Debi Hedderwick

I first started dancing as a small infant and haven't ever stopped! As a child and young person I trained with the inspirational Mari Bicknell OBE and performed with her unique and wonderful Cambridge Ballet Workshop from age 7 - 18. Mari provided the aspirational role model for making high quality dance theatre with young people, and whilst training in music and then vocational dance I also cut my teeth as a choreographer with her company. Wanting to compose my own scores for choreography I studied music at Nottingham University, learning composition with Nigel Osborne and choreographing many experimental pieces for my own and other students' composition to be performed close to midnight in our late night new music concerts! My lifelong passion for traditional and fusion music from all over the world was also ignited during my studies.

I went on to study dance as a postgraduate at The London School of Contemporary Dance during which time I also worked for the London Contemporary Dance Theatre's Touring Education Unit and in the newly formed Special Educational Needs unit my interest in working with people with different needs was sparked. As you can see from the pages on this website, my interests and pathways in dance have been many and varied, but my driving passion remains in connecting and working collaboratively with people, and inspiring others to get involved.

I pursue my love of music not only through my dance work and choreography but also through listening, preferably live and especially to contemporary and world music, whenever I can, and in improving my own playing at home. I love stories wherever they can be found, in dance, in theatre, in films, tv and of course in books - no day is complete without reading. Recently I have been enjoying pursuing my own writing too!!

My move to Derbyshire 30 years ago enabled my re-connection with the natural world, living and walking (and swimming!) in the beautiful countryside, and I have made many site relevant pieces in incredible natural sites in the county - work that explores the history, culture and natural majesty of the environment and the lives of local communities. I have been deeply involved in my home community, for example through performance programming for Wirksworth Festival and as part of the NOW Regeneration Project, leading on the team that funded and established a skatepark in town. I am also proud to say I am a (minor) rebel in Extinction Rebellion, and have also tried to contribute with shouting out the environmental message through "art-ivism".

I have been involved in local Anti-Racism work, and in the refugee crisis through volunteering at Calais and through giving a home to a young unaccompanied asylum seeker, an experience that hugely enriched my life and taught me so much, and I continue to work with young refugees and to campaign for an equitable and humane immigration system.

With my partner Paddy Turner I have three wonderful grown up children, Eve, Lillie and Ceri Hedderwick Turner who work in various combinations in the visual and performing arts, design, media, education and well-being.

The over-riding thing for me in both my personal life and work is to connect with people with empathy and with kindness so that we can grow together!

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I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Lillie who has been my long term colleague, artistic partner and collaborator for her inspirational creative work over the decades, and not least for the design and build of this website.