This Extraordinary Ordinariness

This Extraordinary Ordinariness is an hour-long film made by Hugo Glendinning with choreographers Siobhan Davies, Jonathan Burrows and Rosemary Lee who feature in conversation about elements of what they hold most dear as dance makers.


The film grew out of a desire to share something of the conversations we three mature artists were having over many years about our shared love of choreographic practice and performance. Knowing that language is not always precise in how it describes dance practice, we aimed to create a film that witnesses the shared questions we ask ourselves and our struggles to answer them. In doing so we hope the film reveals the detail and breadth of our research in/running through our making and doing.

The research questions we asked were how could we:-


• Research and reflect the relationship between three mature artists whose work is very different but whose conversation sustains their growth and reflection on making work.

• explore the potential of a natural unscripted conversation held in a less predictable film form to convey the nuance and often unspoken considerations, influences and priorities of these three artists.

• get closer to the accuracy of the definitions of what we are doing as dance makers by visually presenting spontaneous thinking, listening and articulating in the moment.


There are few if any opportunities to hear mature choreographers talking amongst themselves, unmediated by an interviewer and unshaped by a more specific thematic context. Though there are books and filmed interviews with single artists we believe there are no works featuring mature choreographers talking together intimately. This film can be seen as a resource for scholars and other practicing artists.