I have danced and performed all my life, and from many
cultural perspectives.
During the same period a family
tour to Java (Indonesia), where my father grew up, triggered an interest in the
myth, rites and rituals of other cultures.
This interest has been fed by visits to Bali, Thailand, Northern India
and Ghana, West Africa, and supported by reading and research.
I began performing in the context
of the ‘sacred’ with Harvest Theatre in 1973, directed by musician-composer,
Jeff Carroll.
Then, after a ten year break I returned to performance in 1985 and joined Prepare, led by Mary Jones. For five years we visited and performed in churches of many Christian denominations.
It was a wonderful time, and the blending of my beliefs and artistic practice. As well as freelance teaching and tutoring in schools and universities, I began choreographing, performing and teaching for a number of Christian organizations and contexts.
Then, after a ten year break I returned to performance in 1985 and joined Prepare, led by Mary Jones. For five years we visited and performed in churches of many Christian denominations.
It was a wonderful time, and the blending of my beliefs and artistic practice. As well as freelance teaching and tutoring in schools and universities, I began choreographing, performing and teaching for a number of Christian organizations and contexts.
One of the other dancers, Sue
Spence, and I had a dream to form a contemporary dance theatre-based company to
create more abstract works. In 1987 Double
Vision (from William Blake, ‘For double the vision my Eyes do see, And
a double vision is always with me’) held its first public performance with Song In a Strange Land, to music composed
by Alister Spence. We ended up taking
our second program, Images of the Heart
to the Adelaide Festival Fringe in 1990.
It was actually two programs, the second being a play with dance, O’ Ecclesia,’ on the life of Hildegard
of Bingen, written collaboratively by Pat Lewis and Jolyon Bromley. The company continued in various incarnations
until 1994.
By the 1990’s I was increasingly
working solo, collaborating with other artists, and exploring text and
drama. The performances gradually took
on the form of a ritual as I began to search for a means to explore, process
and express the intersection of my changing life experiences and
spirituality. By 1994 I was calling
these events performance-rituals. The major works included Into the Dark (1993), Dark Fire (1994),
For Eve (1995) and Fallen Totems (1997). The culmination of this journey was a series of five events as part of Phd, with the overall title Centre of the Storm (1998-2000): Centre of the Storm; Beginnings; Sense of Place, Sacred Space - Arrival; The Fire of the Sun – Survival; and Passage. The thesis title, In Search of an Australian Feminist Spirituality through Performance-Ritual more-or-less describes the content – a search through my religious and family history from North-Western Europe to Australia.
For Eve (1995) and Fallen Totems (1997). The culmination of this journey was a series of five events as part of Phd, with the overall title Centre of the Storm (1998-2000): Centre of the Storm; Beginnings; Sense of Place, Sacred Space - Arrival; The Fire of the Sun – Survival; and Passage. The thesis title, In Search of an Australian Feminist Spirituality through Performance-Ritual more-or-less describes the content – a search through my religious and family history from North-Western Europe to Australia.
The thesis can be found at http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/771 or http://arrow.uws.edu.au:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/uws:771
About two and a half years ago I
began Tai Chi and Qi Gong, in a way a homecoming to contemporary dance. This cycle has completed and I’m not sure
what, or when, the next will be.
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