My Blog is back!

August 30, 2022 / hildyharland / Leave a comment

Do people even read blogs anymore? Who knows (I clearly don’t). Here I am writing one anyway and if you have made it thus far congratulations you have a better attention span than me! I’m back to what seems like a new normal, let’s face it we have all changed in some way, shape or form over the past two years, I am hoping for the better but this world is currently a bit of a mad one so I thought what better way to improve it than to start rambling once more openly to the internet!

I am going to be filling this blog to the brim with all things Vegan and vintage (the 2 V’s) skincare and beauty, hair, fashion as well as body confidence, showgirl content and just anything else my random brain decides to hyper focus on, so if you want to come along for the ride, great if not that’s fine too just don’t be a dick about it!

Don’t worry those who come for the risqué stuff that will also be around and about too! My journey into the world or burlesque is definitely something that will feature heavily along the way. I am really looking forward to sharing all of my bits and bobs with you all again here. If you would like to be kept “a-breast” (get it!) of what is going on here on my blog then please subscribe or join my mailing list so you don’t miss a thing! All blog posts will also be shared on my Facebook page too! You can also subscribe to my Youtube Channel where I will be posting Vlogs.

See you soon!

The Myth Of London For Artists.

April 6, 2021April 10, 2021 / hildyharland / 1 Comment

By Hildy Harland

Throughout my whole life as a northern performer especially as a child, London has been a place of myth and legend for me, the Unicorn of the UK. I have a bit of Puss In Boots-itus when it comes to our capital, but I definitely don’t think that this is my fault and honestly the older I get the more unfair it seems. In this age of media influence (I realise the irony of me stating this through media) we are increasingly taught that London is the place to be, you’ve made it if you live or work there, you’re a big player, someone to take notice of, a success. I even had it from an ex-boyfriend of mine after stumbling across him in a pub (not literally) a year or so after we split “Oh hi, so what are you doing now? I thought you would be living in London by now?”. It’s everywhere! People get taught it at universities, particularly in the dance and performance industries after all most castings are held in London even for companies that aren’t even based there.

So my question is WHY? Why do we have to have such a segregated community that is so influential and greedy? Yes it might sound a bit harsh to call it greedy, but for me it feels that way. At the moment as a Northern artist 100 miles north of Leeds, I feel like we are really getting the crappy end of the stick and I for one am sick of it. As a country the arts have been hit hard when it comes to public money, funding and general support and recognition, it is a struggle for anyone to get their hands on any kind of funding or commercial success and with the extra kick in the teeth by Brexit and Global Pandemic the industry is setting up to recover from even harder times. So isn’t it only fair that as artists and arts industry professionals we make sure we are spreading what we do have across the country as much as we can? Is’nt it only fair that we make these changes as we come into a new era post pandemic after watching shows from all over the UK online, participating in classes and workshops that we now, more than ever ,should be make casting and just our communities in general less london-centric, particularly in the film and TV sector.

Now I know at this point some of you maybe feel like I’m not appreciating what we do have, such as some of the fantastic theatres and organisations we have in let’s call it the ‘North-North’, which really isn’t the point of this blog, I really believe we have some amazingly talented and hardworking arts venues and arts professionals . However there is so much more we can do to put a stop to this over idealisation of our capital and I feel like we all need to be aware of doing this and try to stop it or at least tone it down. Why can’t a northern city not be just as amazing to live and work in as London as a performer, producer etc? Why can’t the big companies come to us? It’s all about how we see and value ourselves or our region and often as hard as it is to admit we feel or have been made to feel by others because we have a regional accent and/or because we are based 300 miles from London that we a are not as important as good or as valid as artists, companies or organisations.

Now I will admit that this blog has been triggered by a few things happening in my own life, so maybe I am completely on my own with this and just ranting to make myself feel better, or maybe this is something you all feel at times? I can tell you this is not a negative thing for me, if anything it has made me more determined to put the effort into working together with other companies and organisations to bring opportunities in the “North North”. But I would love to hear your thoughts and start a bit of a conversation

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A Pandemic Ramble

August 25, 2020September 7, 2020 / hildyharland / 2 Comments

Let me start by saying I have wanted to write something about the effects of pandemic and the performing arts for a while now but really struggled, this is not a pity me post, more of a cathartic release of the struggles. Everyone has had their hardships during this tough time by no means are mine more important or valid than others, I’m just hoping by sharing I can bring myself some peace, my fellow artists the knowledge that they are not alone in their struggle and people who may not understand an insight into the situation.

As Dance schools, gyms and weekly classes begin to go ahead in a post covid-19 world I’m struggling. I see many colleagues who run regular classes in studios starting up again, be it with a very difficult task ahead and lots of hard work behind them too. I’m over joyed that they can now resume and am very much rooting for them all to succeed. However I can’t help but feel left out. I do teach dance regularly (weekly post Covid) but I do not use regular venues and am reliant on hen parties/birthdays/events/private functions etc for these weekly workshops to go ahead and at the moment this is not able happen. It feels a bit like the town in footloose! Sometimes in a day I will teach at 3 or 4 different venues with varying numbers of groups with different requirements. Most of us in this teaching sector are not expecting to get back to this work until 2021 a devastating but realistic estimation. I am also predominantly a performer mostly singing and dancing, the performance industry has suffered and even more devstating blow with lots of venues just not surviving and the remaining ones unable to do viable business at limited capacity.

Performing arts and dance have been the constant in my life for as long as I can remember. I first stepped on stage as a 4 year old dancer in 1993. I did a tap dance to “Never smile at a crocodile” as I recall, we wore little green skirts and green t-shirts with sequins on (I always thought that was to make us look like crocodiles but looking back…probably not!). I remember the whole event as if it were yesterday it is etched into my mind. From that moment I knew I wanted to be a performer no doubts about it and I have only ever doubted once since then, but that is another story for another day. I have worked hard for 27 years since that first ever performance learning and becoming the performer, choreographer and theatre maker you see before you now! The work I have put in however is probably not that different to most performers and creatives within the performing arts, we live and breath our work, we work for bad wages or often no wages with sleepless nights, physically and mentally exhausted bodies, some of us even change our bodies to do what we feel we were born to do or be.

So in March 2020 when the pandemic hit I was devastated to have my passion taken away, all of my work for the foreseeable future cancelled and my whole career hanging by a thread, however I was more concerned at that time with safeguarding myself, my family and others around me. I have never been a supporter of the tory government however I did at that point believe that they would do the right thing and support everyone because well….they had to right? Wrong! Oh how wrong I was! It wasn’t until April hit I started to panic. By that point I and countless other freelancers and self employed people had not been really mentioned, by this point I had lost over £3000 worth of work, I had nothing, no savings, no rainy day fund no unspent holiday money nothing, luckily for me my fiancé is a key worker so thankfully my essential bills were sorted. My business bills however have been an ongoing struggle to fight through the influx of online classes and shows on platforms saturated with other freelancers desperate to keep some kind of business alive.

So as the Pandemic develops and changes I wonder how my industry is going to cope, there has been funding from the government for venues but still not an improvement in help for freelancers (which a huge majority of artists are). I am working on making sure my immediate financial needs are met by online means so I am more robust as a business and as a freelancer to work anywhere with anyone. It’s tough and a huge learning curve but it’s what needs to be done. But this does make me wonder, what everyone else want from these changes to the arts and culture you enjoy in your lives. How difficult is it to engage with arts and culture online? Do you have anything stopping you from doing that? What kind of arts are most important to you? What are you wanting to spend your money on within arts and culture if at all? How important is art and culture to you in a time when we have been stripped back to a more essential life style?

Well if you have made it this far through my rambling pandemic saga, I would love to hear your views on those final questions…help me understand this post-covid world and navigate it in a way which will hopefully bring some much needed happiness and content to my audience through new mediums and hopefully engage with new people too!

PLEASE GIVE YOUR VEIWS IN THE COMMENTS OR EVEN SEND ME A PERSONAL MESSAGE OR EMAIL AT hello@hildyharland.com

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Review: The Lovely Bones at Northern Stage

October 10, 2018October 15, 2018 / hildyharland / Leave a comment

By Hildy Harland.

I do very few theatre reviews which don’t involve dance in some way, shape or form however, when I was invited to review The Lovely Bones at Northern Stage I could not resist. There has been a great deal of hype on the scene about the arrival of this collaborative play at Northern stage which has joined forces with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Royal & Derngate, Northampton co-production and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse to bring this disturbing, funny, heart wrenching and heart warming show to the stage.

Unlike many of the other audience members I had never read the book or even seen the film which is surprising as the film stars Saoirse Ronan one of my favourite actors of the past few years. I have been trying my hardest not to encounter any spoilers. I love to see new theatre as new rather than tainted by things I have seen, heard or read in the past. Usually a very hard thing to do most of the time but this was one of the rare occasions I succeeded almost completely. So needless to say I was really excited to see the show and experience it exactly for what it was.

I will try to give away as few spoilers as possible but I would like to warn fellow theatre goers of the startling opening to the performance as I did very nearly shower my theatre neighbours with pepsi max when a loud blast of audio and flash of light caused me to jump out of my skin! The play begins with us meeting our main character Susie Salmon played by Charlotte Beaumont. She has been murdered, throughout the play we journey with her as she tries to evade heaven and remain with her living friends and family. There is also the matter of her unsolved murder and how she can get justice for her death.

The main thing I took from the show was how uniquely it looked on such a savage and horrific death of a teenager. The news in the world is constantly filled with the rape and murder of young people, in particular young women abused and murdered by older men. This play brings us the side of the murdered and abused young woman who is so much more than what befell her. She is strong, capable, funny, loveable and even hopeful that things can still some how work out well in some way.

Her character is brought to life from the confines of her own personal “heaven” which at times is not as heavenly as you might think. The story is set in the early 1970’s through to 80’s so you can expect some great music to accompany this drama with a twist of deep meaning, philosophy and a touch of humour. I really feel like the feeling of youth shone through in this production not only through the way the material was created but through the performances of the younger actors, it really brought a fresh tone to this kind of drama. There were lot’s of very strong performances particularly Susie, her father Jack Salmon played by Jack Sandle and MR Harvey Susie’s murderer played by Keith Dunphy, I also enjoyed Ayoola Smart as Lindsey Salmon (Susie’s Sister). Not to say that the rest of the cast weren’t great too although I did get a couple of little accent cringes now and again but I think when a British cast are doing an American play that is always bound to happen.

The piece is really creative with it’s doubling up on characters use of puppetry and even actors playing animals at some points. I really think this story of such a sensitive nature was told to perfection with some really strong thought put into how they could do such a story justice and inject humour and that feeling of youth without being dis-respectful to the sensitive themes explored within the storyline. The whole cast and creative team truly have succeeded with “The Lovely Bones” and I would recommend you go and see it! It’s running from 9th-20th October at Northern Stage then moves on to Birmingham Repertory Theatre and New Wolsey Theatre.

Happy 2018!

January 12, 2018March 16, 2018 / hildyharland / Leave a comment

Image by Michael Ash

A belated happy new year to you all!

So another year has begun and boy what a year we leave behind! A year that a lot of people are glad to see the back of where politics and international and national happenings are concerned. Not a great year for a lot of reasons.

However as you may have noticed I am ever the optimist and for me 2017 has had it’s ups and downs but I can’t help leaving it feeling proud, positive and hopeful for the year ahead. 2017 was my first year as a fully self-employed artist and I feel proud that I made it this far and have actually lived to tell the tale.

I’ve done so many fun jobs around the country and each one has taught me something new, built up my confidence and given me the inspiration to plough on through.

As I haven’t blogged for a while so I have lots to share with you all. I will begin with this little experiment. I used my mobile phone to make a very short film about a day in the life of a dancer, it’s a bit of a slice from my inner thoughts and feelings too as I don’t really have a single day that is the same.

Here it is enjoy!

Alphabetti: an amazing night of experimental theatre

September 21, 2017September 21, 2017 / hildyharland / Leave a comment

This really isn’t a review as such but I just wanted to mention how excited I was to finally hit this venue last night to see some new work by North East Artists.

I have been a very busy bee of late, starting up my new blog Dance Culture North East and am really making a big push to get to know lots of venues and people on the theatre scene in Newcastle Upon Tyne/Gateshead where I live and the rest of the North East.

I have been hearing great things since this small new theatre popped up in the basement of an old building just off Blackett Street in Central Newcastle and I thought “oow I must go there”. However through my own busy-ness/laziness I never did manage to make it to the original Alphabetti Theatre Venue, Unfortunately/Fortunately I don’t know which they would prefer me to say, the building within which they were housed was marked for demolition and knocked down along with the tearing down of the old Odeon (don’t get me started I still feel very sad about that). With much hard work and determination I’m sure, Alphabetti picked itself up, brushed itself off and found an amazing venue on ST James Boulevard close to a few other cool venues (Tyne Opera Theatre, Boulevards and Dance City) Is this area set to be our new place for a community of theatre venues in Newcastle? Maybe it could be?

Anyway I had heard about the new venue and had been watching the progress with bated breath on Facebook and Instagram, until finally this Autumn the doors opened and I attended my very first performance of ‘Write Faster’ which was definitely worth the wait.

(Above: The georgous Rex resident pooch at Alphabetti helping out)

Write Faster is a concept devised by Alphabetti Theatre’s Founder Ali Pritchard and Richard Stockwell. It involves 3 writers, 3 actors, a typewriter, pens, paper a laptop and a whole lot of hilarity in this particular case. The writers basically have to write a play on the night of the play, As I walked in the three writers were already heavily in the swing of writing the first act and you could sit and watch them writing on the laptop screen which was projected onto the wall. Once the first act was written the performers came in and performed it (script in hand and amazingly well under the circumstances) and as they performed the second and third act were written, after what I think was the third act there was a short interval and the ends were tied up with a monologue for each character/performer. The performances were superb and the writing was completely engaging too somehow even though nobody really knew what was going on until it was happening it gelled together well and gave the audience a fantastic night of giggles mystery and crime!

So a huge thumbs up to Alphabetti Theatre and no doubt as they make superb vegan sweet treats and the café/bar is open during the day too, I shall be back for theatre and probably cake and coffee as well.

Hildy x

Diversity, where are you?

July 28, 2017July 28, 2017 / hildyharland / Leave a comment

Recently I have had a bit of a rocky thought process, things business-wise have been going well and have really started to pick up, however, I think as soon as that happens and I can no longer find fault within myself, I start to find fault with the world, and jeez, we have a lot to find fault with in the world we are currently living in. But lot’s to celebrate too.

This week I have been thinking a lot about the absolute lack of diversity in performing. If you aren’t a certain size, identify as a certain skin colour/race, are not conventionally pretty, or do not have any of the other perfect attributes you apparently need to play a leading human on stage or screen, then life is made very difficult.

I constantly receive casting calls which will not accept applicants (for very well-known period crime dramas in particular) over a womens uk size 12, because of ‘period costume’. Well I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy that! I should know, I buy a lot of what they call ‘Period costume’ and there is stuff out there! You can also buy amazingly authentic reproduction stuff too. I still however receive these emails every week or so, which has in part, lead to this blog post, turned rant.

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And this casting call in particular is only for extras work and small parts. There are tonnes of casting calls which define both men and women, just by what they look like before they even get to an audition! Is this me? Or is this completely wrong? Any other industry would be very hugely reprimanded for such goings on. I do understand that certain characters need certain attributes, and directors/writers have certain visions of what their characters should embody physically. However I am getting sick of seeing the fat girl as the best friend and many other cliché’s, which I’m sure you can think of!

I want to see the fat girl get the boy/girl and not even have her weight mentioned (not the girl getting the boy despite her being fat). I want to see a line of dancers, with all different skin tones, body shapes and heights. I want to see a more diverse world on my screen and in the theatre in general.

diverse blog post HH

The key to this is not making the person in a wheel chair the main character because they are in a wheel chair, but putting them in there because they have a talent and deserve to play the lead. I am using the ‘person in a wheel chair’ and ‘the fat girl’ as examples but there are so many other people who are not represented enough on the screen and stage, because of their disability, skin colour, race, hair colour, dress size, height, sexual orientation, lack of ‘conventional prettiness’, accent, gender and probably so much more.

Now some people may argue, that there are simply not as many (let’s use again, women over a size uk 14 as an example), going to auditions, therefore they are less likely to be cast. I do know first hand that before you can get to audition stage, even when sending a self-taped audition, a casting director will look at your headshot and judge you on your look, size, eye-colour, hair colour etc, which you have to include on every casting site and on your CV. Often in a casting call, all you have to do is read it to find out that if you are not blond-haired, or a UK size 8-12 and white, as a women, you are not ‘in demand’. I do believe that men get away with more as there are generally more main roles for men within theatre and TV which is simply a fact. However I am sure there are a lot of men who face the same judgement.

diverse blog post HH 2

I could go on forever and have so much to say on this subject, but I feel if I carry on any further I may never stop. So here is some food for thought to casting directors, agencies, choreographers, directors and anyone who has a hand in putting performers on stage or screen. We live in such a dynamic and diverse world, you may think your audience will expect your leading lady or gent, to look a certain way. You may imagine them in this way, and feel they ‘need’ to have a certain look in order for them to take on a certain character or persona. However that is not the case, this is probably in fact leading a lot of your audience to feel mis-represented or completely un-represented, alienating them from your work. I do not look to irradiate the ‘conventional’, I merely hope to equalize and diversify casts and judge performers on their talent rather on the way they look.

Performance, be it on stage or screen is a social art, we need to make sure as creators that we are socializing with society as a whole, with an inclusive platform for our performers. This and only this will ensure that we can engage to our full potential with our audience and will strengthen and grow our art as never before.

Please feel free to leave your comments, this is such a huge subject to me and I believe really has a huge effect on a lot of things.

Hildy x

Fat girl vs Film-my adventure into public nudity for the sake of body positivity (part 2)

April 21, 2017 / hildyharland / 2 Comments

I did it!!!! ( I got completely naked for the camera! Sorry to keep you all in suspense but we were filming until 2am on Wednesday evening so I had to catch up with sleep and what not yesterday. (If you don’t know what I’m babbling on about catch up by reading Fat girl vs Film-my adventure into public nudity for the sake of body positivity (part 1))

Here is a little Vlog from on set.

But here I am, I took all of my clothes off and I stood in front of a group of people who filmed me naked. I do feel liberated but not to the point I thought I would, however I do feel more inspired and understanding of my body and mind and how they connect now. I think in me there is such a connection between body and mind that sometimes the length at which I over think things holds me back. Being instinctual and trying to quieten my mind in order to let my subconscious shine through is something I need to try and do more within my work and my general life.

As a performer I have learned that I need to listen to my instincts more and turn off my brain and let the subconscious do the work as when this happens I do work better and it often leads to some really great performances and creation.

I have a lot to take from this experience, I can’t say I loved doing it and I can’t say I hated doing it, I certainly felt compelled to do it and am glad I did. I have always enjoyed pushing my limits and in the past few years I have done this a lot which has brought me to the current amazing situation I am in now in, making and being a part of living, moving art which is my passion. This passion has lead me all over in years gone by and now it leads me back to myself and a little phrase ‘do what you know’ comes to mind. What do I know better than my own body and mind right? nobody else knows them better than me. I want to couple that need for self exploration with the problems we have within our society regarding our outward form and the effect this can have on our minds, and I know that this experience has really helped me get an incite into how being told your body has to be a certain way to be displayed has a huge impact even when you think it hasn’t.

My next step now is to have another good bloody natter! So I am going to try and organise another meet up via my Facebook page somewhere local to Newcastle upon tyne, so if your in the area and interested in chatting about your relationship with your body and many other things please do keep your eyes peeled for the event. However if you are from further afield please feel free to comment on the this post or on Facebook and share your stories and incites.

Hildy xx

Life’s not so bad being self employed

March 28, 2017April 4, 2017 / hildyharland / Leave a comment

So good to get back to this blog!

Let’s catch up!

As of November 2016 I have been a fully self employed performer/ all round creative person which has so far been the most scary and satisfying experience.

I previously worked a 24hr a week job alongside all of my commitments as a performer, teacher and choreographer but it was making me desperately miserable and I needed to get out.

I spoke to my boyfriend on many occasions about the possibility of going back to university or other opportunities which he was happy to support me with and so I decided to say ‘Fudge it! I am going to do it’ (or words to that effect) I handed my notice in and began my life as a free woman. Which after dreaming about it since I started working at the age of 16 seems like forever.

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(photo credit to Ben Martin)

In the past 5 months I have done everything from clowning to starring in a horror film (which may be the same thing for some) I feel like I have come so far learning about myself aas I go along.

I am now officially a cabaret performer with one act under my belt and another in production.

cancan2

(photo credit to Martin.J. Baty)

I can’t wait to see what comes next, a part of what comes next will be this blog. I want to use this as a platform to connect with other performers and give an incite to those who are interested in the life, pleasures and interests of a girl like me trying to make it in the performance industry, as a not so springing chicken (I’m now 28), curvy size 16. I know it’s going to be tough but I can’t help but be positive because I know how much I want it.

Thanks for joining me for this journey!

More coming soon…….

Hildy x