Originally trained as a ballerina, Holly Blakey got her start as a choreographer working on music videos for the likes of Florence & the Machine, Coldplay, Young Fathers, and Gwilym Gold before she committed to creating works for the stage. So it’s perhaps no surprise that her contemporary dance performances are so incredibly fun and uninhibited. In Holly’s world, diverse casts of dancers are encouraged to own their differences and perform according to their own energies. On stage, they shove, grab, and swat at each other, dripping with sweat and eroticism. In 2020, ahead of the opening of her show “Cowpuncher My Ass” at London’s Southbank Centre, Holly invited WePresent to sit in on a rehearsal, and shared the broader creative vision behind her practice.
