Hayley Matthews will be performing at St Barnabas this Saturday

An Ealing dancer is returning home to perform a very special one woman show.

Contemporary artist Hayley Matthews has appeared in venues across the world and worked alongside dancers from many different countries. But now she is heading back to her roots, where she took her first steps into dance.

A one-woman dance piece, with live music from musician Hej Jones, Home Solo follows a journey - from injury and uncertainty, to being comfortable in your own skin.

In 2010, Hayley came off her bike on Shepherd's Bush Road in London and broke her jaw in 2 places. She felt as if she was standing beside herself for years afterward; like her spirit had left. Home Solo was created as Hayley tracked her way back home to her body, finding her artistry as her only sanctuary in a world that seemed to reflect her inner disorientation at every turn.

Home Solo will be performed at St Barnabas Church, next door to Margaret Dance Academy, where Hayley studied dance and choreography as a child, and close to the busy, creative family home where she grew up. "My family moved to Ealing about 90 years ago" says Hayley. "My grandma grew up here, living next door to Margot Fonteyn, the famous ballet dancer. She later ran Ealing Folk Club for many years. My dad (who was a member of Mungo Jerry) cut his teeth as a musician there, and my aunt and uncle still gig in Ealing and pack out pubs with their folk band."

Home Solo is part of a larger project, Flying Solo, produced by Hayley’s company, Ensemble Dance. Three contemporary dancers with backgrounds in Africa, the UK and the Caribbean will each perform their own pieces inspired by the idea of "home" simultaneously on 27th April. Nii-Tete Yartey will perform at Noyam African Dance Institute in Ghana, a venue founded by his late father, and Tyrone Isaac-Stuart takes his solo piece to Wanstead Flats, where he used to go as a kid to play his saxophone.

Later in the year, the three Flying Solo artists will join together for triple-bill performances as part of Waltham Forest’s Borough of Culture programme and at other venues including the Spiegeltent at Brighton Fringe, and the Noyam Institute. The project explores ideas of getting lost, being brave, travelling far afield and returning right back "home".

Home Solo will be performed at St Barnabas Ealing, Pitshanger Lane on Saturday 27 April, 7.30pm.

Home Solo at St Barnabas Church is supported and programmed by OPEN Ealing

Tickets are available through Eventbrite

23 April 2019