Freya Daly Sadgrove always wanted to go wild on stage.
As a poet, the options to do so were next to none, so when a few fellow poets got to talking about how they could push an idea of dressing up the stage for a poetry reading further, Sadgrove ran with the idea.
"It was something I wanted to do myself. To do something silly and unexpected that was different to what poetry readings are normally like."
So she got together a group of six poets, musicians and dancers to create "Show Ponies", a live poetry experience with a difference held in a Wellington pub for National Poetry Day.
"We had $150 to make it all work. It’s crazy when I think about it now."
The poets she approached were excited, "up for anything" and ready to try "this crazy thing" just like she was.
"I love being on stage. Since birth I’ve been a show-off. A big part of this is that I want space to do something wild on stage, to push it and push myself, take exciting risks. So it’s all partly for selfish reasons."
"It was totally such a big risk. People came to the first one expecting it to fail. We had a bit of buzz about it but they thought no way is it going to work."
Sadgrove fist-pumps as she recalls how they were all proven wrong. The show was a sell-out and got rave reviews.
"It really went off. It came out as something I was really proud of. It was a really exciting show."
The success has seen Show Ponies travel to Australia for appearances in festivals in Brisbane and Perth and now it is coming to Dunedin as part of the New Zealand Young Writers Festival.
"It’s so great. I’ve been to the festival a couple of times in the last few years. Each time I get excited at how much it has grown."
Coming to Dunedin for the festival was a natural fit as "half the ponies are young poets" and the line-up includes first-timer 17-year-old poet Jasper Davis and two dancers who are also poets.
"I’m really excited about it. To have young emerging poets get involved is a dream."
The weirdest experience so far had been performing in a Featherstone memorial hall, she says.
"It’s a very different vibe to performing in a bar in the middle of Wellington to 10pm in Featherstone but it still went off."
It has been a steep learning curve for Sadgrove, who has had to learn a lot of organisational and management skills to bring the shows to fruition.
"I’m just a little artist, not a producer, so a lot of this has been done by the seat of my pants, but it’s worth it when you see the actual event."
Confusion over dates means she will not be appearing in Dunedin. Instead Rebecca Hawke is stepping into run the show as MC. Hawke was involved in the very first conversation that led to Show Ponies being created.
"I’m stoked she can be there. It’ll be the first show without me on the ground freaking out about things. But it’s in good hands."
Also appearing in Dunedin are Sinead Overbye (Te Whanau a Kai, Ngati Porou), Vanessa Mei Crofskey, essa may ranapiri (Ngaati Raukawa, Ngaati Pukeko, Te Arawa, Clan Gunn) and Nathan Joe, the young writers 2022 guest curator and inaugural (2019) NZYWF Writer-in-Residence.
To continue the Show Ponies outings, Sadgrove has recruited a "stable" of 18-19 poets keen to take to the stage.
"The line-up keeps growing, which I’m really proud of."
While initially Sadgrove approached poets with a "particular kind of vibe" who had a playfulness and presence on stage, the more the show has developed she has looked for diversity in performers.
"That is what makes it really good, the different approaches. The dark, serious stuff is still presented in a way that is attractive, there is still something fun about it and it works really well."
For the poets themselves, they need to be able to take risks. She admits that while her drama background means performing like that is natural for her, for others it has required moving out of their comfort zone.
"A lot of writers have a lot of stage potential, they just do not necessarily employ it."
One of the strengths of the show is its ability to bring together different artistic disciplines that might not have normally got to work together in the past.
It has also expanded what poetry can be as an art form, she says.
"Poetry as an art form can be quite isolated. There can be this cringe associated with it, but the cool thing is this brings different art forms together to learn from each other. Each as at the top of their game in what they are doing, so doing it together lifts everyone’s contribution. It’s so fun to be in the room together."
For Sadgrove, it has opened so much potential for her practice. It has been suggested she could do a whole show based on her own set.
"I had the entire pandemic to work on my own poetry, theatre, dance hybrid show which started out as a companion to my book, a sort of Show Pony version of it."
So while it has been three years since the first Show Ponies show, the concept keeps expanding.
"There is no reason to limit to what we do."
She has found the show is changing what is expected of poets and poetry.
"It is freeing for everyone, there are flow-on effects for people and their practices."
It also opens poetry up to an entirely new audience that might not normally engage with it.
"It’s a different experience, fun and engaging. It’s not just a listening experience which many literary readings can be. It’s a welcoming way to present poetry. Some are inspired to start reading poetry after being to an event like this. That feels like a huge win."
While Show Ponies has morphed into something a lot bigger than she ever envisaged, she could not be happier.
"It’s given myself the opportunity to be what I wanted to be on stage with poetry, it’s expanded what my art can be and I know it can do that for everyone."
Sadgrove does not want to see it stop there, to become expected or normal.
"I always want to punch beyond that, to be experimental, still pushing it. I feel like if it was becoming normal or expected, we’d need to change something."
Having recently moved to Australia, Sadgrove has big plans for the future of Show Ponies — possibly a transtasman show or an exchange programme.
"There’s lots of potential collaborations. There is room for it to continue to grow and it excites me."
To see
"Show Ponies", Te Whare o Rukutia, October 1, 8.30pm; New Zealand Young Writers Festival, starts today and runs until October 2
