productions

ANIMALIA

After dark

Rating: PG

Film length: 15:49

Being pregnant. It’s an odyssey.

A takeover of body and soul. Some say after becoming parent your heart will forever live outside your body. How do you get ready for that?

A life as a performer, who has given everything to the audience and the art form, is about to confront the essentials of being an animal too.

Our bodies change as we become a mother. We become feeder and soft furnishing as mothers. It can be a frightening thought, especially in those mad pregnancy dreams.

Growing a baby and getting ready to give birth is not a pastel experience. It is not fragrant and soft focus and mumsy. It is becoming your most primal, and facing yourself and your capacity to survive, love and protect. It’s facing the eye of the storm.

"Natalie Trewinnard started working for balletLORENT in 2013 as she took the role of Rapunzel . Her first experience of me was directing her slightly inarticulately as I breastfed my 4 weeks old daughter.
As I remember, I was a bit tired, a bit impatient and not the best version of myself.
Natalie stayed and helped create several main roles in the balletLORENT repertoire, and will continue to work with the company after her maternity leave.
I feel so fortunate to have been able to work with Natalie, who is about to become a mother and investing in a dance theatre film all I know first hand about this adventure of expecting a baby.
ANIMALIA was filmed in February, and we are very grateful for the commission for Northern Stage and the few days we had in the theatre to create our work. And we are delighted to release this film on International Woman’s Day, in tribute to the many people who have experienced pregnancy.
Natalie lives in Newcastle upon Tyne as I do, and like myself and other members of the company she is building a family here alongside her artistic life.
Thank you Natalie for your bravery and trust. Thank you for being bold and beautiful and generous. Thank you for helping us tell this story through dance, theatre, music vocals and film. You are an animal."

Liv Lorent