20 Minutes with Brendan Keaney
Greenwich Dance (gDA), based at The Borough Halls in Greenwich, is described as providing “a meeting place for professional dance artists and the local community”. Brendan Keaney, who began his career as a freelance performer, teacher and animateur, has been the director of gDA since 1996.
How have dance audiences changed in your time?
"The audience for dance has grown in number and there has been a change in the demography. Initially 15 years ago Greenwich Dance Agency simply attracted a London dance audience who came to see contemporary dance. I knew a significant percentage of the audience.
More recently we began to cultivate our own South East London audience. I see many new faces – people engaging in dance in a way they never used to. The age range is broader. Contemporary dance used to attract a largely female twenty-something audience. This simply is no longer the case and it is not just because a lot of the original audiences are now older. People are now much more adventurous, and there are more men."
How important have the National Dance Agencies been?
Extraordinarily important to the development of dance. They have positioned dance where hitherto there was no proper infrastructure for the development of dance artists – places like Swindon, Ipswich, and Nottingham. Those of us based in London know how important it is for the future of dance to create opportunities for artists and audiences outside of the capital.
Greenwich Dance Agency is very similar in size and scope to many of the NDAs, so we have similar issues and activities to an organisation like Swindon Dance. However, The Place, which is the NDA for London, is a very different scale of operation from all the others. It is also worth noting that there is an ongoing debate as to whether the term National Dance Agency is as relevant now as the infrastructure around the country has developed. It is suggested that it is now time to consider the function of an organisation and maybe adopt titles like “Choreographic Workspace” or “Dance House”.
What have you achieved and what remains to be achieved with gDA?
We have created an artist-centred dance space with a strong local identity, marrying the needs of serious contemporary dance makers with our local public. We have embedded dance in Greenwich. We are one of the very few independent dance spaces in the capital, consequently many of UK’s most important dance makers have used our space at some or the other.
What we now need to achieve is investment in the Greenwich Borough Hall to improve facilities for artists, for all of our users. I am very impressed by the way in which Artsadmin has invested in and upgraded Toynbee Studios. The Borough Halls has a unique character and as a Grade II listed building it needs to be treated sensitively.
I don’t want create another shiny steel and glass arts cathedral, but the building does urgently need investment.
You are based close to Trinity Laban. Is this important, and how much co-operation between companies and institutions in contemporary dance is there?
One of the main reasons why Greenwich Dance Agency has been so successful is because so many dance artists who studied at Laban then settled in the area. Our professional development programme was started by ex-Laban students. We will be working closely with colleagues at Laban to deliver The Big Dance in 2010, and they are key partners in the London Thames Gateway Dance Partnership. We could not want for better neighbours!
Do you think critics understand and support what you are doing?
Sadly no! Critics rarely come to see our work. Common Dance was one of the dance highlights of 2010, but very few of the critics came to see it.
At Borough Halls you have created what the chief executive of Sadler’s Wells describes as “one of our industry’s most user friendly spaces for artists”. How difficult was it to achieve?
It has been difficult. We receive a fraction of the subsidy we need to deliver the programme we want; consequently we are always under a lot of pressure. However, in many ways we are very privileged– we are in a lovely position. Lots of dance artists live in London and there are few places for them to go – we have them queuing at the doors.
We are only 20 minutes from the centre of London, but there is a village or campus atmosphere. Our local authority has been very supportive – the mayor is one of our board members.
Are there enough similar spaces for making dance?
The Borough Hall is unique. The dimensions are extraordinary. There are very few affordable independent dance spaces, and very few the capacity to have a full stage rehearsal and still stand back and look at the work.
Published in Arts Industry www.artsindustry.co.uk