Brief Biog:
Hannah Silva is a choreographer, theatre director, performer and writer. She has shown performances in Devon, London, Amsterdam, The Tokyo Design Centre, Japan, The BAT Theatre, Berlin and The Theatre in Pflazbau, Ludwigshafen. She was awarded the 2007 Torbay Literature Award and holds a place as a playwright on the 2009-10 Arvon/Jerwood mentoring scheme. She is currently an associate teaching fellow with Exeter University, Drama department.
Professional Endorsements
- David Caddy, author and editor of literary journal, Tears in the Fence:
I have seen Hannah perform many times at different types of events. Her work is continually evolving and widening its scope. She is an accomplished and enlivening performer with wide experience. Her work occupies a fascinating space that draws upon sound poetry, music and theatre. Similar to sound poets and performers in the Sixties and Seventies, her work is open, engaging, theatrical and wonderfully musical. She is able to attract and hold quite diverse audiences. In particular, she has the ability to attract those people that might not have seen such a versatile live performer. I greatly admire Hannah’s ability to develop new work, ideas and audiences. She is a rare talent.
-The Times, Top Ten Literary Stars of 2008:
Her physical performances, fast-talking delivery and innovative use of cut-up text make her one of the most ambitious and entertaining poets in the country.
Selected Poetry Events
Upcoming:
Berlin festival of poetry in English (November)
The Gallery sessions with Apples & Snakes (October)
June 09: ‘Threshold’ a sound poetry performance at the Ecopoetics Festival, Skylines, Exeter.
March 09: Guest poet at Canford School, Dorset.
Dec 09: ‘Sundays at the Oto’ with Great Works, London.
July 08: Guest poet at Uncut Poets, Exeter Phoenix.
June 08. Visions of the City II Bishopsgate Institute, London. With Chris McCabe, Iain Sinclair, and Tom Chivers.
June 08: Littlest Birds. Whitechapel Gallery, London.
June 08: Guest Poet at The Language Club, Plymouth Arts Centre.
March 08: London Word Festival. Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. With Tim Wells & 1927.
Sept 07 –Oldway Mansion for the Torbay Artsbase awards ceremony.
Feb 07 –Openned Seven, The Foundry, London [with Fiona Templeton and Robert Hampson]
Sept 06 –La Langoustine est Morte, London [with Caroline Bergvill and Anthony Joseph]
Selected Publications
January and March 2009: Two essays published by London Poetry Systems: Live Writing and Poetry and Technology.
March 2009 - Eight poems published by Great Works
December 2008 – One poem in Issue 26 of Shadowtrain
July 2008 – Four poetry recordings published online by Poetcasting.
April 2008 – One poem published by The Pedestal
2008 – Two poems published by Ink Sweat & Tears
Winter 08 – Two poems published in Issue 47 of Tears in the Fence
Nov 2008 – Prosthetics [poetry recording]. Issue 2, textsound (an online audio publication)
September 07 – Four poems published by Stride Magazine
July 07 - Poetry recordings published in the Openned Anthology, distributed in London and online
March 07 – Five poems published by Great Works.
Selected Performances and film collaborations
July-Aug 09: Boat on the Water, a site specific, poetry/dance/theatre collaborative performance on a boat, Stonehouse, Plymouth. Commissioned by Dance in Devon. With dancer, Chloe Langford and actor, Alice Tatton-Brown.
August 09: You Said/I Said: A spoken word/music collaborative performance commissioned by Phrased & Confused for the Summer Sundae Weekender in Leicester. With Composer Alexis Kirke.
June 09 – A rehearsed reading of my play, ‘The Blok’ at the Exeter Northcott directed by myself and Martin Harvey.
Dec 08 – Exeter University Independent Study project shown at the Dance in Devon ‘Watch This Space’ platform, Exeter College.
Sept 07 -Facing States, finalist at the short film festival, Shoot, screened at the Barn Cinema, Dartington and The Barrel House, Totnes.
March 07 – Five Star Hotel [short dance film] shown at the Alnolfini, Bristol, live art platform.
March 07 – A Different kind, reached the finals of the International Choreography competition, ‘No Ballet,’ Theater im Pfalzbau, Ludwigshafen, Germany.
December 2006 – Five Star Hotel, [short dance film] screened at the BAT Theatre, Berlin.
December 2006 – A different kind of rape, (dance/theatre performance) shown at the BAT theatre, Berlin. [Choreography and performance by Hannah Silva and Chloe Langford. Soundtrack, music and text by Hannah Silva]
July – Sept 2006 - Collaborated (as dancer/choreographer) with Diana Piltcher on her PhD research project, Dartington College of Arts. The collaboration resulted in a dance film.
March 2006 – Invited by Butoh dancer/choreographer Tetsuro Fukuhara to perform within Space Dance, conference and performances, The Tokyo Design Centre, Japan.
March 2006 - Prosthetics [dance/theatre solo] Tokyo Design Centre, Japan. [performance, choreography and text by Hannah Silva]
2004 – Site specific movement and voice research with theatre director, Miguel Silva, Portugal.
2003- Practice based research in collaboration with Yitka Charapova (actor), Gareth Sommers (director), Miguel Silva [director], and Jorge Isaac (musician/composer) at Steim (electronic music centre), Amsterdam. Over four weeks we investigated the use of new media [Big Eye and Bodysynth] to create realtime compositions using the body and voice.
2003 – Choreographer, writer and musician in Tracce, a performance sponsored by the Practicum Generale Fonds (Amsterdam) dir. Miguel Silva.
2003 – Wrote the short story, ‘Apicius’ and developed the dramaturgy on which the performance, Mensa Secunda was based. Toured Holland with the production, assisting the direction of the performance, documenting the performance, making and designing props. Funded by the Fonds Voor de Podiumkunsten.
2002 - Performed own composition in London, for the Walter Bergmann music funds.
2002 – Performed in Maastricht, the new solo composition (music theatre) by Paul Omen was aired on Dutch national radio.
1999-2002 – Regularly performed in concerts in London organised by The Purcell School of Music (including as finalist of the school’s concerto competition) and The Royal College of Music [junior department]
Education
Sept 2007-09 – Exeter University, MFA in Theatre Practice [funded by the AHRC] Specialised in directing and playwriting.
July 2007 – Graduated from Dartington College of Arts, Choreography with Writing Practices, BA(hons), [First Class degree]
Sept-Dec 06 – Studied dance at the Ernst Busch college in Berlin with Ingo Reulecke, on the Erasmus exchange program
2002-2003 - Studied improvisation and composition with Paul Leenhouts, Amsterdam Conservatorium.
2000-2002 The Purcell School of Music and Royal Academy of Music for individual instrumental lessons. [A-levels: Music A, English B, Art B.]
1995-2000. Attended The Royal Collage of Music [junior department] every Saturday.
1995-2000. Member of Suffolk youth dance company, Splinters. (Worked with visiting choreographers including Richard Alston and Wayne McGregor.)
