Get to know Charlotte Mclean

Welcome to Black Box teater, Charlotte! Can you introduce yourself to those of us who don't know you from before? Hello! My full name is Charlotte Mclean but people call me Charlie. I’m a dance artist from a town on the east coast of Scotland called Arbroath. I grew up competing in Scottish Highland Dance from a young age, and then studied at London Contemporary Dance School. That’s where I met Norwegian dance artist Anders Engebretsen. He’s been a great friend since our studies together and I’m thrilled to finally be bringing work to Oslo so I can finally check out the dance scene he speaks so highly of.

What are some of the main ideas and themes your work revolves around? Inside my solo And, I explore a lot of which encompasses being human; belonging, identity, nationality, culture and politics, especially reproductive rights. I’m interested in creating work for the stage that's political. Inside And, the themes are personal as well as universal. That’s what's so exciting about the show, everytime I perform it, it transforms to allow what's happening within me to come to the surface, and what's happening outside me, on a global scale, to be commented on too.

The work is ever-evolving and growing. There are hints of the past, as I talk about my grandparents and dance with a sword my Grandfather made me, as well as hints of what's to come as I dwell over the potentiality of my future children. I’m interested in how one’s political identity, especially that relating to tradition – being a Scottish Highland Dancer – can be reckoned with, queered, provoked and made future proof. How can we take the legacies of those before us, and continue to evolve cyclically? To be able to radically rest, find power in softness, strength in silence and nourish the soil of the earth to harvest new ideas for progress and transmission.

Where did you find inspiration for your work with And? Over the last five years, And has developed from a text message I sent to my best friend Jay in 2017 to a full length performance. And began as a short poetic list. I felt desperate, discouraged and alone whilst studying in London. The text message was a request that we dance together the next day in the park. The next day, we did. The solo began as a therapy, a way to survive, to express, to attempt to understand the messy and the mundane.

The text message was my original And list, which then transformed into my bachelors dissertation and performance. I explored the themes of physical and silent comedy in relation and comparison to contemporary dance. Since then, And has been in development from its initial performative iteration as a ten-minute solo for my graduation from London Contemporary Dance School in 2017 into a full length production in September 2021, along the way reincarnating as many different forms, including a stand up comedy gig and acoustic concert.

During the lockdown in 2020, I was able to take some time away from And to reflect. This brought new inspiration for the solo from my lived experiences that year. Although, now with the introduction of darker, more unspoken themes such as miscarriage and abortion, the work is still hopeful and shares reflections on my ancestors, my potential future children and it celebrates our boring, bizarre, beautiful life on earth. I claim that I will perform And for the rest of my life. It will transform and grow with me and may well be passed down to the next generation. I’m especially looking forward to performing it in Oslo as it’ll be my first time performing it as a 30-year-old. The first text message was sent when I was 22, so a lot has changed since then!

A solo work is often the result of a collaboration with several others. Can you tell us a bit about how you work with your artistic collaborators? I’ve been working on And since 2017, and it has been influenced by a lot of wonderful collaborators. I was firstly inspired to create the solo after watching Pat Kinevane performing Underneath during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Dance Base. I ushered there for quite a few summers and always worked the shift when this play was on, so I watched it around 20 times. It feels quite apt that I got to world premiere And at the festival a few seasons after that.

The festival is where I also met Helen McIntosh, who now works with me as creative producer. Helen is the backbone to all my work, as well as being a dear friend. Lighting designer Emma Jones has also been an integral part of the work. Although it’s a solo, Emma’s presence and communication throughout makes it feel more like a duet. We were part of the Rural Touring Dance Initiative at The Place in London, and Emma re-lit it a good few times. My favourite performance of And so far, was when we went to Wales near where Emma grew up. That performance was for Emma’s late mum. I’m glad we got to go there.

Helen and I worked together to invite vocal, performance and dramaturgical collaborators into the work. Solène Weinachter, Jack Webb and David Paul Jones helped me pull together the Edinburgh Festival 2022 version, and I will work together with Rob Evans to help me develop the work for my thirties, ready to bring to Black Box and beyond!

And will be shown September 6.–7.