Live screenings of the Dance (Lens) program will be held from 19–21 November.

World Premiere

Mimeisthai (2021) — Phoebe Robinson

Mimeisthai is an experimental screen-dance that responds to Walter Benjamin’s concept of the ‘mimetic faculty’, or, the ability to perceive and reproduce similarity. Through duplication, repetition, and layering multiple exposures, this work explores the mimetic faculty of dance and digital video. In Mimeisthai movements are shared, copied and repeated between performers and then amplified across multiple frames.

​​Director & Choreographer: Phoebe Robinson
Dancers: Chloe Arnott, Oonagh Slater, Rhys Ryan, Luke Fryer

Australian Premiere

(like a) Less Dense Brick (2019) — Piaera Lauritz

Two women holding on,
Ready to be watched.
Nimble structures growing roots,
We are softer than your gaze
and ready to be squashed.

(like a) Less Dense Brick is a project that grew from the architecture of the Abbotsford Convent, the song Golden Brown by The Strangers, and a sweet-potato inspired colour palette. If we understand the gaze as an action, there is much to be discovered about the way in which we give or receive information, energy and emotion when we look at something or someone.

Director & Producer: Piaera Lauritz
Cinematography: James Lauritz
Dancers: Emma Riches & Jo Lloyd

2 of 2 (2021) — Kirsty Lee

Time and space bend in a two-part self portrait of the artist. Born from daily motions and a general curiosity around their own span of attention during 2020, this work settled in as a choreographed response to these studies. 2 of 2 was created over 7 days for Supercell: Festival of Contemporary Dance, -SCAPE Digital Dance Residency 2021 using an iPhone XS.

The artist would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which this work was made, the Gumbaynggirr people and pay respect to Elders – past, present and emerging. They would also like to thank Supercell Dance Festival and project mentors The Samaya Wives and Felix Palmerson.

World Premiere

you and i are stood (2019) — Mischa Baka

Stillness and strength are held between two people while navigating an environment in flux.

Director and Producer: Mischa Baka
Choreographers: Ella Dumaresq, Shari Cohen & Mischa Baka
Dancers: Ella Dumaresq & Shari Cohen

Play As You Go (2020) — Alec Katsourakis

Play As You Go is a film about reframing disused and forgotten areas as places for creative play through movement. This film is open to anyone who believes that play is a muscle that can be flexed to bring more vibrancy into life during lock-down.

Choreographer: Alec Katsourakis in collaboration with Jasmine Susic & Lachlan Broughton
Dancers: Jasmine Susic & Lachlan Broughton
Producer: Alec Katsourakis

This project was amplified by City of Melbourne as part of SIGNAL Digital.

Fathom (2021) — Dave Meagher

Fathom is an elegy to those lost to the sea in the search of sanctuary. It is a mesmeric dance shared between the human body and the ocean; a choreography in which the body submits itself to the whim of the waters. The title Fathom comes from the Old English faethm meaning ‘outstretched arms’ and refers to a measure of depth of six feet, roughly the length of one human body. In one of its earliest uses, the verb fathom meant to encircle something with the arms and was also a synonym for ‘embrace’.

Director: Dave Meagher
Choreographer: Lilian Steiner
Composer: Ian Moorhead
Lighting designer: Bosco Shaw
Costume: Geoffrey Watson

This project was supported by King Island Council, Festivals Australia and Events Tasmania.