Creative Huddersfield: Ellen Snarr

Apr 21 2008 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Age: 22.

Where are you from? Huddersfield.

Describe what you do... I’m part of a new performance based dance and theatre company called 103 Falling Birds. We have a particular interest in site-specific performance. The company consists of Sam Lawrence, a freelance dance artist based in York, and myself.

How did you get into it? The company was formed at York St John University where we were both studying dance. We created work as a student company and performed at the choreographic platform at Yorkshire Dance and have also performed as part of York Dance Festival, which we are a part of again this year.

What inspires you in your work? We are inspired by the ordinary being extraordinary. We like to create new worlds in our performances and sprinkle them with magic.

What’s the best thing about what you do? The best thing is being able to have a crazy discussion and come up with a bizarre new world and then make it a reality in the studio. Our latest piece is called Nearly New and is a mixture of car-boot, cabaret and side show. We are using a live folk musician and it really makes the whole thing much more enchanting.

What do you like best about being based around here? There is a lot to inspire me living in Huddersfield. I am keen to create work based here and hopefully do some site specific work within the community. There isn’t a great deal of contemporary dance in the area and I feel that all that could change!

What’s your ultimate aim? To keep on making beautiful, funny, challenging work. We love the idea of large scale site specific work – maybe a dance in a caravan site or taking over an entire park.

For more information on 103 Falling Birds: contact ellensnarr@hotmail.com.