Gareth Chambers is a proud Welshman based in Cardiff. He works as a choreographer, dancer and writer. Gareth calls his work ‘Visual Dance’, which often sits neatly in a live art category, positioned well outside of a traditional theatre space, like in nightclubs and warehouses. His work is visceral, with a strong queer aesthetic that questions the ways in which bodies function in society, intersecting with gender, sexuality and class.
Gareth studied Masters Dance Theatre: The body in Performance course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He has worked with Doris Ulrich, Tactile Bosch, Eddie Ladd, Marc Rees, Luke Pell, Cai Tomos, Ema Jayne Park, Siriol Joyner, Joon Dance and Wendy Houstoun. His work has been shown in Cardiff, Swansea, Melbourne, London and Berlin.
Gareth was awarded DanceWeb Scholarship to attend ImpluzTanz in Vienna. He recently concluded this intensive where he studied under Doris Ulrich, Ivo Dimchev, Keith Hennessy, Eroca Nichols, Libby Farr, Risa Steinberg, Salim Gauwloos and Guy Cools.
This year he was also one of the international artists at YIRRAMBOI First Nations Arts Festival in Melbourne. Gareth presented his work, Llaeth, which you will hear I could not pronounce. This work explores the idea of taboo around mother’s milk, ideas of masculine and feminine, alongside identity and self. Gareth also writes and edits for online dance magazine BELLYFLOP.
List of some works:
This was a warm and authentic interview, which covered so much territory, from Queer art politics, dance and desire, goals and ambitions, through to ways of making dance work. Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter.
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Images from Llaeth
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“I think when people are exposed to something, like queer dance or queer art, it can either trigger two things: it can firstly make them want to learn or understand it, or secondly, they refuse it because it scares them. I think both actions can trigger change.”