International Women's Day 2010

March seems like a long time ago now, but it's always good to reflect on a great evening that was Inspirational Woman's Voices held at Exeter Phoenix as part of the International Women's Day programme 2010. The evening ran through a wonderful line-up of 5 inspirational female artists who all gave performances ranging from music, dance, poetry, live art and film.

Not only was this event an extreme success in that the artists played to a full and well received audience, it was a wonderful opportunity for the community to be brought together to celebrate international women's day for the fourth year running at the Exeter Phoenix.

I’m happy to confirm that from the International Women’s Day events on 7^th March; ‘For the Record’ schools performance and the ‘Inspirational Women’s Voices’ evening event we have raised a donation of £750 for SAFE’s emergency fund to assist women with no recourse to public funds.

One of the performances in the line up was a dance piece by local artists Emily Keene and Gemma Kempthorne. It fused live dance and film to create narrative about the changing female role in domestic space.


We would like to share with you an interview that Emily gave just before the event. The interview gives a small insight into what inspired the piece and how Emily and Gemma aimed to celebrate what it is to be female from generation to generation.

ʻInspirational Womenʼs Voicesʼ

Live art, music and film event for International Womenʼs Day

Exeter Phoenix - 8pm, Sunday 7th March 2010

Interview with Emily Keene, film-maker for ʻDomestic Blissʼ
By Monique Luckman

ML: Where are you from?

EK: I grew up in West Devon, studied fine art in Sheffield and moved back to the South West because I love the region and wanted to work here.

ML: What is 'Domestic Bliss'?

EK: 'Domestic Bliss' is a lively, fun performance piece about women's changing role in the home using dance and film.

ML: What inspired you to deal with the theme of the changing role of 'women in the home'?


EK: Gemma and I wanted to create a piece that women of all ages could relate to. There are so many things us ladies have to think about; career, cooking, family, housework, looking gorgeous. We are constantly given ideal lifestyle tips, but finding that work-life balance is sometimes hard to achieve. 'Domestic Bliss' gives a nod to women's lives over the last fifty years, and brings it up to date with images and ideas that affect us all today. We're quite excited by what we've made and look forward to presenting it at the Phoenix.

ML: How does Domestic Bliss differ from your previous work?

EK: My background is in media arts and creative writing, so it has been interesting
converting my ideas to live performance. The process has been like cooking a recipe, sometimes following it, and sometimes throwing in some new ingredients to see what happens. We found some great locations and people to work with along the way. It's been a really fun process.

ML: What was it like collaborating with Gemma Kempthorne?

EK: Working together has actually been really easy. We met in November and immediately found a shared language of ideas and aims. We first spent time constructing a story for all the live action and filmed sequences to work around. Gemma's got lots of energy, and there's quite a lot of humour to her choreography. I like finding the beauty and poetic in everyday places. We have managed to combine all these things in this piece. Though our training and backgrounds are quite different, there are many cross-overs to our working process. We both want to develop new work after the show.

ML: What is International Women's Day for you?

EK: International Women's Day is a great chance to celebrate being female, find
connections between generations of women and get inspired. Doing this project has highlighted that even small things we do everyday can change lives and make things better. 'Inspirational Women's Voices' will be a great night for the girls! (...boys are invited
too!)