No Assumptions, Just Listening

How artist Lizzie Klotz approaches intergenerational work, volunteer casts, and holding spaces for abundance.

One of the first things that strikes me about the way artist Lizzie Klotz talks about her work, is her choice of words:

Hold

Allow

Listen

Value

In her use of language as well as her tone of voice, there is a sense of softness, gentleness, of being held. Lizzie is an independent dance maker, performer, facilitator and producer, currently working on Abundance, a project that draws together all of these skills with both a professional team and an intergenerational volunteer cast. I met with Lizzie to discuss this project, but also to discover more about what it means to facilitate this kind of process, and what intergenerational working really involves.

“I’m not perfect, but you can trust me.”

Image by Rosa Postlethwaite.

Lizzie’s connection with the volunteer cast began when she was invited to choreograph a work for Dance City’s 55+ Dance Company ‘Boundless’, last year. Each of the women now working on Abundance are from that original piece, during the creation of which Lizzie was surprised to find “a richness in ‘abundance’ [she] didn’t expect”. 8 members of Boundless are now working with Lizzie, alongside dramaturg Rosa Postlethwaite, professional performers Alys North and Luca Rutherford, and young performer Aida Jabero.

They are exploring the feeling of abundance; open spaces, opportunity, piles of duvets, a thousand feathers falling from the sky.

I was keen to find out what is different about this latest phase of the work, now that the project has evolved. “It felt important to hold this process in a way that was more in line with how I like to hold spaces” says Lizzie, which comes down to practical things like duration of rehearsals, times and dates, but also to how she makes people feel comfortable to be creative. There is an invitation to step out of the comfort zone, but never an expectation to.

There is a check in/check out process to rehearsals, which for the professional team and Aida means sharing how they feel, what they’re thinking about that day, what they’re bringing to the studio in terms of their head, heart, and body. For the older adult cast, being a larger group, this is summed up by sharing an animal they relate to that day. When I visited, there were a few slugs, a koala, a meerkat; it’s a surprisingly effective way to let people know how you feel without having to give too much away. It’s also a clever way for Lizzie to notice what impact the rehearsals have on people; during one session I’m told a hedgehog transformed into a jaguar in just 2.5 hours.

Image by Brian Slater.

Lizzie places value on the volunteer cast by ensuring they have professional costumes, and stipends to help with costs like lunch and parking. She listens to their thoughts and questions, makes time to explain everything clearly, puts everyone at ease. The choreography allows choices within clear structures: when to stand, when to begin, when to arrive. The rehearsal process draws out their creativity, individuality, and vulnerability, without ever asking too much. The joy is clear in their movement, and I smile as I watch them lilt back and forth, gradually spreading arms to horizons, filling the room with abundance.

“There’s a collective sense of what abundance is.”

Everything has been set up and considered to ensure that everyone is comfortable, down to details like where someone stands or sits backstage to deliver a line into a microphone. The same care and consideration has been applied to working with young performer Aida, who at just 13 has been collaborating with the professional team. Lizzie reflects on what this is like:

“We’ve been treating Aida with a different hierarchy than maybe she was used to. It’s uncommon for a young person to be in a room where adults don’t know what they’re doing. Being open to that. What’s been great to see is how Aida has become more confident in her sharing, it’s been an interesting evolution. She’s utterly brilliant.”

Lizzie’s openness extends to the professional team too, with an effort to be responsive to the rhythms of people she works with. This helps her collaborators to navigate childcare, school, and any other commitments, whilst still being fully present within a modular creative process. Lizzie is the glue that holds everything together.

Image by Rosa Postlethwaite.

There are some simple promises being made:

1.       I won’t make assumptions about what you want or need.

2.       I won’t make decisions that affect you without your input.

3.       I won’t expect more from you than you have to give.

From my glimpse into the rehearsal, none of this detracts from the playfulness, imagination, or rigour of the work. There is still a presence of technique (Lizzie even used the word épaulement, a ballet term referring to the position of the head and shoulders), as well as clarity and precision to the movement and use of space. The work, even while still under construction, is embodied and engaging.

Lizzie emphasized the fact that although she isn’t an expert, she has spent time learning from past projects, and from people who do this work really well; she is always learning. It’s important to be authentic, because valuing your own authenticity then places value upon others’. Being yourself sometimes means being imperfect, but what is abundantly clear is that the cast can trust Lizzie wholeheartedly, and this leads to powerful, beautiful dance.

A work-in-progress performance of Abundance will take place at Durham Fringe Festival on 24^th July at 4:30pm:

https://durhamfringe.co.uk/events/abundance/

The work will premier and tour in Autumn 2025 / Spring 2026.

Read more about Lizzie’s work via her website www.lizzieklotz.com or Instagram @ lizzieklotz

Creative Team:

Choreographer - Lizzie Klotz

Collaborator + Performer - Luca Rutherford

Collaborator + Performer - Alys North

Sound Designer + Performer - Jayne Dent

Designer - Bethany Wells

Dramaturg - Rosa Postlethwaite

Young Collaborator + Performer - Aida Jabero

Older Adults Collaborators + Performers -

Alison Thain

Barbara Rule

Cathy Cunliffe

Gillian Gray

Joy Bottomley

Liz Highmore

Marian Jenkins

Norah Loftus

Abundance is supported by Moving Art Management’s Seed to Stage Micro Commission, using public funding from Arts Council England.