Hi Everyone,
Recently I have been updating my biog for my professional website, and while I am sleeping on it I thought I'd share It on here so you can tell me what you think.
I am constantly struggling to find the balance between my skills.
Petra is an independent dance artist and tap dancer based in London. She started her career as a freelance dancer working on BBC1 “The One Show”, SKY1 “Louie Spence’s Showbusiness”, Ellen Kent Productions opera “AIDA”, as well as music videos and various live events, before creating, producing and performing her own work.
Her first outings as a creator, performer and producer include: “Charlie, My Message to Humanity”, Lake Studios Berlin, and the solo theatre showcase “Solo Roulette” at the Blue Elephant Theatre in London, performing “Deliver Me”, a theatre and dance piece combining spoken word and contemporary dance.
She is now also widely known for her improvisational and interdisciplinary performance work, and has also collected some experience as an experimental film maker.
She often collaborates with visual and digital artists and continuously performs in the UK and Europe.
Petra has been the first tap dancer named in Jazzwise Magazine’s “Rising Jazz Artists: Who to look out for in 2020.
She feels most at home in jazz, improvised music, free jazz and multimedia performances, and is constantly exploring sound, music, rhythm and art.
Petra is currently the resident dancer at Résonances Performances, an interdisciplinary collaboration of improvised music, poetry, digital art and live painting led by Aurelie Freoua and Ley Loosh. The group regularly performs at the Vortex Jazz Club, has had the honor of being part of Jazz Connective in 2020 and the London Jazz Festivals of 2019 and 2021. Other visual artists Petra has worked with include Patrick Faure, Claire Zakiewicz, Gwendolyn Kassenaar and digital artist Egle Saka. The Projects range from installations in galleries, performing within exhibitions, a live mural creation (Gwendolyn Kassenaar), interdisciplinary live performance (Résonances), international exhibition tours (Patrick Faure) and Film.
Recent film works include Petra’s own short film “Depth Perception” (2020), which was commissioned by ESB and shown at Tate Lates, and "Embody the Spirit of Upcycling” (Egle Saka 2021).
As a tap dancer Petra performs regularly in a Tap and Piano Duo, with her long time collaborator Meg Morley, and in a trio with Paul Jolly on bass Clarinet and Charlotte Keeffe on trumpet, as well as tap dancing in Nikki Franklin’s project “Ecstasies” with Pete Rosser on accordion, Nikki Franklin on vocals and poetry by Adam Lowe.
Other musicians Petra has worked with include Cleveland Watkiss, Richard Adam Lewis, Loz Speyer, Tarik Haskic, Alice Karveli and digital artist Egle Saka (as part of audio visual performance).
In 2021/2022 Petra has spent 6 months studying at Escola Luthier in Barcelona, Europe’s only full time tap dance school, where she worked on furthering her skill and musicianship.
In 2021 Petra started hosting and producing her podcast “TO BE AN ARTIST”, which is currently in Season 2. It is curated to delve into the stories and lives of artists, including dancers, musicians, painters, photographers, actors, multimedia performers and many more. Dedicated to interviewing successful individuals, touching on a variety of topics, such as their journey, creative process, collaboration, entrepreneurship and a general insight into their art.
Petra passionately loves improvisation and experimentation, both in contemporary dance and tap dance, and is looking forward to bringing many new, inspiring and challenging projects into existence in the future.
let me know what you think!