Ruth Mills: Artistic Director
Ruth’s creative vision, immense joy of dance, generosity and belief founded Glasgow Community Dance Theatre, which she leads. She is passionate about dance and people, and is able to see potential in budding dancers. With great energy, she helps them fulfil the main aim of GCDT: to dance, to dance again, and to share it with people. Little by little, under her guidance, dancers expand their repertoire of moves, lose fear, gain confidence and embark on the exploration of the limits of expression and emotion.
A practitioner and teacher of Martha Graham technique, as well as release and contact improvisation, a gymnast, musician, film-maker, writer, and ingenious prop-maker, she combines these with a sense that inspiration can come from anywhere, to create works that blend her training with her eye for the latest choreographies, from Haus of Gaga to Beyoncé’s classic take on Bob Fosse. Her work is moving, thought provoking and, above all, elating to perform and watch.
Laura Gonzalez: Dancer.
Laura has danced ballet for seven years and has tried a few burlesque moves. A Martha Graham high contraction, however, converted her to contemporary dance. Now, she has a never-ending desire to fall and slide and is beginning to like cartwheels and barrel turns.
Laura also takes photographs and reads the works of Sigmund Freud. She is particularly interested in what it means to live in the body and the nineteenth century illness of hysteria.
Amy Dickens: Dancer. If you ever see anyone tap-dancing at a bus stop in Glasgow, that would be Amy. She has tried every dance style, from swing to hip-hop, and has an attitude and a personality to match. She prefers Martha Graham’s grounding over Merce Cunningham’s change of directions, although she can do both elegantly.
She is exceptionally gifted at Beyoncé and Lady Gaga moves, as well as at coordinating the colour of outfits and accessories, baking cookies and playing the guitar. Her life path provides her with inspiration for her dance improvisation. She has lived in at least four different countries, many more cities, holds three different passports, and always has a compelling story to tell.
Vickie Fyfe: Dancer:
Vickie swings from floor to standing up-jump in one count, inspiring the rest of the dancers with her energy. She trusts her body with the momentum of the move and lets herself be possessed by the music. She always dances from within and her movement quality shows this.
Vickie enjoys creating and improvising in group, mirroring and learning from others while adding her own divine touches to a choreography. She likes Nick Cave – and saw him in the street – and if she hears Beirut’s ‘A Sunday Smile’, off she goes!
Lucy Weir: Dancer, Lecturer. Lucy is all dance. She works as a historian, but believes that, apart from reading, learning comes from doing, so she tries the classic repertoire in the studio. Her lectures with Ruth Mills are informative and performative, and transmit the joy and exploration inherent in dance. Lucy is particularly well versed in Martha Graham technique. She has studied the meaning of her contractions, and has also written about the works of Pina Bausch. She has even managed to weave modernist art, Butoh and her remarkable sense for accessories into her work.
Her bruises are her battle wounds, and when she is not in the studio, she just thinks about how to get back in.
Claire McCartney: Dancer Claire has a classic jazz background but she is adventurous and likes to try any new dance style around her. Although she will tell you it does not please her to be the centre of attention, she is a great leading girl in any performance. She is very good at falling, and turning, and jumping, all of which she carries out with grace and a nice smile, making it look effortless when it is certainly not.
She enjoys working with different groups of dancers, from tiny toddlers, to adult groups and she transmits energy and enthusiasm to all, as well as her great sense of dance fashion.
Julie Riddle: Dancer:
Julie’s favourite place in the studio is the corner, from which she launches into triplets and posé turns. She has taught ballet and has performed at numerous shows including Moulin Rouge and a number of trapeze choreographies (Yes, trapeze!) in which she has hanged, upside down, while spinning and wearing a corset.
She also likes to bake and dress up, especially if it involves impersonating an animal for a night. She is an insomniac and she uses her time wisely conjuring up steps for new dances, costumes and musical arrangements, and she rehearses everywhere, including when going shopping for groceries.
Gwen Moreaux: Production. Gwen thrives exploring release technique, swinging her arms and legs, giving in to gravity and realizing the potential of circular movement. She finds Graham technique challenging, and this, coupled with her natural curiosity, keeps her interest in trying new moves.
Gwen has a great mind and resourcefulness for thinking about props, and her knowledge of French, her mother tongue, means that everyone in the group is fully informed about the finer points in the meaning of classic dance terms, bringing theatricality into everyone’s pas de chats.
