What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, live arts company Artful Badger created what they thought was a one off project for a weeklong run at VAULT. Wild Worlds turned out to be a bit of a smash hit – it sold out as did their Valentine’s party - and so in 2015 Artful Badger is headlining the festival: get ready for 3 weeks of Wild Worlds: Dark Sides, two chances to hunt Cupid down at the Love & Lightning Valentine’s Ball plus a whole series of workshops and scratch shows.

Born out of Secret Garden Party, Artful Badger’s practice might be difficult to explain were it not for the apt company name. Get ready to see the instinctive and animalistic crash the social conventions. Expect mischievous playfulness, but don’t hold your breath for utopic indulgence: Dark Sides dwells in the less pleasant dimensions of the human experience.

Here to explain what pushed the company in the darker direction is Aoife Van Linden Tol, Artful Badger Managing Director. Also on the table: sharing the company methods with a new generation of theatre makers, Mindfulness exploration with Run Riot Projects collaborator Dr Tamara Russell and a successful campaign against the Badger cull.

Run Riot: Hello Artful Badger(s)! You say your practice engages with the ‘wild and feral side of our humanity’. So - what’s your wild and feral side?

Aoife Van Linden Tol: Ooohh. My wild and feral side sees me become a cheeky, boisterous dancing fox that sneaks up behind people, confronts and teases them. I enjoy picking my nose and licking my plate! As for the whole company: we all love to dance like crazy and howl like wolves in the night!

Run Riot: The company members come from somewhat different artistic backgrounds. What brought the badgers together?

Aoife Van Linden Tol: Many centuries ago dancing around the fire, chanting and wearing symbolic masks was a community activity. Our society has forgotten that this is natural, inclusive, healthy and even fun. We aim to reawaken these instincts.

We were brought together at Secret Garden Party. A group of friends who had been practicing 5 Rhythms dance decided to create a space at the festival where we could embrace both the holistic and the hedonistic sides of dance. The Badger was the inspiration to use wild animals as totems and so designer Charlotte Tiley, Head of House Designs, made our first set of animal masks. During the day we held all kinds of dance, meditation and power animal workshops and as the night fell we all lost ourselves in the beats of the music & danced using animal movements. Everything developed from there...

Run Riot: What has Wild Worlds been doing over the last year? What’s in store with Dark Sides?

Aoife Van Linden Tol: Originally the Wild Worlds was conceived as a one off for VAULT Festival 2014. This year we realised that we wanted to keep the format of curating several unique acts within one show and use it to present different themes or concepts that we are interested in. In the past year or so, many people we know went though some tough times mentally. Looking at our wider community within the events and festival industry there have been a few casualties who we will never see again and more who almost went the same way. Usually the Artful Badger is known for our light hearted, sexy, playful exuberance, but this year we wanted to see what would happen if the Artful Badger used our mischievous, wild nature to explore the darker sides of humanity. The biggest barrier to recovery is hiding, not connecting, not showing your weakness. We believe that it is important to have permission to feel and experience the dark sides in order to overcome them.

Run Riot: Run Riot Projects kicked off last year with The Art of Mindfulness, a series of workshops and courses run by Dr Tamara Russell. We're excited to see that Dr Russell is a mutual collaborator - and worked with you on Wild Worlds: Dark Sides. How did Mindfulness come into your orbit, how do you implement it into your practice and why did you decide to take this route?

Aoife Van Linden Tol: I studied Shaolin Kung Fu under the same sifu as Tamara for six years and have practiced mindfulness with her as she was developing the connections between the clinical practice and the movement aspect. There is also a strong connection with the dance community as what can be seen as 'mindful' exercises and practice is already familiar within dance training and working methods.

With London at the cutting edge and the heart of interactive and immersive theatre we can see that the consciousness of the audience is changing. They are becoming more aware of the environments in which theatre takes place, even the journey to get there.

The Artful Badger is collaborating with Dr Tamara Russell, exploring the scientific relationship between movement, performance and mindfulness practice. The scientific question is about embodiment – how we can use the body as part of the pedagogy of mindfulness? We're also asking if the way the body moves can be used to help us understand the way the mind moves under conditions of mindfulness and mindlessness?

Many actors and dancers develop mindfulness practice as part of their training. Their awareness of their own body and mind, the spaces in which they exist and their relationship to others around them becomes second nature to skilled artists. Can mindfulness practice go beyond the periphery of the performers and become part of the audience experience? This is what Wild Worlds: Dark Sides will be exploring.

Run Riot: What can the audiences expect from the Wild Wall Dancing Workshop?

Aoife Van Linden Tol: Lots of fun!!! It’s a perfect thing to do on a date actually. They can expect an introduction to both the physical practice of wall dancing as well as the wild expressive form of dance that the Artful Badger are not only known for but endeavour to encourage in others. We start with a warm up, some ground based movement and dance work as well as how to get strapped in and safety info. We then have a full hour of wall time for everyone to get up and feel what it’s like and learn some moves!

Run Riot:  Can you tell us more about the process you are embarking on with ALRA students?

Aoife Van Linden Tol: With ALRA we have already put them through their paces in a series of workshop-based auditions. We selected 20 students that will be performing during the two Scratch Me If You Can matinees.

We are now guiding them though the Artful Badger style of devising physical theatre so they are very much creating their own shows and directing it all themselves. They are using the theme of the Wild Worlds: Dark Sides as a starting point and we will continue to mentor them through the whole process but it is really about drawing out their creativity using their own interests, experiences and ideas. We will also be guiding them on the practical side of things such as lighting tech, costume, props, fundraising, promotion and PR.

Run Riot: What are your Valentine’s plans for us?

Aoife Van Linden Tol: Lots and lots of amorous adventures!!! We have two main rooms as well as peripheral areas and secret locations in which there will be things to discover or take part in. There will be speed animal acro-balance dating, life drawing with body painting, kissagrams, face painting, art installations. We have some amazing live bands: ChainSka Brassica, The Dirty Gentlemen, The Penny Black Remedy & Love nor Money. You can also expect thunderbolts of love and lightning through your hearts!

Run Riot:  Finally - the badgers. In 2013 you campaigned against the UK badger cull and even released a single, Badger Swagger, made with Brian May, Slash, David Attenborough and quite a few other big names. How are the badgers (and the campaign) doing today?

Aoife Van Linden Tol: The Artful Badger's Get Off My Badger campaign was our most successful PR campaign to date. We realised several artistic projects as part of the campaign, each of which received wide press coverage culminating in the huge success of the Badger Swagger track and video. All aspects of the campaign were arranged in house, including idea generation, production, costume, funding, recording the track, video filming & editing, marketing and PR.

Badger Swagger reached number 52 in the charts. The video went viral with over 100,000 hits. The number of signatures on the petition organised by the Team Badger animal right campaign rose at a rate directly proportional to the number of hits on the YouTube video showing a link from our campaign into direct action. All our actions received worldwide press coverage across the broadsheets including front page of the Metro. Huge coverage from online publications and social media, including one article that received in excess of 500,000 hits over the space of a week. The video was also featured on several TV commentaries as well as the Million Pound Drop. The track was played on radio stations across the UK and worldwide, including BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 2 and XFM. We were incredibly proud that the global reach calculated for the overall campaign was in excess of 30 million.

Today the campaign is still going. Badgers are still under threat. The best place to keep up with what’s happening and how to get involved is through Team Badger, which is a coalition of groups and organisations that are committed to stopping the badger cull by peaceful protest methods and by lobbying the current government.

Wild Worlds: Dark Sides 28 January – 14 February

Love and Lightning Valentine’s Ball13 & 14 February

Scratch Me If You Can, Wild Wall Dancing Workshop and Mindfulness Movement –weekends during the festival

All part of VAULT

Plus - for those of you interested in attending a 5-week Art of Mindfulness course with Dr Tamara Russell, check the Run Riot Projects initiative:

Art of Mindfulness
with Dr Tamara Russell
at the Free Word Centre, Farringdon
6.30-9pm, Tuesday evenings
3-31 March
All levels welcome
More info here: http://www.runriotprojects.org/mindfulness