Canary Girls promotional photoshoot, 2014

Last month I saw a brilliant work in progress sharing of new musical ‘The Canary Girls’ by writer Tim Nye and singer-songwriters Tim Kellet and Rosie Doonan at Sheffield Theatres as part of Off The Shelf festival and it got me reminiscing about the photoshoot I choreographed in 2014 to promote the work.

It was so lovely to see the production come to life after the promotional shoot 7 years ago. Pre instagram and me sharing work on social media, here are some photos from the shoot.

Canary Girls photoshoot at Magna Science Centre, 2014. Photography by Russell Nye

I became involved in the project when Tim Nye, Co-writer of ‘The Canary Girls’ and owner of Marmadukes cafe overheard my conversation about dance projects I was working on and asked if I wanted to choreograph and perform in a promotional photoshoot at Magna science centre in Rotherham.

Magna was a super fun photoshoot location. We performed in a space with a big industrial furnace that shot sparks into the air. I hadn’t taken the location into mind when choreographing, and dancing in small heels on a gritty floor with stones was a bit different to in trainers on a smooth wooden studio floor! We were sliding about and I remember getting stones stuck in my shoes and bleeding toes. Makes you remember to ask in future what the floor will be like!

I choreographed for 4 dancers, myself included, and worked out the sequence with Rufino, my partner at the time with the intention to teach to 3 other dancers for the photoshoot. It was a quick turnaround project, short and sweet, and back then I didn’t know as many dancers in Sheffield so Rufino ended up being in the choreography!

He definitely got all the attention on the day – people were so impressed he wasn’t a trained dancer! He was brilliant and I was so proud and grateful that he stepped in and performed with us.