Blackburn, (Montreal) and more. Stuart began the process of creating Rockbottom in 2017 and has been commissioned to create choreographic works for Centres of Advanced Training (CAT) Schemes and BA Performing Arts across the UK.

My personal "rock bottom" was a near death experience, ironically, when I was at the peak of my dance performance career. It was a period of 35 days in ICU and 8 months recovery, during which Rockbottom was born. When I returned from tours I felt an emptiness which led to increased feelings of isolation, loneliness, anxiety and bursts of depression. I turned to unhealthy coping mechanisms and even though my employers worked hard to support me, it didn't work.

I discovered I was not alone and in making Rockbottom, I'm challenging us all to consider mental health in the performing arts and specifically in the dance sector.

I wonder why we need and want vulnerability from artists and whether or not it achieves great art. In starting to make Rockbottom I began exploring my experience and thoughts creatively and developed a safeguarding model to protect my creative team's emotional and mental wellbeing during the creation of the piece.

In conclusion the safeguarding model I devised brought an atmosphere of trust and lightness; we had an open process of 'checking in' and 'checking out' which enabled us to keep track of the journey and changes in mood. The choreographic process felt empowering and informed the sessions I led, creating an open approach that evokes profound responses from people participating in the sessions.

Working with compassion has enabled me to reach depths I never thought was possible. I am proving you can keep artists safe whilst creating great art that is thought provoking.

I'm now building relationships with universities, vocational performing arts colleges and conservatoires. There is a need for support within industry days for directors, choreographers, makers and performers. Together we can evolve with the times and be a better inclusive place. Art is a great platform for this and dance could lead the way.

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