"We were constantly met by passion"

The tour to South East Asia came about following the British Council Showcase 2013 where we presented the duet There We Have Been. After a lot of talks and co-ordination, we managed to get a four week tour together visiting six cities across Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. There we so many highlights of the trip it's hard to know where to begin. We got to meet so many amazing people and visited some incredible places.

Of the 16 shows we did, of which several were sold out, highlights included one show in Manilla where we had school children who had never been to the theatre before and a group of local nuns attend; spontaneous applause in the middle of a show in Ho Chi Minh City; the male dancers being met by screaming female fans (many of whom had never seen contemporary dance) as if they were members of One Direction in Solo (Indonesia).

As well as performances, we taught several workshops which we loved, and which gave us a brilliant opportunity to meet and work with local artists and students. The workshops were all great and filled with enthusiastic and hard working dancers. It was so lovely to be able to share what we do with people from completely different backgrounds, and to give them an insight into the performance and the work we do. It was just a shame our schedule was so tight and didn't allow for more workshops as there seemed to be such a hunger to learn. 

We had very few days off so we made sure we made the most of them. We had an incredible day in Kuala Lumpur going on a rainforest canopy walk, visiting Batu Caves (a Hindu temple in a cave up a hill) and drinking at a bar on a helipad on top of a skyscraper, but the highlight for all of us was probably sailing around the breathtaking Halong Bay in Vietnam!

One thing that the trip really reminded us about is passion. The first venue we visited in the Philippines existed because of people's passion to make art happen. As soon as we walked in we felt the warmth and joy of the venue, and this was totally reflected in the audiences who attended the shows, many of whom were from the very poor local community and who were there because the theatre wants to give as many people as possible in its community the chance to engage with theatre.

Throughout the trip we were constantly met by passion, be it audience members or local artists, dancers who attended our workshops or people who worked at the venues. I was reminded how fortunate we are to do what we do and to make a career out of it and was left feeling very humbled by the experience and reminded why I do what I do.

Following the success of our Autumn tour we will continue to tour the double bill of Without Stars | There We Have Been throughout 2015 whist also beginning to research new ideas for my next creation in 2016.

James Cousins Company visited Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia with the support of the British Council.