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The Creative Case really confirmed something which was happening within me anyway.
It basically says, start with the art.
So the choices that I've made with some of the associates
like Akram, like Jonzi have produced great works of art.
But at the same time
they've dealt with complex issues about
where we are now in terms of our approach to multiculturalism
and multi-ethnicity and bicultural experience, all of those things.
It's in the work. So it's not sermonised
but it's absolutely part and the core of what these artists are making.
Jonzi and I had the idea of doing a hip hop festival for many years.
He was a little bit wary about an art form like hip hop dance theatre
coming into an establishment like Sadler's Wells. An elitist establishment.
I said, that's the reason I'm asking you.
To change the profile of Sadler's Wells and to make it less like that.
We did the first festival.
There was no question after that,
because what happened was that that sector came and took over for the weekend.
They just took over the whole place.
It became theirs and that's what delighted me because it should be theirs.
There's been absolutely no resistance
because the result of it has been such high quality,
interesting, challenging, thought-provoking work.
Jonzi D is a very, very influential man.
He's done so much for the industry.
And to be honest he's like one of my biggest mentors.
He's helped me out so much.
He's actually the first person to give me a platform here at Sadler's Wells.
I didn't even know there is a platform, choreographically,
so my dance company Birdgang performed here in 2006.
And then from there everything has just gone up.
Although I might not look it, I'm not particularly from a privileged background.
I came from fairly poor roots.
My father was an ex-miner who moved to England to get work.
We didn't really go to the theatre or anything.
I always felt like I was from that side of the tracks.
And that has influenced the way I work professionally right up to now,
so that I feel as though I want to be on the side of the people
who don't usually get included in things.
I came to Sadler's Wells
because I knew it was a place that we could do that in.
Because Lilian Baylis set the agenda many years ago
when she talked about making great art for the artisans of Islington.
Emma Gladstone and I were talking about the direction of the programme.
And I said, it's interesting, we're both in our fifties,
we see the world in a particular way
and maybe it's not the way some of our younger audience see the world.
I'm sure it isn't.
And so I said, how could we solve that?
Maybe we should just hand over the reins sometimes.
She said, that's a great idea. We'll call it Wild Card and these are the people.
And in five minutes we had a list.
Wild Card has actually given me a chance to express my voice.
I feel that I've always had a voice or something to say
but Sadler's Wells has placed it in the show
and kind of exposed it to everyone.
It's great because this is the third edition
and each of the three editions so far have been completely different.
The audiences that have come wouldn't have been here before
and we've seen some remarkable work.
There's no rules. It's really a chance to do what you need to do
and really show what you're about.
You get to think about how strategically you're going to programme the show.
The response has been amazing and Alistair has been great.
There's so many artists, directors,
choreographers trying to get their work out there.
He's given me the opportunity as a young black man to put on my work at Sadler's Wells.
It's not like anyone has told me to do these things.
It's just something I feel inside is right, just
and that that should be something which is for everyone.
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