I often have people asking me, ‘So, what are you up to?’ and each time I stare blankly and rattle off a few bits that I can remember off the top of my head. However, for anyone interested, here’s what I’m up to.
This October I’m performing a solo called Mud Pies at Aberystwyth Arts Centre! It’s SO incredible because:
This is my first ever time presenting my own work at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. I’ve toured there a lot with Ballet Cymru but this is so different.
It’s the first time I’m opening a show outside of Newport. Something I want to do more and more of. Maybe, my mid-term goal can be to open each show in a new part of Wales than previously.
This summer I did a short, lighter version of the piece for the Big Splash Festival in Newport. But the full length work is for audiences 16+ and will deal with more mature themes.
Once it officially premieres, I’ll consider its afterlife. Thoughts?
Mud Pies is about my relationship to nature. I’m looking forward to sharing my journey with you, so please come!
You can buy tickets HERE for Mud Pies at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, October 24th at 7:45pm.
This winter the lovely Whimsy is returning in a whole new story called Swyn! Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru got to know Whimsy last year and this year have been working with me to bring about Swyn!
Swyn is a new series in Whimsy’s story and it will be told completely through the Welsh and British Sign Langauges! I cannot wait to begin this work about bashful bunnies, daring ducks, and Swyn’s love for nature!
I’m doing incredible workshops in schools in October (through Theatr Gen) then rehearsals, then a Wales-wide tour of SWYN!!!!
I cannot wait! This will be a brilliant way for me to immerse myself more in Welsh and British Sign Language - two languages which I have a lot of respect for and am working slowly, but diligently to learn more.
Theatr Gen have been incredible every step of the way and I’m looking forward to sharing this work with people.
You can actually buy tickets already (link above)!!!
Last September I spent two weeks with two brilliant artists Tala Lee-Turton and Roxanna Albayati on Tala Lee-Turton Production’s Here Lies. An incredible, multi-layered dance and music duet; a magic realist tale about two estranged sisters, reconnecting after the death of their Grandmother.
This autumn Here Lies will tour as a part of Tala Lee-Turton’s triple bill ‘parler femme’.
I’m so excited to see this work come to life and have thoroughly enjoyed production meetings leading up to opening night! It’s been brilliant to watch such a determined and passionate ballet dancer creating her own opportunities.
This July I began an R&D ‘Exploring Interwoven’ funded through Unlimited’s Partner Awards - in partnership with National Theatre Wales.
I’m writing the script, exploring making theatre for neurodivergent people (like me), set design, and music design.
Early next year there will be a sharing of some of the things I’ve discovered during this R&D and I’m hoping to get better at sharing information along the way too!
If you’re interested in being a part of it then I’d LOVE to get some more people to respond to my survey about hair!
The network that I run, Our Voice Network, has received Arts Council Wales, Sharing Together funding to spend a year, as a group, developing our professional practice! The project is called Growing Together and it’s open to any person of the Global Majority, any artform, at any stage in their career.
I feel like development opportunities are usually shared for early career artists and once you pass that you’re on your own. So, I want to change that. Growing Together is about changing that. A few artists have already signed up to be a part of it and it would be great to have a few others.
I applied for Arts Council Wales’s Creative Steps funding to develop myself. I saw there were places I needed support in order to ensure I’m more efficient as an artist so I applied this summer and got it!
It’s a really straightforward application and it’s about addressing the inequity in the arts. So, if you’re eligible, you should apply. It’s really great!
£10,000 for 9-months of development - and I’m bringing people along with me! So keep an eye out for more information.
I’ve just started to teach 2-hours of ballet on a Saturday for Barinowsky Ballet in Roath and I absolutely love it! I taught there for a few years before 2020 and have now reconnected.
In October I’ll share about the possibilities of freelance life for Ballet Cymru’s Pre-professional programme.
I must now become VAT registered.
I’ve just started the final year of my BA Hons in English Literature and Creative Writing! I’m so excited to finish, and to be doing it again (I took a bit of a break). My next step is an MA (which I really need to get on with finding and applying for) and then a PhD. Really, it’s the thing I do for myself, for fun, to take my mind off of the cares of the world. It’s reading and writing - two of my favourite things!
And there are a few other things not yet fully confirmed but definitely just as exciting!
What’s Next
Preparing and Presenting 2024
I’m in the process of writing an ACW Create app to R&D a new work, present a work-in-progress sharing of artists, and to develop further and tour Remarkable Rhythm and The Bench in 2024! It’s strange, but I actually enjoy writing funding applications. It helps me decide how to organise my year and I LOVE budgeting so that part is usually done with my favourite TV series on, in bed, with some sort of food.
And finally, I’ve started home educating my 5 (almost 6) year old so figuring that out in regards to scheduling and timings. What’s most incredible, that I didn’t realise would happen, is that I think of the week as 7 days instead of 5 days. I don’t spend the week waiting for the weekend and I don’t spend the weekend dreading the week. Now he’s out of school we can be flexible and take a week day off if that’s what works for us. Also, I was home educated so I have a good reference for how it works and how it feels.
It also means I can take him on holiday while schools are in (yay cheaper holidays!).
So, I want to take #YoungLowe on a Europe summer vacation in 2024 so any advice on small, hot places with kind people, clean beaches, and amazing food then let me know.
If any of this interests you or you want to connect on any of it then get in touch via my ‘Contact Me’ page!
X Krystal
Shout out to Mocha Muse Designs for supporting me with marketing designs and Theatr Iolo for supporting my development by replying to 100 million emails from me asking for advice about everything to do with making and presenting!
