MALCOLM SUTHERLAND
Meet our Scene Stirling Digital Commissions cohort, Malcolm Sutherland.
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Malcolm Sutherland is a choreographer and dancer from Dunblane, with thirteen years of professional experience working internationally across state theatres and dance projects all over the world. He has been commissioned to create a unique, audio-visual experience incorporating dance, visual imagery and sound.⠀
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Malcolm said: “I’m looking forward to applying my creative experiences and ideas to a local context for the first time. I hope it will lead to future collaborations in the Stirling area. The training programme will be a great boost to my career development.”⠀
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Malcolm was mentored by Bethany Kingsley-Garner, a Principal Ballerina with Scottish Ballet and a graduate of The Royal Ballet.⠀
MEET MALCOLM SUTHERLAND
Who are you? What do you do?
I’m Malcolm Sutherland, from Dunblane. This digital commissions project inspires me as I navigate my creative practice in a new direction through Covid and create something specifically for the digital format. Although Covid has brought many boundaries and challenges it has also allowed me this opportunity to reflect and to explore other avenues of sustaining my creative voice. ⠀
What's your Scene Stirling project? Tell us about it.
This week we have arranged a call with my collaborators as we plan how to carry out the film and sound recording process by distance. This is a unique challenge but we are curious to see, even though we are all in different countries, how we can overcome this distance by creating a project staying as true as we can to our initial intentions.
Where do you currently work from?
I work from my studio space. The space where ideas are often developed, the ambiance of an empty studio is my fondest place to spark ideas. I have chosen to work with outdoor locations, where part of the shooting will take place. Although it’s a shame not to be able to film in the local Stirling area as originally planned, it's still such a pleasure to work and connect to such a scenic environment.⠀
What challenges are you facing?⠀
We are faced with the prospect of working remotely to follow this idea to its conclusion. This is an extremely challenging concept and we are unsure of how/if this will even work but we are all up for the experiment.
What have you learnt in your commission so far?⠀
During this digital age, I feel we are figuring out how dance can exist within the digital medium, and how we can adjust from seeing something ‘live’ to viewing it in this 2D realm. What is it we “miss” from the live aspect of performance and what can be gained by creating dance for digital means? These are the questions and thoughts which are influencing my current creation.
Mentored by Bethany Kingsley-Garner
Bethany Kingsley-Garner was born in Devon, England and trained at the Royal Ballet School. She joined Scottish Ballet in 2007, was promoted to Soloist in 2013, and to Principal in 2016.' Kingsley-Garner has a vivacious and expressive face as well as a wonderfully brisk athleticism to her dancing.'
Bethany graduated from the Royal Ballet School with honours in 2007 and received the Wyre Drawer company leavers prize, as well as the April Oldrich Award for Most Dynamic Performer and receiving First Commendation and Young British Dancer of the Year.
“It was an absolute pleasure to mentor Malcolm in collaboration with Scene Stirling’s Digital Commissions. It was a wonderful creative experience to share his vision and talk in-depth about all things creative.
A world we both know so well, and yet from different perspectives and experiences. Through the power of virtual contact, Malcolm and I talked about how to bring his vision to life in digital form.
Malcolm is so passionate and committed to the task. His enthusiasm shone through, and for me, working together and being taken on a journey with him was a very rewarding process. A huge thank you to Scene Stirling for enabling the Digital Commissions.”
