For the first time on camera, Eliot Smith reflects on fifteen years of Eliot Smith Dance (ESD), speaking openly about the foundations, challenges and achievements of building a contemporary dance company rooted in the North East of England.

Filmed by award-winning filmmaker Elijah McDonnell, the film quietly observes Smith as he looks back on the company’s journey and forward to its future.

The documentary is set within The Cage Shop at Woodhorn Museum, a former mining colliery that has become an important creative home for the company since 2016. It was here that Smith created a contemporary dance work inspired by the paintings of the Ashington Group, connecting dance with the cultural history of the region.

Born, raised and working in the North East, Smith’s work is deeply rooted in place and community. As respected arts journalist David Whetstone recently wrote: “A company which has earned its place in the region’s cultural fabric deserves all the support it can get.”