Jenna Unwin is a dance and theatre artist based in a small village outside Cambridgeshire. She describes herself as thoughtful, resilient and playful both as a person and a creative artist. It wasn’t until later in life that she was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia; both affecting her ability to read and write the same as her peers. Jenna was always told off for her “usual” handwriting but loved to write stories, though often kept them to herself as she didn’t feel confident enough to show her creations – until she started dancing and discovered another way of storytelling. Previously she has collaborated with Jasmin Vardimon, DV8 (Lloyd Newson), Temper Theatre and many more. In 2018, she co-founded Vice Versa Dance Theatre (VVDT) a small collective of artists who got together to create innovative and honest dance theatre. As part of VVDT, Jenna contributed to writing, producing and creating a few projects that always came from stories. She believes that stories make the fabric of humanity.
For her residency, Jenna will be using an idea for an original dance theatre production based on stories from invited people from the Fenland community based around love, loss, land and life. During her time she will be practically exploring the stories in the studio with the aim of creating a short but engaging work-in-progress.
Image credit: Daniel Gable Photography
Metal is delighted to announce this residency as part of our Metal New Artist Network, which offered 6 opportunities for early career creatives. You can find out more about the Metal New Artist Network here.
