MARCH 9th, 2018: AIDTA GUEST PERFORMANCE

The 2018 Australian Independent Dance Awards (AIDTA) was held in Perth, Western Australia on the evening of March 9^th. Remnant Dance artists and collaborators involved in the performance work, psalm 1970 Morrison Sparkling, were invited as guest artists to share this excerpt from the production, winery psalms–the mixed half-dozen, at the Awards Night. The collaborators willingly gave their time and skills to show support for Australian dance teachers, celebrating excellence in dance teaching, training, mentorship and research.

Krystal McGee, Principal of DanceWorks Photography, donated her time and talents to photograph performances and awards during the event. We are grateful for the gifts of these images which capture the dance work’s narrative of beauty, struggle, acceptance, belief . . . enjoy the gallery of images from the remounted work, psalm 1970 Morrison Sparkling, below!

Photographs of Ellen Avery, Katie Chown, Samantha Coleman, Jacqui Otago, Casey Triplett performing the winery psalms excerpt, psalm 1970 Morrison Sparkling, created in collaboration by Ellen Avery, Katie Chown, Samantha Coleman, Jo Darvall, Alix Hamilton, Anna-Kat Hicks, Digby Hill, Jacqui Otago, Scott Putman, Julie Valenzuela, by DanceWorks Photographer, Krystal McGee ©2018, reprinted with permission.

DanceWorks Photography specialises in images of dance and dancers. For your next event or dance portfolio, contact Krystal McGee via email: http://www.danceworksphotography.com.au/contact-1/

July 23-28, 2017 World Dance Alliance* Global Summit, St. John’s, Newfoundland

Dancing from the Grassroots

By Lucinda Coleman

Typically, the highlights of a global conference are the exceptional speakers, inspiring masterclasses, stunning facilities or small group discussions held in various formats. Often, the chance to publish academic work, present papers and attend extraordinary performances all delight, challenge and inspire delegates. Many times, the opportunity to meet other academics and artists, exchange ideas and share concerns becomes the most valued experience during and after the conference.

Occasionally, one stumbles into an environment that holds elements of these desired purposes for meeting, but something off-kilter, even magical, plunges the gathering of global travellers into shared experiences which can only be handled through the exchange of laughter, stories and prosecco. At the World Dance Alliance (WDA) Global Summit in Newfoundland, winding streets with brightly coloured doors cheerily invoked curiosity, inviting exploration of self, place and other. Conference attendees wandered in vague disorientation, seeking lecture rooms, people, or places to eat, often falling into step with admired colleagues who quickly became friends. As the cold wind of the Atlantic Ocean whipped up long-forgotten mysteries, dancers, artists, academics, teachers moved askew; a dance of engagement that could only spring from the grassroots of this unconventional location.

For me, as I suspect for many delegates, the conference proffered the gift of joy. As others no doubt experienced, there were wonderful concrete outcomes ranging from the formation of fast friends through to the invitation for our dance work to tour widely. As a result of attending the Summit, the Remnant Dance production, winery psalms, has been invited for a small performance season during the Joint Dance Congress, Panpapanpalya (July, 2018), which is the 2^nd joint congress of daCi (dance the Child international) and the WDA Global Education and Training Network. While attendance is subject to funding, the connections made in Newfoundland have ensured the possibilities of sharing work and making new work with those we met, in other extraordinary environs.

ALLEYWAYS IN ST JOHNS
SUNSETS IN NEWFOUNDLAND
ST JOHNS' STREETS...
KITCHEN PARTY FOR THE CLOSING OF CONFERENCE
DIGITAL DANCE CONCERT
CHOREOLAB VIEWING
LONG DUSKY EVENINGS...
P.E.I. OYSTERS STRAIGHT FROM THE SEA, SERVED WITH LOCALLY DISTILLED VODKA AND TABASCO!
FINALLY... WE VISIT THE PLACE L.M. MONTGOMERY SPENT HER CHILDHOOD SUMMERS.
TINY TOWNS IN NEWFOUNDLAND
MORE SUNSETS...
ICEBERGS! THESE ARE CALLED 'BERGY BITS' AND ARE APPARENTLY SMALL, BUT STILL VERY EXCITING FOR TOURISTS!
ELLEN & LUCI ON THEIR WAY TO SEE WHALES AND PUFFINS!

* “World Dance Alliance is an independent, non-profit, non-political, and non-religious member-driven organization.” - http://www.worlddancealliance.org/

WAAPA Research Showcase

8 October, 2016

Remnant Dance Maker Lucinda Coleman presents reflections on her PhD research as part of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts Research Showcase, Spectrum Gallery, Western Australia. All welcome!

Lucis reflections

Little Poem

By Berenice Rarig

Ellen balloon.IMG 8668 This is not a proper review. It can't be because no one would ask a small child to write a review . . .

So this is perhaps a poem. A poem written with a dark purple crayon.

I arrived at the green, leafy venue fully fledged, wearing grown up shoes and everything. My head was full of important, technical words like "production continuity", "staging" and "critical engagement" but after the last crunch on gravelly parking lot I suddenly needed an adult to hold my little hand and industry consonants and vowels were trampled underfoot.

winery psalms is not a performance. It is a place, a momentary shivery, silvery space where feet whisper and skin shrieks and language feeds your ears with cream. Here, a painting is a dish of sherbet in which to wade knee deep. A kingdom secreted by velvet drapes of blanc, verdant and port, and unveiled through stem ware.

Within this space, tannined wood instruments string you like a daisy chain from laughter to flower to homesick to eternity to risk to fate, with music composed of blood and gold bar codes. Dancers flight muscles are constrained by sweet bubbles and petals and then released by a heaviness of voice and the weightiness of the other. Rooms are carved with buttery elbows and eyelashes brush the clouds from the roof.

Then in the thickest moment when you are slowly breathing dark, the magic place is swallowed by a black balloon moon and there is glass gravel under your grown up shoes, again . . . but no words.

Photography of Ellen Avery in winery psalms by Berenice Rarig 2016, reprinted with permission.