OVERWORLD at Dance Massive 2015

In March 2015 I performed in a second season of OVERWORLD by Sarah Aiken & Rebecca Jensen. The work was a part of Dance Massive Festival 2015 at Arts House, Melbourne and.. it SOLD OUT!

I love love love performing this crazy work. Audiences walk around us, sit in front of us, line up in front of us, sit around us, dress me, watch me getting undressed, lie down and close their eyes, get up and see me on a screen. Lots of exciting challenges.

There are few different reviews this time, I find this one by Jordan Beth Vincent the most interesting.

POTENTIAL at Melbourne Fringe Festival

POTENTIAL had a 6-night season at Northcote Town Hall during Melbourne Fringe Festival in October.
Perhaps some day I will write about the experience but not yet. For now some photos, a video, and other people’s words for you.
If you have seen the work and would like to leave a comment please do! 🙂

“From the shiny gold costumes through to the smattering of pieces of ‘heart’ all over the floor, this is a show of surreal inquisitiveness that is intent on expressing that which we often find inexpressible. To this end, Potential undoubtedly delivers.”
Nithya Iyer (MelbArtFash)

“moves beyond the acrobatic potential of the body and engages in an experience of the body in all its possibilities”
Vivienne Rogis

“60 minutes of dance and yoga that will leave you pleasingly puzzled”
“I’m very excited to see what Proost comes up with next and will be first in line to see it.”
Caitlin McGrane (theatrepress)

Check out a 7 min excerpt on Vimeo here

All photos by Pippa Dodds.

POTENTIAL in the studio at Strange Attractor Choreographic Lab

In August I took part in a one-week ‘lab’ for choreographers in Canberra with choreographer Nat Cursio in the role of provocateur. It was extraordinary!
I used the time to work on POTENTIAL in a focused away-from-home setting and I am super pleased with the results. Feeling full of refined ideas, new ideas, and new connections before heading into to the studio with the dancers for a final three weeks of creative work leading up to the premiere season at Melbourne Fringe Festival. Exciting!!!       

Photos above by Lorna Sim. Pictured are myself and amazing choreographer/performer/friend Adelina Larsson who is the artistic director of Strange Attractor Dance. 

 

Mirror Image on tour in Taiwan and Malaysia

Mirror Image is a joined production by Mirramu Dance Company (Australia), Dancecology (Taiwan) and DPAC Dance Company (Malaysia). In July the collaborators from all 3 companies came together for 2 weeks in Taiwan, and 1 in Malaysia. In Taiwan we performed at the Experimental Theatre in the National Theatre complex, and in Malasiaat Damansara Performing Arts Centre. 

In both countries, but especially in Taiwan, we received such a heartwarming response to the work. Audience members very willingly and openly shared how they connected both to the themes of the work and the dance. In one post-show forum a woman even started to sing a song of gratitude!

The Taipei program note features a beautiful quote by Elizabeth Cameron Dalman of Mirramu Dance Company:

When we dance, we let the light inside our body flow out.
When we dance with nature, we let the light flow into our body.
Capture the very moment when the two lights become one – the most powerful reflection. 

OVERWORLD at Next Wave Festival

OVERWORLD happened in its full glory at the magnificient venue The Substation in May. We performed 8 shows in 10 days as part of Next Wave Festival 2014. 
It was definitely one of the craziest shows I have ever performed in but also one of the most rewarding. Three months later some of the moments that have stayed with me most strongly are:

The queues of ‘Earth signs’ lined up in front of me in anticipation for their individual ‘treatment’.

The nerves before hitting the first vocal note of the show.

The pre-show ritual of laying all items in their carefully constructed spatial arrangement.

The audible reactions of audience members in the section dedicated to a mash up of Youtube clips 

mimicry. 

🙂 🙂 🙂

OVERWORLD will be performed again in Melbourne at Dance Massive, March 2015!!! 

Click here to go to the trailer on Vimeo. 

Choreographed by Rebecca Jensen and Sarah Aiken
Performers: Janine Proost, Rachel Coulson, Rebecca Jensen, Sarah Aiken
Design: Rose Connors Dance
Sound: Andras Fox
Images: Gregory Lorenzutti

ELEVATE

Together with two of my favourite friends/colleagues Natalie Abbott and Amelia McQueen I presented new interdisciplinary dance performance ELEVATE at You Are Here Festival in Canberra.

This is our program note:
Elevate lifts you up, shakes you up a little, and leaves you wondering whether yesterday’s normal could be tomorrow’s insane. This interactive dance performance stretches the space of social expectations through tactile exchange and shifting modes of interaction. The three performers meet you with their toolkit of subtle – and if you’re up for it, less subtle – methods to unlock physical boundaries, expand your perception of reality, and create a greater sense of connection.

It was an exciting and heartwarming experience with lots of ‘being in the moment’ and tuning in to what the work needed to stay engaging. I like this paragraph in Kelly Beneforti’s review:

“As each new relationship between audience and performers is negotiated, the boundaries of exchange become elastic, as no one holds complete control over the performance. All are invested and vulnerable in the same moment. Abbott, Proost and McQueen use their bodies, voices, costumes, the space, and each other to deal with this fluid territory, encompassing everything from literal to theatrical to inexplicable physicalised translations of the experience at hand.”

“For one night only Elevate was like being inside a live and non-repeatable experiment where together we were simultaneously the content and the results.”

For full review follow this link:

Review: Elevate

All photos by Lorna Sim
Full album: https://www.facebook.com/sim.camera.art/media_set?set=a.10151964800197097.1073741826.680417096&type=3

 

Solo installation at Sound and Fury

On March 15th 2014 I performed a solo installation titled ‘Somewhere between my breasts’ at Sound and Fury in New Acton, Canberra. It was a chance to experiment with some ideas for my new full-length work ‘POTENTIAL’, adapted for solo performance and a party context.

Vintage 1960s Australian Dance Theatre golden unitard courtesy of Elizabeth Cameron Dalman. 🙂

Seven Weeks of Miracles

Photo by Barbie Robinson

I have recently returned from 7 weeks at Mirramu Creative Arts Centre on Lake George in regional NSW. During that time I performed in 8 (yes!) seperate productions, most with Mirramu Dance Company but also some independent work in Canberra.

In the coming week I will upload more photos of the projects I have been involved in. The photo in this post is of the site-specific performance ‘disAPPEARance’ by Mirramu Dance Company in collaboration with Dancecology from Taiwan and JS Wong from Malaysia. It has been incredibly rewarding to work so closely with those international artists and I am excited about our ASIA TOUR starting in June this year!

http://mirramu.com
https://www.facebook.com/mirramu

Smooth Moves

The beginning of 2014 saw a beautiful new thing happen!!! I facilitated the first series of Smooth Moves: morning yoga and raw smoothie at Shoku Iku cafe in Westgarth.
It has been amazingly fulfilling to share yoga with people in a way that feels true to me and inspires me. Shoku Iku is one of my favourite cafes in the world. Yoko’s (the owner) passion for honest, raw, ethical, super tasty nutrient-packed food is contagious! So the idea of running a yoga class there followed by a raw smoothie came naturally. These Monday morning session have been a beautiful, grounding way to start the week with 90min for our internal space and then 30min or so for enjoying the company of the other yogi(ni)s and of course the delicious smoothies.
I am humbled by the beautiful feedback I’ve received and the class being chock-a-block for a couple of the sessions. There will definitely be another series starting soon, most likely in April!

Please ‘like’ the Smooth Moves facebook page to stay up to date.

https://www.facebook.com/smoothmovesyoga
http://shokuikuaustralia.com/

Overworld has been made!

Our final 3 week development is behind us and Overworld has become a piece. Next time we meet (in April) we’ll be in our performance venue (Substation in Newport) for a few more rehearsals before production week. Very exciting!!!

Opening night is on APRIL 30th for a 9 show season as part of the Next Wave Festival — mark your diaries!

 

Image by Eliza Dyball