The photoshoot

Me and Greig keeping warm on our desperately cold photoshoot w/ Matthew Andrews in the Sussex Downs last week... Snowfall in April

when a lion wakes up...

"running unites our two most primal impulses: fear and pleasure. We run when we're scared, we run when we're ecstatic, we run away from our problems and we run around for a good time.
When things look worst,we run the most. We have seen distance running skyrocket, and its always in the midst of a national crisis. Maybe it was a coincidence.Or maybe there's a trigger in the human psyche, a coded response that activates our first and greatest survival skill when we sense the raptors approaching."

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, I knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa a lion wakes up, it knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't matter if you're a lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up you better be running."

From Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

I am hungry

I am hungry
You are hungry
We are hungry
I will hunt
You will hunt
We will hunt 
you are stronger
I am fitter
you are lazy
I am angry

What the fuck are you mumbling on about?

Be more assertive
less habitual
You always do what you want anyway

It was simpler on my own
I'm not sure I want to cohabit this planet with you 
you primitive ape-like beast

but i like the way you smell and the warmth of your skin.

Can we eat now?
I am hungry 
You are hungry
We are hungry...

A new producer

I would like to welcome to the project my new producer (Producer- Artist development at South East Dance) Elizabeth Mischler.
We have been working together over the last few weeks on a GFA and booking of a tour for Running on Empty. Elizabeth is nothing short of outstanding, and I'm really excited about us producing this work together.

Everyone can run - it is a primitive instinct. Escape from danger. Hunt for food. Competition. Freedom. Gameplay. It reminds us to breathe. It makes us feel alive.

Running wild

Running out of time

Run away with me?

Running out of love

Running on Empty

Running on Empty tells the story of two people colliding over time, where a relationship filled with curiosity, intimacy and tension can suddenly explode into movement – until something has to be said.  Dance, text and song combine to take us through an ever changing, ever growing web: between peace and struggle, between reality and fantasy, between escape and confrontation.

Perpetual, repeating, like a cycle, like running...

 “I’m attracted to writing that is timeless, that speaks of simple human interaction, chance encounters and of deep-rooted connections, connections between physical and emotional mindsets, underpinned by these central questions:  ‘what gives a person the ability to run for a long distance?  And what is the connection between the physical act of running and the mind power involved in any action that repeats a pattern over and over again over time?’   Stamina and longevity are about more than just fitness, and can also be applied to human relationships and, finding further analogies for that, running away from something, going full pelt, a step too far, running on empty.” (Antonia Grove)

  

Planet of the...

You thought there was only you, you've never seen another one before...

wow...

and after some time, with much curiosity, and some trepidation, you begin to investigate the options... 

explore.

And after some more intimate time...

          And space

Cohabiting this planet

holding on for dear life

 man

woman

Photos of Antonia Grove, Greig Cooke and Jo McInnes by Zoe Manders
Taken at Greenwich Dance

What might we say?

What might we say?

What do we HAVE to say?

Toni and Greig Cooke by Zoe Manders

...that all ‘men’ are equal

... that we die alone

...that our minds are a constant surprise and an ever changing, growing,  disintegrating web of thoughts, knowledge, fantasy and fiction

...that  things are never as they seem

...that humans can communicate through silence, stillness and touch

...that we repeat and we repeat and we repeat, our mistakes and our habits

...that we forget, and we invent, and we blatantly lie

...that we rub each other up, we collide and fight and harbour grudges and start wars

...that we are all capable of loving and being loving

...that we all get tired, feel empty and find ways to fill up again