Project Archive
2021
Fighting for a Fair Future
Bringing youth voices & site-responsive movement together to confront climate change.
Premiered - October 22, 2021
Artists
Concept, Direction, Camera & Editing: Jen Wren
Choreography - Jen Wren & Originating Cast
Composition - Caterina McEvoy
Costumes - Jen Wren
Originating Cast - Youth dancers from DAZL Bramley / DAZL Leeds
Photography - Jen Wren
Filming Location - Middleton Park Woods, Leeds
Fighting for a Fair Future is a socially driven dance-film collaboration between Slanjayvah Danza and Dance Action Zone Leeds (DAZL). It was created for the #DAZL21 digital showcase during a period when digital creativity became essential for community connection and artistic expression. The project brings together professional and youth dance voices to address one of the most urgent issues of our time: the environmental crisis.
Filmed in the woodland landscape of Middleton Park Woods in Leeds, the work uses dance as a lens through which to examine the escalating realities of plastic pollution, climate change and environmental responsibility. Youth dancers from DAZL respond physically and emotionally to these themes, transforming the natural setting into both a playground and a protest site — a place where movement becomes message.
Fight for a Fair Future was commissioned and produced by Dance Action Zone Leeds (DAZL) with support from Leeds Culture Programmes, Leeds Public Health and Arts Council England.
Screenings and Merits
Fighting for a Fair Future was part of the #DAZL21 Digital Showcase, and was released online on 22 October and later screened across the funding partners presentations and internal showcases (Leeds Culture Programmes, Leeds Public Health, Arts Council England). It’s positioned as an artistic and community response to environmental issues, aligning with DAZL’s social-purpose, health-and-wellbeing mission. It is also a continuation of Wren’s Fast Creative Task Challenges, and highlights the voices of young people at a time when live performance was limited and global uncertainty was high.