The Dance Collector by Krissi Musiol

When someone self-bills themselves as a bad dancer and then proceeds with a project called The Dance Collector, you take notice.

Krissi Musiol’s solo project encompasses public engagement, story sharing and live-art performance, all wrapped up in a re-enactment of dances and re-telling of stories from people like you and me – the audience.

Or as Krissi puts it: The Dance Collector explores what it means to make a dance piece when you are not a dancer.

This is Krissi’s website. She says this about The Dance Collector: “The Dance Collector explores amateur dance classes – the everyday experience of dance.  Engaging with rural touring circuits and a variety of community dance classes, this project is an exploration of a range of cultures and heritages – from Salsa to Bhangra to Morris Dancing to Zumba, and how people come together through dance.

“This project engages with local communities to gather stories and experiences related to dancing and/or falling in love.  For example, I am interested to hear about couples who met through dancing or can share the story of their first dance on their wedding day, or explain the feeling they have when they dance.  The importance of a specific dance to a given community is also an area of interest.”

As part of the project, I was lucky enough to photograph Krissi several times on Preston Market. The images were exhibited at several venues (PR1 Gallery, Uclan, Preston // The Birley, Preston // MMU, Crewe) as part of artist residencies depicting the project.

The one question everyone asks is about the dress. They all love the dress. It’s a traditional Polish costume made by Krissi’s mum.

The images: