<aside> <img src="/icons/music-artist_gray.svg" alt="/icons/music-artist_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Welcome to Mind The Gap, a long running improv night created and curated by Théïa Maldoom. For Scratch Renaissance, Théïa created a special ‘open mic’ style night which invited performers to sign up on the night and perform a 5 minute solo improvisation.
Below you’ll find Théïa’s (illustrated) reflections on Mind The Gap’s journey as well as their thoughts about why it’s important to create nights even when they aren’t perfect.
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Mind the Gap is a mixed bill of performances that, across styles and mediums, reflect a range of approaches to improvisation.
Research and artist development are at the heart of MTG as beyond putting on a show, I try to make it a gathering place for the sharing of practices, conversations and ideas. I am interested how via MTG I can engage with artists and audiences in meaningful ways and contribute to a community that benefit from events like this.
MTG started in 2022 after I realised the importance of small scale performance nights to my own and therefore probably most performers' development. I noticed a shortage of these events and so, whilst channeling my own interest in improvisation, I organised the first MTG. Now, there have been 9 events and I have worked with over 85 artists including dancers, musicians, spoken word artists, actors, comedians, drag artists and zine makers.
Théïa Maldoom, is a London-based dance artist whose work spans performance, movement direction, visual arts and production. She gravitates towards multidisciplinary projects and often involves improvisation.
In 2022, whilst regularly performing her own movement and voice improvisations, she started Mind The Gap, a performance evening of improvised acts from different mediums. From then till now, still following a curiosity to engage with other artists and learn more about different improvisation practices, there have been 8 nights, in 3 venues and over 70 artists engaged with.
Aside from MTG, recently, Théïa has been working with a variety of musicians, performing as a clown with Chewy She on tour across the UK and movement directing videos with The Last Dinner Party, amongst others.
Important threads in her thinking are; trusting intuition, enjoying working with others, humour and expansive understandings of who we are and who we can be.