Bridget Fiske
Bridget is a multi-faceted artist working with choreography as an expanded practice and working in directorial, collaborative, performance, producing/curation, facilitation, and mentoring roles.
With a 25-year international portfolio career, Bridget creates and collaborates on dance, theatre, interdisciplinary, moving-image, film, digital and participatory works.
Bridget’s portfolio of creative, engagement, producing and self-organisation work includes:
Since 2012, Choreographic, Movement and Rehearsal Director and International Researcher with Belarus Free Theatre, including on the New York Times listed 'Best Theatre of 2017' and 'Off West End' award winning production 'Burning Doors' with Pussy Riot’s Maria Alokhyna, 'Trustees' (Malthouse and Melbourne International Festival), 'Counting Sheep: Staging A Revolution' (VAULT Festival London 2019 headline production), 'Trash Cuisine' (winner 'Total Impact Award' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013, assigned by the Italian Cultural Institute), 'Red Forest' and more touring the UK, Europe, North America and Australia.
Choreographer and Performer on/in, 'Iron Butterflies’, a Ukrainian hybrid documentary Directed by Roman Liubyi and Produced by Babylon'13 and Trimafilm, about the downing of flight MH17. World Premiere Sundance World Documentary Competition 2023, European Premiere Berlin International Film Festival Panorama Program 2023, Winner RIGHTS NOW! Main Prize at Docudays 2023 (UA), and screening at festivals around the world.
Co-Creator, Co-Director, Co-Choreographer and Co-Producer of 'They Gather', an independent multi-year, international, multi-modal interdisciplinary project reaching audiences in cultural, festival, public, and digital spaces in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands. Created by Bridget Fiske & Joseph Lau with Stelios Manousakis & Stephanie Pan and Collaborators.
Associate Director, Curator, and Maker on ‘Sufi In The City’, a contemporary interdisciplinary project gathering influence from Sufi artistic forms, led by Artistic Director Sarah Sayeed. Outcomes presented to date at New Art Exchange, Whitworth Gallery and Performance Philosophies and Sufism symposium University of Surrey.
Co-creator with Ukrainian Film Artist Roman Liubyi on 'The Correspondents', a moving image research project, produced by Babylon'13 (UA) and Project Auske (UK), and supported by the European Union under the House of Europe.
Co-Artistic Director on the UK/Pakistan collaboration project ‘On The Hour: Dance Kahanyan’, with Wahab Shah supported through The British Council's ‘New Perspectives’ project that investigates and celebrates what dance is and means for various individuals and communities in both urban and rural areas of Pakistan and the UK in 2022 with a focus on young people, and women dancing,
Movement Director and Director on research and development of 'The Bell Curves', a new play by writer Keisha Thompson.
Bridget has also received commissions from: the EU consortium BeSpectACTive! for the project 'YES Move. NO Move. (Moved?)’ collaborating with refugee, asylum seeking, erased and Roma individuals (Creative Europe funded), Illuminating York for 'The Ice, the Land and the Sea' (FISKE & CROFTS), moves - International Festival of Movement of Screen and the Watching Dance Project for 'Red Rain' (including presentation in Liverpool Biennial), Moving Dance Forward (Dance Manchester, MDI, Contact, The Lowry, University of Salford, Unity Theatre), University of Salford, and TURN Prize (Dance Manchester, hAb, greenroom for The GEF House Experiment).​​
Bridget has worked on a range of youth projects as both Choreographer and Lead Artist including: St Martins Youth Arts ‘The Word’ (AUS), ‘Stellarium’ commissioned by Dance Manchester and the Science Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub (SEERIH) at the University of Manchester to collaborate with leading British Astrophysicists, ‘STRIDE’ a Greater Manchester young men’s dance project (Company Chameleon & Dance Manchester), Contact Youth Company ('Baby Fever’), ‘Before The Pass’ for Rugby League Cares, an intergenerational flashmob at Manchester Art Gallery for Manchester International Women's Festival, ‘Walking The Warp Manchester’ with textile artist Anne Wilson at Whitworth Art Gallery, and more.
As a self-organising, collaborating and engaged artist, Bridget has presented work at venues, initiatives and festivals that includes: The Lowry, 'Dance Sampled' (by The Movement - a Sadler’s Wells, Birmingham Hippodrome & Lowry partnership), The Future (a Lowry & Rambert partnership), The Place & Chisenhale Dance, Rewire International Music Festival, Modern Body Laboratory, Supercell Festival of Contemporary Dance, Urban Moves International Dance Festival, Mintfest, Manchester Day, Teatro La Fenice, MediaCityUK and Bridgewater Hall with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Queensland Arts Gallery, and more.
As a performer and collaborator Bridget has worked with: Buzz Dance Theatre (company dancer performing works by Paige Gordon, Carol Wellman Kelly and Felicity Bott), Joseph Lau (including in the TURN Prize winning work 'Abandoned Things), Cheryl Stock, Helen Sky & Sarah Rubidge on 'Accented Body' (Brisbane International Festival), imitating the dog (touring cast to Cena Brasil Interncional), Louise Deleur, Tarcisio Teatini-Climaco, Kristen Bell, Xanthe Beesely, Wendy Wallace, and Rosetta Cook.
Bridget has undertaken roles in advocacy, arts development, producing, curation, fundraising, project management, coordination and arts administration including with: Contact, Phluxus2 Dance Collective, Manchester Dance Consortium (Manchester Choreolab 2017), North West Dance Artist Led for Artists Network and Dance Consortia North West, Vanhulle Dance Theatre (Board Member), Dance Manchester, Rio Rhythmics Latin Dance Academy, Director/Producer Cheryl Stock on 'Accented Body', and Ausdance Queensland.
Bridget also has an extensive portfolio in teaching and mentoring in community, education, prevocational training, and professional contexts, with: Bangarra Dance Theatre, Dancenorth Australia, Expressions Dance Company (now Australian Dance Collective), Ludus Dance Company, Opera Queensland, Phluxus2, Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre, Manchester Camerata, The Place (Summer House, and Centre for Advanced Training), HWY Festival La Boite Theatre Company, The Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts, Roehampton University, Queensland University of Technology, University of Salford, University of Central Lancashire, The Lowry Centre for Advanced Training, MAD Dance House, and more.
BACKGROUND - EDUCATION - TRAINING
Bridget was born and grew up on farms and in small towns in rural Northern Victoria, Australia - places that are on the lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung People and Yorta Yorta People.
​
After training with Jacqueline Kornmann and Susan Eacott, being given opportunities to take on creative and teaching leadership roles in her community, and many trips to Naarm (Melbourne) to extend her skills, Bridget boarded a Greyhound bus in early 1997 and traveled the 24 hours to Meeanjin (Brisbane).
Here Bridget completed a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) at Queensland University of Technology, with additional studies in Physical Theatre.
In 2001 Bridget returned to full-time studies and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at Queensland University of Technology. During this post-graduate year, Bridget completed a practice as research project and thesis with a focus on solo performance. Through this process, Bridget worked with Nik Hills on the solo ‘Holding The Baby’, Cath Childs on the solo ‘For Lease’, and created the solo ‘In Blood’.​
​​
Bridget has also undertaken training in:
-
2020-21: ‘Core Skills in Coaching for Advisors, Mentors, and Teachers’ with Guildhall. Bridget is currently working towards accreditation with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.
-
Various years: Arts Awards (Explore, Bronze, and Silver Advisor). First Aid at Work (Emergency and Senior courses). Behaviour Management. Safeguarding.
​​