Developing your Creative Practice: Charmaine Childs
Charmaine Childs decided to apply for the ‘Developing your Creative Practice’ fund to experiment and collaborate in her work as a ‘Strong Lady’. She tells us how this fund helped her to increase the scope of her work and stability as a performer.
Charmaine Childs has over 15 years’ experience as an outdoor artist and circus performer. After studying Theatre, she decided to focus on circus with an emphasis on strength in performance.
Her performances combine acrobatics with feats of strength, questioning vulnerability, gender and what it is to take up space as a woman in public. As a queer artist, Charmaine crafted her work to be uplifting and inclusive. She wants to engage diverse audiences and encourage people to celebrate their body.
“Exhilarating feats of strength performed, not in the brutish style of a Strong Man, but with the elegance of a true Strong Lady.”
Charmaine applied to the Developing Your Creative Practice fund because she was eager to develop the skills to create both her first indoor theatre show and new outdoor arts work with a stronger narrative. She plans to establish participatory workshops along with her shows. DYCP enabled her to create stronger narratives in her work and expand her physical skill base.
The fund allowed her to experiment and collaborate, increasing the scope of venues to perform in. She created work and rejuvenated her existing network, to help ensure her future financial viability as a performer.
“As a circus and physical theatre artist, the leap I am making in my creative practice is to have more complex narratives in my work. I’m devising processes for creating physical performance from a starting point of story (rather than tricks). Therefore, expanding my physical vocabulary to create my next show, POWER, and many more beyond that.”
Charmaine is undertaking this period of development now, as she is at an age and a point in her work where she has more to say (particularly about power and gender) and is more physically confident than ever before. She feels it is time to respond by taking greater risks in form and content.
“The greatest challenge has been embracing uncertainty in the process. I am committed to curiosity and resisting the urge to cement ideas early. I also had some blocks getting ideas ‘on the floor’ on the days I worked alone. This highlighted the importance of including collaborators in future work. The successes so far have been: that the ideas for the next show and working with voiceovers seem to have great potential; honing my instincts for timing, choreography and structure; and a surprising ease finding vulnerability.”
“I grew my practice under the guidance of collaborators including: Complicite, Ockham’s Razor, A Significant Object, Company Chameleon, Spy Monkey, Pif Paf, Jess Love and more. I was able to craft a new and more detailed creative process for my work and expand my physical vocabulary for storytelling.”
Top Tip
“If you are planning a DYCP activity, be clear on where you are now and where you want to get. But try to stay curious about the details between.”
Thinking of applying?
DYCP supports individuals who are cultural and creative practitioners and want to take time to focus on their creative development.
