(Un)Tethered

Performers

Rena Sangawa, Madeline Belli, Alyse Canton, Yinuo Chen, Tash Dotti, Indiana Gordon, Stephanie Kewley, Anastassia Krstevska, Jaden Lal, Elliana Martelli, Toby McKnight, Kamryn Mcrae, Tessa O'Toole, Ebony Olsen, Wen Chen Ong, Bei Preston Taylor, Opal Russell, Lily Turner, Emily Yamashita, Melody Zhang

Presented by VCA Dance and Design and Production

“Tethered to a reality that is in a state of accelerating precarity, we perceive the fragile beauty that surrounds us with a heightened awareness of Dance as an act of assembly and renewal. For our 2024 Graduation Season, four new contemporary dance works by Melbourne-based choreographers affirm VCA’s commitment to constantly evolving creativity, to the power of intergenerational learning, and the transformative potential of the choreographic.

VCA Dance and Design and Production students have collaborated to present new choreographies and designs expressive of the diverse drivers that our contemporary present makes known. David Prakash invites the dancers to unpack the importance of community building and interpersonal relationships, whilst tending to the collective responsibility that we hold to one another. In Chimene Steele-Prior’s work, dream-like states are evoked through pulsing fluid streams of movement that tumble and float. VCA Alumni, Sarah Aiken makes a welcome return to VCA bringing her low-tec posthumanism in a work that offers multiple angles on the mythic and the real. And finally, Luke George (also a VCA Alumni) creates a dialogue between bodies and ropes building tensegrity structures of intimate entanglement.” (University of Melbourne Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, 2024)

Performed on 6-9 Nov 2024

Space 28, Southbank

Rena appears in DRIFT choreographed by Chimene Steele-Prior, and Time Under Tension by Luke George.

Excerpt of program notes, credit and Videos On Demand below from Faculty of Fine Arts and Music website.

Time Under Tension choreographed by Luke George

DRIFT choreographed by Chimene Steele-Prior

Photos by Gregory Lorenzutti

DRIFT

“They come to be woken up.” Christopher Nolan, Inception.

DRIFT exists in the magical, mystical, ever-shifting realm of the dream-space. It ponders disguised fears, desires and potentials hidden within our dreams, nightmares and memories, and proposes the possibility of multiple realities. It asks: Where do we go when we sleep? Who are the selves we find? Which reality is more real?

Through consideration of the movement quality and within the thematic content, DRIFT hopes for personal and collective transformation. Through this deeply pondered state of being, that we still know very little about, perhaps are we more connected than we know.

Next time I’m dreaming, I will remember that I’m dreaming…

Choreography Chimene Steele-Prior in collaboration with the dancers

Dancers
Madeline Belli, Alyse Canton, Yinuo Chen, Tash Dotti, Tessa O'Toole, Ebony Olsen, Wen Chen Ong, Rena Sangawa, Lily Turner, Emily Yamashita

Rehearsal Director Nicole Corea

Sound Designer Damian Meredith

Set and Costume Designer Sarah Browne

Lighting Designer Finnegan Comte-Harvey

Stage Manager Alicia Guiney

Time Under Tension

Used for many different purposes in all cultures around the world, rope is a dynamic material that lends itself to explorations in complex human relationships. Ropes are strong and tough, as well as soft and gentle. They support weight, connect things, and hold things in place, but also move freely, and help other objects to be moved. A sensitive and dynamic material, rope might also act like a conductor between people, intensifying relational physicalities and responsibilities to one another, which require deep bodily listening and trust. The term, time under tension, refers to the amount of time a muscle is held under resistance during physical training. This piece is a study of time under tension - rope and duration - dancers and watchers; the body and attention.

Choreography and Ropework Design Luke George

Dancers
Alyse Canton, Tash Dotti, Stephanie Kewley, Toby McKnight, Kamryn McRae, Tessa O'Toole, Opal Russell, Rena Sangawa, Lily Turner, Emily Yamashita

Rehearsal Director Nicole Corea

Soundtrack
The Peach Tree Next Door Grew Over The Fence - Dylan Henner
Stonemilker (Patten Rework) - Bjork
Total Control - Martha Emily Davis, Jeff Jourard

Set and Costume Designer Charlie Lee

Lighting Designer Finnegan Comte-Harvey

Stage Manager Marcus Lew

More details available at https://finearts-music.unimelb.edu.au/showcase/untethered

Performance videos available below. Videography by NON Studio.