“Trifling, Frivolous, Difficult:” Eleanor Perry Strives for Imperfection

Eleanor Perry, 35, is the co-founder of Thick & Tight alongside Daniel Hay-Gordon, and has collaborated with artists, choreographers, and filmmakers including Gary Clarke, Lea Anderson, and Julie Cunningham. She’s worked throughout the industry as a movement director, lighting designer, and costume designer. As a dancer, she has performed everywhere from the Centre Pompidou to the Hollywood Bowl, and has taught at a number of companies, including Trinity Laban, Gary Clarke Company, and Impermanence Dance Theatre.

“A friend once asked me what my choreographic method is, and I half-jokingly replied ‘precision and angst.’ It can take so much concentration and thought, but at the same time there’s a lightness about it. After all, you are just making up a dance. I love that it can feel trifling, frivolous, difficult, and a matter of life and death all at the same time—total inconsequence and total drama! I always feel a pull between things that seem to be in opposition but aren’t really, like seriousness and flippancy, control and freedom, constancy and change, individual and universal, clarity and ambiguity. The elements that are most important to me in my practice are expression, heart, detail, entertainment, connection, and subversion. I want to reframe what artistic ‘excellence’ means and promote creative partnerships and solidarity between people with different marginalized experiences. I want to celebrate differences and highlight that they don’t need to separate us. They can reveal—in a much lovelier way—what is shared more than a stage full of people who are all supposed to look the same and be perfect in the same way"

All Skincare by Dr. Barbara Sturm.
Makeup by Anna Payn
Hair by Eliot McQueen
Nails by Christie Huseyin
Set Design by Sam Pidgen
Produced by The Curated
Dop Max Montgomery
Digi Op Nina Close
Lighting Direction by Ross Zillwood
Fashion Assistance by Tom Grimsdell and Tamsin Michael
Makeup Assistance by Tamsin Bilingall
Set Assistance by Kaush Odedra and Haleimah Darwish
Location Drop Studios