Throughout nearly three quarters of my life – 16 years in November 2015 – I have studied and trained in both traditional and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I have also competed in submission events and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions, with my last being in 2010 where I finished 3rd in the UMA standings. As a result of this, as well as St Luke’s being linked with martial arts, tai chi/qigong we thought it would be a good idea to interpret my skills in martial arts to create a selection of scenes that highlight St Luke’s range of activities.

A few weeks into the rehearsal process, I held a workshop for the entire company in which I introduced them to a handful of basic Jiu-Jitsu skill sets. After this, I asked them to split off into groups of 2-3 to devise a small fight scene that involves some of the moves I have shown to them. By doing this we were able to come up with ideas for the fight scenes and shadow scenes within the performance, as well as finding individual moments we could expose, or sequences we could use as one collective fight scene.