In 2005 they became The Perverted Turkeys; a cabaret duo creating short sharp performance shocks that parody and pay homage to contemporary dance, traditional burlesque and cabaret performance.  The Perverted Turkeys embody the essence of traditional Burlesque by creating humour within the subject matter and choreography to challenge the audience’s expectations of dance. 

Janine and Avis have just undertaken their first research & development project supported by The Arts Council South East, Basement Arts Production South East, South East Dance Agency and The Nightingale Theatre.
The aim of this project is to challenge the context of their creative partnership by generating work outside of the cabaret genre, and provides an opportunity to explore the development of their performative relationship, movement vocabulary, work content and the creation of a visual identity as part of the creative process.

Artistic Statement

Our work does not sit comfortably into performance categorisation, and we are at our happiest when we are ‘borrowing’ ideas and techniques from a range of performance / artistic disciplines. We are dedicated to developing our artistic practice through a creative dialogue with theatre practitioners, dancers, live artists, comedians, film / video artists, aerialists and innovators in contemporary cabaret performance. Looking to create works with comedy, choreographed moments and considered visual impact, to define a new generation of performance. Concocted in a melting pot of influences from performative and artistic disciplines, this theatre for the children of the MTV era, follows its own left hand path.

Individual Blogs

Janine Fletcher is co-creator and director of ‘Janine and Avis'.  Since graduating from the University of Brighton in 2002 Janine has worked collaboratively with performance companies The Society of Wonders, Zu Aerial Dance and The Stepback Project.  Most recently Janine has worked with Prodigal Theatre’s The Urban Playground and French company Gravity Style to ‘blend the philosophy of Parkour and Free-Running with contemporary dance and breaking to produce choreographies reflecting the environments in which they work’ (www.theurbanplayground.co.uk).

Avis Cockbill is co- director and Founder of Janine and avis .
She has worked as a performer and/or choreographer for the last 10 years in may different projects including The Urban Playground, Perverted Turkeys, (a dogs bites) Film Production and Dot Comedy. She has performed in awarding winning short films by directors Magali Charrier and Tony Johnston  and is interested in the opportunities for the fanatasical that film allows.

Contact
info@thebasement.uk.com