Meet the Emerging Creative Producers

Thanks to funding from The Ragdoll Foundation, we are excited to welcome our two new Emerging Creative Producers to the South East Dance team.

Analeise Auguste and Makeda Whittaker. Photo Rose Kigwana

Analeise and Makeda will be joining us for a six month paid placement, which includes two months of learning and development time, and three to four months as a producer with a dance artist/ choreographer, company or arts organisation. Find out more about them below.

Analeise Auguste

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and why you wanted to do the Emerging Producer role?
My name is Analeise, I am a trained contemporary dancer that loves working with groove and rhythm. It is very important to me to make dance accessible to everyone, through setting up outreaches and programmes I will be able to do this. I wanted to take on this new role to develop the technical skills in running dance events efficiently and getting dance to the masses.

What are you most looking forward to in the next six months?
I am looking forward to collaborating with artists, supporting them, and helping them to produce their best work. I enjoy bringing artist’s ideas to life, the more outrageous the better. I am looking forward to advancing my skills and becoming proficient at producing and truly making dance an inclusive space.

If you had to identify one thing you hope to have learnt/experienced by the end of this programme, what would it be?
I hope to gain a better understanding of producing within the arts industry and gain hands on experience in working with arts organisations.

Who or what do you like to watch when it comes to dance?
I love watching dance performances with high physicality and great musicality. One of my favourite performances going on right now is Message in a bottle by Kate Prince.

What’s the song that gets you on the dancefloor?
Many songs get me on the dancefloor, one of them being; Can we talk by Kevin Campbell.

Makeda Whittaker

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and why you wanted to do the Emerging Producer role?

I have always had a deep love for music and dance, which was one of the reasons I applied for my current receptionist role here at South East Dance, which I’ve been in for a year now. I love seeing the joy on people’s faces after they’ve seen a show or how happy they are after they’ve done a class that they were worried about beforehand and I love discussing anything new they’ve experienced like a show or a new type of dance; watching their excitement makes me excited and I love that feeling.

I wanted this role because I feel this is the industry I can see my career progressing in and this programme will give me the skills I need to organise safe spaces/events for marginalised communities to fully express themselves unapologetically and without judgment, which I feel is something that we need to more of!

What are you most looking forward to in the next six months?

I’m looking forward to meeting different types of producers/artists. And going to events in places that I haven’t been before and seeing how different areas attract different types of art.

If you had to identify one thing you hope to have learnt/experienced by the end of this programme, what would it be?

By the end of the six months' training I hope to have a better understanding of how to be a producer in an arts environment.

Who or what do you like to watch when it comes to dance?

I like to try and watch as many different types of dance as I can, there are some dances that I’ve really enjoyed watching but they wouldn’t have been my first choice.

What’s the song that gets you on the dancefloor?

I don’t have a specific song but anything that is R&B from the early 2000s will make me SPRINT to the dance floor!