Suzy Willson

Suzy Willson (born 1970) is a British director and choreographer. Willson is co-artistic director of London-based performance company Clod Ensemble.

Suzy Willson
Born1970 (age 52–53)
Northwood, Middlesex, England
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq
OccupationDirector

Early life and education

Willson was born in Northwood, Middlesex in 1970. She graduated with a degree in drama from Manchester University before going on to study at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq.

Career

Willson founded London based performance company Clod Ensemble in 1995 with composer Paul Clark and has directed all of their productions to date.

Her body of work ‘defies categorisation’ and crosses the boundaries of theatrical and choreographic practice, working with different combinations of dancers, musicians, actors and independent performers.[1] Her productions take place in traditional theatres and dance houses, but also in found spaces and outdoor locations.[2] Her performance work sometimes takes inspiration from medical themes and explores ways of seeing, thinking about and experiencing the human body.[3]

Recent works include: Placebo[4] – a piece in which seven dancers explore the placebo effect commissioned by The Place; choral lament Silver Swan[5] in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall (2011); Red Ladies[6] – a piece for 18 identically dressed women performed across an entire city (locations include London with Southbank Centre, Porto with Serralves Museum , Margate with Turner Contemporary); An Anatomie in Four Quarters – a site specific performance originally created for the entire auditorium of Sadlers Wells, London (2012) and Under Glass[7] – a piece in which all the performers are in glass boxes and jars (Sadlers Wells 2009-2017), which won a Total Theatre Award for Physical / Visual Theatre in 2009.[8]

Willson’s work is an advocate for role of the arts in healthcare education[9] She is a regular contributor to journals and books on both performance and medicine (see selected journal articles and book chapters below) and an Honorary Professor at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.[10]

Willson pioneered the award-winning[11] Performing Medicine programme which encourages people working in healthcare to appreciate the choreographic, non-verbal and spatial dimensions of care.[12][13] Performing Medicine has been cited as an example of best practice in the 2017 report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing.[14]

Selected journal articles and book chapters
  • Willson, Suzy and P. Jaye (2017), ‘Arts based learning for a Circle of Care’, Lancet 390: 642-643[15]
  • Willson, Suzy (2007) ‘Drama for doctors’, Lancet 369: 1782[16]
  • Willson, Suzy (2006) ‘What can the arts bring to medical training’, Lancet 368: S15-S1[17]
  • Willson, Suzy (2016), ‘Moving Medicine’, in Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoqedited by Mark Evans and Rick Kemp (Routledge: London).[18]
  • Willson, Suzy (2016), ‘An Anatomie in Four Quarters: Rehearsal Notes’, in Performance and the Medical Body, Edited by Alex Mermikides and Gianna Bouchard, (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama: New York)[19]
  • Willson, Suzy (2014), ‘Clod Ensemble: Performing Medicine’, Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts 19.4: 31-37.[20]

References
  1. McEvoy, William (22 May 2013). Reviews: Brighton Festival: Zero. The Stage.
  2. Powell, Lucy. "The Red Ladies of Clod Ensemble hit the streets of Oxford". The Times. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  3. Mahadevan, Vishy. "Another view on An Anatomie in Four Quartets (sic)". Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  4. Winship, Lyndsey. "Clod Ensemble: Placebo review – medical science as hypnotic dance". Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  5. "Silver Swan". Tate. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  6. Roy, Sanjoy. "Clod Ensemble: Red Ladies review – dance rendezvous with Grace Kelly style". Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  7. El Brogy, Mars. "We go behind the scenes with Clod Ensemble". Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  8. Bailey, Pippa. "Total Theatre Awards 2009". Total Theatre. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  9. "Creative Health Conference 2019". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  10. "Embodying space: can architecture create a placebo effect?". Royal Academy. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  11. "Excellence and innovation in the arts". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  12. Winship, Lyndsey. "The doctor will dance for you now". Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  13. Massie-Blomfield, Amber. "Will the NHS count the cost if it doesn't harness healing power of the arts?". The Stage. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  14. "All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing Inquiry Report" (PDF). National Alliance for Arts Health and Wellbeing. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  15. Willson, Suzy (12 August 2017). "Arts-based learning for a Circle of Care". The Lancet. 390 (10095): 642–643. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31970-0.
  16. Willson, Suzy (26 May 2007). "Drama for doctors". The Lancet. 369 (9575): 1782. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60800-9. PMID 17536239.
  17. Willson, Suzy (1 December 2006). "Essay: What can the arts bring to medical training?". The Lancet. 368 (Special Issue): S15–S16. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69909-1.
  18. Willson, Suzy (August 31, 2016). "Chapter 24". 'Moving Medicine' in The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1138818422.
  19. Willson, Suzy (25 February 2016). 'An Anatomie in Four Quarters: Rehearsal Notes', in Performance and the Medical Body (1 ed.). New York: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. ISBN 9781472570796.
  20. Willson, Suzy (26 Sep 2014). "Clod Ensemble: Performing Medicine". Performance Research. 19 (4): 31–37. doi:10.1080/13528165.2014.947141.
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