1. Introduction and Proposed Project
For my interdisciplinary project, I am collaborating with Nina Grindley, a third-year dancer at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, on a three-act dance routine that explores the intersection of traditional Japanese conservatism and modern nightlife. I will compose a 12-minute electronic accompaniment inspired by left-field modern pop and electronica music originating from Japan. Fred Wilkinson, a graduate of Leeds Arts University, will direct and film the piece. All collaborations will be conducted in person in Leeds.
I had initially met Nina earlier in the year through Instagram, as I had come across her profile and was intrigued by the incorporation of puppets in her choreography, influenced by traditional Japanese puppet theatre such as “Bunraku” (World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts, 2016). She had previously performed at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and more notably at “Out of the Deep Blue” festival, in which she danced alongside a 13-foot puppet operated by four other dancers as part of Autin Dance Theatre (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Lr_i5pypE)
2. Methodology and Rationale
I first met Nina on June 5th to discuss our influences as artists and identified our shared enthusiasm for modern electronica and pop, referencing artists like FKA Twigs, Madonna, and Cibo Matto. In the following two sessions at Northern Contemporary Dance, we used the piano room for musical improvisation—Nina adapting her movement to my playing—and then experimented in the lightroom with lighting and storyboarding.
The next session we had was in October. It was in this session that we discussed the themes of patriarchy rooted in the puppetry inspired by traditionalist Japanese folklore: the demonisation and caricaturization of “unconventional” women and how we could convey these ideas of folklore without the use of puppetry. We thought about how this concept would play out in a modern cultural setting, such as a club, and how these culturally conservative values still pervade these environments that are deemed by society as liberating.
3. Market Analysis
This work centres on Nina’s experience as an Asian woman. The themes will resonate most with people of Asian descent, especially women, as it tackles Asian women’s oppression in a patriarchal culture. The work also criticises conservatism and tradition, appealing to a liberal or progressive audience.
If we targeted a specific demographic to view this short film, we could try submitting it to festivals like Leeds International Film Festival. They emphasise a “celebration of global film culture” (Leeds International Film Festival, 2025) and offer categories like “Leeds Music Video Competition,” “Leeds Screendance Competition,” and “British Short Film Competition.” While LIFF has not released direct demographic or psychographic data, their focus on international and intersectional films suggests they aim to engage a liberal, possibly younger, audience. I believe this audience would receive the film well.
4. Costs and Budgeting
Hypothetical Budget
According to Artists’ Union England, a new graduate artist should earn £216.63 per day or £27.08 per hour (Artists’ Union England, 2024). In a hypothetical situation, this is how much I would be paying Fred and Nina each, totalling approximately £434, assuming we could complete the filming in one day. This total does not account for paying them for the planning process for the choreography and filming, as well as additional crew that may be needed there on the day, and additional funds may be needed.
Potential Funding
To fund this initial expense of at least £434, I would plan to apply for multiple pots of funding. This includes:
- The Arts Council England National Lottery Grant, which offers anything “between £1,000 and £100,000” (Arts Council England, 2025). Our “project” would fall under the “investment principles” outlined in the “Let’s Create” plan since it is “inclusive and relevant” as well as “ambitious and quality.”
- The Sound and Music Essentials Fund, a comparatively smaller fund, which offers between £300-600 that would go towards “developing a self-directed composition project that would benefit from a period of rehearsal, workshopping or collaboration with a musician(s), ensemble or other artistic collaborator (e.g., visual artist, other performing artist)” (Sound and Music, 2025).
- The PRS Open Fund for Music Creators, which offers “up to £5000” (PRS Foundation, 2025). Receiving this fund would mean we’d have to do the project after university, as right now we cannot apply for PRS Foundation funding in full-time education.
5. Inspiration and Influences
Musical Inspiration
When storyboarding how the project should sound, Nina and I cited a combination of Japanese ambient electronica, such as the artists “sora” and “Hiroshi Yoshimura” as references for building texture and ambience. Louder moments would be influenced by abrasive “deconstructed club” sounds, pioneered by artists such as SOPHIE (for reference, the album “Oil of Every Pearls Un-insides”) and FKA Twigs (“Eusexua”). Nina introduced me to regional music from the Okinawan region, pointing me towards a mix by Japanese multi-disciplinary artist “Kozy” titled “Okinawan Dance.” The mix displays a breadth of different regional folk and original compositions that we discussed taking inspiration from/sampling into the compositions.
Visuall Influences
When discussing the concept of an “environmental choreography”, we referenced both FKA Twigs’ music videos “Striptease” and “Drums of Death”, both of which display choreography in unusual environments such as an office block or road tunnels.
Nina cited Japanese mythology, such as the Yamauba, described as “a witch-like hag in Japanese mythology, who lives in the mountain. She is an empowered woman who threatens men” (Ekmekçi, 2022).
Yamauba (Suushi, 1737)
She also told me about the “Kuschisake Onna”, described as a “young woman with long black hair in
a dress or trench coat” with a “grotesque and bloody mouth slit from ear to ear” (Shartle, 2023), who Nina mentioned is represented in dance through the use of masks to cover performers’ faces. These figures of Japanese mythology will be used as references when planning the performance as representations of women in traditional Japanese culture.
Additionally, Nina has also cited “Gary Clarke” as a strong influence upon her dance, using contemporary dance to convey strong socio-political messages in his works, such as Detention(2025) and Coal(2016).
6. Contingency/Risk Assessment
Considering I messaged Nina in June about the assignment, I wanted to give myself plenty of contingency time in case anything didn’t work out. Fortunately, everything went to plan, and we are well on track for the production stage, which we planned to begin in December up until February. We plan to produce and workshop the music alongside choreographing during this time. Over the December holidays, I will begin to send Nina demos over, and we can discuss improvements before our next meeting in January.
However, if things hadn’t gone according to plan, I was asked to compose the soundtrack for a friend’s environmentalist documentary exploring the farming industry as a contingency project. The documentary would be accompanied by music inspired by 20th-century ambient composers such as Mort Garson, Brian Eno, and Phillip Glass. Whilst workshopping ideas with Nina, I was simultaneously creating demos for this documentary, so I could pick that project up again if something happened.
In terms of risk assessment, it would be essential before filming each scene we do full risk assessments for:
- Manual Handling
- Access/egress
- Risk of theft
- Trip hazards
- Personal Security
This is especially important when considering filming in environments most likely in dark, public areas, if we continue to go down the route of the “pre” and post-club” idea.
7. Potential for Development
My main intention for the outcome of this project is to build upon the breadth of variety within my portfolio. I have done a lot of songwriting and production projects; however, I believe displaying my work alongside a dancer will put my music in a different context and potentially get me more projects with dancers, visual artists, and directors.
I believe this project could be developed into a further series of other works with dancers. I would like to try out different styles and build upon different dancers’ influences and abilities to create new short dance films presenting my music. Fred Wilkinson will be staying in Leeds for a few more years, so if the video goes well with them, I can continue to collaborate with Fred on various video projects, perhaps providing music to other visual media they may be directing in the future.
8. Evaluation Viability
Following my viability presentation on Wednesday, 26th, I received predominantly positive feedback. The strength of my project was remarked as being “cross-cultural and educational content”, having “clear communication and planning”, as well as a “strong vision and theme”. Additionally, people’s impressions of the project were that “it explores a great area of culture and the blend of the two sounds interesting” and “hits several target audiences – dance, art, and music”.
When I asked for any flaws or weaknesses in the project in my feedback, someone suggested that if it were one continuous performance, it might be tiresome for Nina. Whilst this may be exhausting to some dancers, I believe that after communicating with her about her past and current works, it is evident that she has strong stamina and will be fine dancing for the 12 minutes. However, on the day, as part of the risk assessments, we will be regularly checking up on her health and making sure she is okay.
Another comment was upon the “lack of concrete ideas for execution of the video in terms of setting and length”. Since we are still in the storyboarding creation period, we have not figured out the exact locations for each environment. However, this will be discussed and finalised around January-February time following the Christmas period.
A final question was raised was about whether the project would “develop into a live performance/art exhibit.” Whilst nothing is currently planned, this could be another further potential for development for the project, as I believe Nina as a part of Northern Contemporary Dance has done backup dancing for local gigs.
9. Bibliography
Bibliography
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Arts Council England (2025). Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants | Arts Council England. [online] Arts Council England. Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/projectgrants.
Ekmekçi, Ç. (2022). The Empowered Woman Image in The Japanese Yamauba Myth: ‘Yamauba The Devouring Witch’. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, 4(2), pp.101–110.
FKA Twigs (2025). EUSEXUA. [Spotify] East London, UK: Young Recordings / Atlantic Records. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/album/7mDcWtWBE3ktQFtmGFb9ID?si=1eNLADjSQC2AKdhoLQdQ3w [Accessed 27 Nov. 2025].
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Shartle, R. (2023). Motherhood, Femininity, and the Body: Reading Representations of the Feminine in Kuchisake-onna (Postwar Japan) . [online] Available at: https://www.proquest.com/openview/c448bf34912399e936652a50f22f69aa/1?cbl=18750&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar [Accessed 3 Dec. 2025].
Suushi, S. (1737). Yamauba. Hyakkai Zukan.
SOPHIE (2018). Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. [Spotify] London, UK: MSMSMSM INC / Future Classic under Transgressive Records. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/album/23lnmHhZwyercCJhmyPXYN?si=zaX76248RmyEBih6ExSHvg [Accessed 27 Nov. 2025].
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