Stasiland - broadening the creative scope
TRAILER…
STASILAND is a dance-theatre piece set in the shredded document ruins of East Germany. As we delve into a world of total surveillance where anxiety is the regime, poignant stories of connection and loss are revealed.
Through a series of choreographed vignettes audiences are immersed in the stories of East Germans living under the eye of the Stasi and their informants. Follow our characters as they discover, through the reconstruction of documents left in the wake of the former police state, the secrets of their own lives. While audiences begin as the surveillant, watching these stories unfold, they may soon get the sense that they too are being watched.
Inspired by the book Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder & designed in the round for audiences in Galleries, Libraries & Theatres.
OUR CAST & CO-CREATORS
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Olivia Wallis Jackson
FOUNDER, CHOREOGRAPHER, DANCER
Olivia Wallis Jackson is a British-German Contemporary Dancer, Choreographer, Photographer, Teacher, Rehearsal Director & Administrative Support Worker currently based in Hampshire and working across the South and in London.
As a dance artist with an exciting blend of technical and explorative movement, she uses her unique performance skills and intellect to collaborate deeply with other artists. She strives to understand choreographers’ artistic aims and processes, fulfilling their visions to make work that is impactful and meaningful to a wide range of audiences.
Throughout the course of her training and career she has worked with artists and companies such as Luke Brown Company, Amy Foskett Dance, Stefan Puxon and director Polina Kulbachevskaia, DownTown Pompey, Tom Weinberger, Michael Getman, Jonathan Fredrickson, Samm Anga, Morvell Dance, Charles Linehan and Alleyne Dance.
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Jonah Wigley
DANCER
Jonah is Dancer, Choreographer & Graphic Designer, working & living in London. Originally from the South Coast, he has worked with artists such as Luke Brown, James Cousins, Sung Im Her, Motionhouse, Rubberband & Avant Garde Dance and launched his own company Ino Dance in 2024 with his first professional work ‘Where You Held Me’. His background in dance is eclectic working with styles such as contemporary, street, hip-hop, popping, isolations, breaking dancing, floor work and acrobatics.
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Mandy Tan
DANCER
Mandy is a contemporary dance artist and educator from Singapore. Her distinct movement style — a continuous flow of energy threading each move into the next — draws influences from her early years of training in classical Chinese Dance and Ballet.
Infused with acrobatic skills and floorwork techniques, she brings a blend of elegance and athleticism into every aspect of her artistic practice, from her performances and choreographies to her classes. Since moving to London in 2021, Mandy has been performing and creating dance works for stage and film, alongside leading classes in her local community. She is currently performing for Sonia Sabri Company under The Place's Playground Tour 2024.
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Kai Harvey
DANCER
Kai is a dancer & choreographer based in London, originally from the South West. He has recently graduated from Rambert School & in now working as a freelance dance artist. He has previously worked with Russell Maliphant Company, Arthur Pit & Robbie Ordoña. He specialises in contemporary dance, focusing on continuous & flowing movements.
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Joana Ly
MUSICIAN / PERFORMER
Portuguese violinist Joana Ly started playing violin aged 4 and soon joined the Aveiro Conservatoire of Music where she studied until finishing school. After that, her violin studies took her to Lisbon (ANSO), London (RCM) and Rotterdam (Codarts), thanks to the support of the Gulbenkian Foundation.
During this time she was lucky to be part of some fantastic training orchestras such as Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and Southbank Sinfonia. Currently her orchestral work is mainly in the UK with ensembles such as Philharmonia, Garsington Opera, Opera North, Nothern Ballet, London Mozart Players, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, and she recently joined the English National Ballet Philharmonic Orchestra. Chamber music plays a big part in her life, having been part of two string quartets and currently managing her ensemble Artisti con Brio. This has led to playing at numerous festivals around Europe, and co-creating her own festival - Islington Festival of Music and Art.
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Bailey Dowler
DRAMATURG
Bailey is a Creative Artist, primarily an Actor. Recently, he finished a play with National Youth Theatre titled Our Epic Future. Also, Bailey has just wrapped on a drama comedy short titled Small Plates. Prior to this, Bailey starred in a one man play titled Anorak, performed at York Theatre Royal as apart of Next Door But One’s Yorkshire Trios.
After positive responses to Anorak, Next Door But One invited him to be apart of the pre-production team, becoming attached with a production titled Hospital Doors. During the research and development for this, Bailey grew a huge passion for discussions about effective storytelling, other strands within the industry and having a valued voice that tailors the journey of the production. As a result, Bailey has blended his knowledge on acting and incorporating his dance degree from Northern School of Contemporary Dance and began playing with Movement Direction for the tour of How To Be A Kid in Spring 2025. Other creative roles Bailey has dabbled in is: Producer, Assistant Director, Choreographer and Script Editor. Credits within these roles include: Hoo Hah House, York Theatre Royal, Cakeshed Productions, Blackbird North Films and OJ Productions.
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Synne Lundesgaard
COSTUME DESIGNER
Synne Lundesgaard is a Norwegian dance artist and costume maker. Since graduating from London Contemporary Dance School in 2019, she has worked freelance both in the UK and in Norway. In “Stasiland” she will be creating the costumes. Previous works include "Bodies of Water" and part of Totally Thames Festival, "Still Changes", inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, and "Beat", a situation-specific piece performed in the crowd during a DJ-set. As a costume maker sustainability is central to her process, and she works with reused or biodegradable materials. With her background as a dancer, she has a lived understanding of how to create costumes that aids and expand the movement possibilities of the performers.
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Georgia Aiken
VIDEOGRAPHER
With a strong background in dance and movement, Georgia now works with dancers, dance companies and choreographers to help capture their work in both rehearsals and performance. Her expertise lie in videography and photography with her dance background aiding in effectively documenting dance works due to an understanding of dance structures and artistry. As Georgia progresses in her videography, she hopes to work with emerging companies and help them to share their work digitally on a mass scale, in turn helping with funding support, performance sales and awareness.
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Grace Richardson
PHOTOGRAPHER
Grace Richardson is a queer dance photographer specializing in analogue mediums. Their work explores movement through the lens, utilizing alternative techniques to disrupt conventional methodologies. By pushing the boundaries of traditional photography, Grace captures the fluidity and energy of dance in unique and evocative ways. Passionate about storytelling through imagery, they create striking, immersive visuals that challenge perceptions and celebrate queer expression.
Previous work
In 2024 Olivia launched her own company Premier Dance Theatre, beginning the development of her first work Stasiland with the support of Arts Council England, Thrive (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance) Luke Brown Company and generous donors. Premier Dance Theatre strives to make works that can be situated in multiple environments, allowing outstanding dance-theatre work to be accessible to communities across the UK and internationally.
Premier Dance Theatre, currently based in Southampton, works across the South and in London creating dance theatre pieces that are rooted in contemporary dance. With a focus on storytelling collaboration is essential to this work. Our processes draw on a variety of art making practices, inviting artists from across the UK’s vibrant art and performance scene to share their unique stories in creation and performance.
We are committed to fostering working environments that are collaborative, experimental, supportive, risk taking & innovative, while providing opportunities to those in the transition between training and professional life. Additionally, we strive to make work that can be situated in multiple environments, allowing outstanding dance-theatre to be accessible to communities across the UK and internationally.
Stasiland’s 2 weeks of development culminated in sharings at Laban’s Creekside Studio & Tailwind Theatre’s Scratch Night at LGBTQ+ focused VFDalston, where we received feedback from audiences. In March we’ll be performing the work as it currently exists in Common Threads: Global Voices in Dance and Performance, curated by Finleigh Zack at Chisenhale Dance Space in London. Alongside artists from London & New York City (Finleigh Zack Dance, Conjure Collective, VIM VIGOR Dance Company). Together we’ll explore identity, memory, loss, and self-expression through movement, theatre, and multimedia.
Previously during her time working on Downtown Pompey’s Sticky Floors and Palm Trees, an immersive theatre show, utilising dance, theatre, cabaret and drag she was given the role of Movement Assistant in which she was responsible for choreographing sections of the show and leading the movement team. (Please see below in our letter’s of support section a letter of support for this project from Downtown Pompey’s Artistic Director Josh Breach & Creative Producer Courtnee Mitchell.
olivia wallis jackson
Above: This behind the scenes video shot by Georgia Aiken shows Premier Dance Theatre in the Studio in Summer 2024 as we developed Stasiland. This period was supported by Arts Council England, Thrive (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance’s development programme, our generous donors, Luke Brown Dance & Leesland Infant & Junior Schools who donated the shredded paper for our set.
Below: Performer Mandy Tan shot by Grace Richardson in Trinity Laban’s Creekside Studio. Text is audience responses to our initial sharing at the end of our 1 week development at Laban.
Synne lundesgaard
Previous work of Synne’s that inspired Olivia to approach them as a co-creator for broadening the creative scope of Stasiland. That and their approach to using recycled materials to create such incredible designs.
Joana ly
Please see examples of Joana’s previous work performing with other musicians, including in her chamber music quartet & accompanied by pianist. Joana is an incredibly talented musician & an excellent co-creator as she has experience working with libraries, galleries & museums for Islington Festival, of which she is a co-organisers.
Workshops
Olivia currently engages with community dance work as Rehearsal Director for ORB Youth Dance Co., under artist director Luke Brown. This role led her to work with Luke as both his administrative support worker for ORB Youth Dance Co. and his professional company Luke Brown Company. Furthermore, she teaches adults, teenagers and children Contemporary Dance Technique at Basingstoke Academy of Dancing and is an assistant in We Create Dance and Drama sessions for adults with learning difficulties. Previously Olivia was a role model for vulnerable young people at Wessex Academy of Dance.
This work has culminated in a drive to develop the community practice strand of Premier Dance Theatre. The main way we do this currently is through workshops & our annual low cost summer professional classes for charity at University of Chichester. But I’m actively engaged in trying to build out this portion of our work so that we can reach more people in Hampshire, focusing on developing the connections we already have in Gosport, Basingstoke & Southampton to develop the dance provision for these areas.
Feedback from Previous Workshops at leesland:
“A FAB WORKSHOP FOR OUR AGE GROUP, WELL PITCHED AND FUN. OLIVIA INTRODUCED HERSELF TO THE CHILDREN AND KEPT THEIR ATTENTION FOR THE WHOLE SESSION, GIVING FEEDBACK OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE CHILDREN TO COMMENT ON ENJOYMENT, ENGAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCES.”
- Louise Walker (Year 1 Teacher)
“MYSELF AND MY CLASS HAVE NEVER TAKEN PART IN A SESSION LIKE THIS BEFORE BUT EVERYONE ENJOYED IT. WELL STRUCTURED, AND BUILDING ON PRIOR SKILLS AND LEARNING WAS CLEARLY A KEY PART OF THE PLANNING FOR THE SESSION.”
- Rachel Dow (Year 2 Teacher)
"OLIVIA'S WORKSHOP ENGAGED ALL THE CHILDREN. THERE WAS A CLEAR WARM UP, INTRODUCTION TO THE STORY AND THEN TASKS WHICH BUILT UPON SKILLS THAT CHILDREN WERE THEN ABLE TO USE IN THEIR DANCE. CHILDREN WERE ALSO ABLE TO REFLECT UPON WHAT THEY ENJOYED ABOUT THE WORKSHOP AS WELL AS PERFORM TO EACH OTHER."
- Jenny Cox (Year 2 Teacher)
LetterS of sUPPORT
Partners.