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Dancehouse is on Wurundjeri Country. We offer our respects to the Wurundjeri woi-wurrung people — and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people — who continue to dance on Country, and have done, for thousands of generations. Always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

Echo

by Thomas Woodman

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'Echo' (2024), Thomas Woodman. Photo by Thomas Lemon.
7pm, Wed 28 February — Sat 2 March 2024
Sylvia Staehli Theatre

Fan: $45
Full:
$35
Concession: $30
Members/Locals: $25
MobTix: $20
Companion Card: FREE

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Duration: 50 minutes

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What is it to disembody? 

Using a pseudonym to author an artwork or to spread baseless conspiracy theories, literally masking your identity or simply vanishing in a crowd, adopting a mode of camouflage epitomised by the chameleon itself – in each of these circumstances the tension between obscurity and recognition is particularly pronounced. Echo emerged from such tension. This chameleonic solo choreography surveys instances of concealment and elusive disappearance already at play within the theatre, art world, and world world.

Echo approaches the body, and performance itself, as something that can be fragmented, multiplied, emptied, and even un-inhabited. The performer becomes a site for choreography to move within, text and unfolding actions come in and out of sync, language frames what is seen.

A mouth, tongue, eye, arm, leg. A mouth-fish, tongue-finger, eye-limb, arm-swarm, leg-wave. Part-ness/whole-ness are muddled, unsettling how a singular body is perceived.

Echo plays on the prevailing societal obsession to know everything about everyone at all times.

Choreographer and performer: Thomas Woodman
Outside eye/text assistant: Megan Payne
Lighting Design: Giovanna Yate Gonzalez

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Thomas Woodman is a Melbourne/Naarm-based dancer and choreographer who has performed and presented work in a range of contexts. He completed a BFA in Dance (2015) with Honours through the Visual Art School (2019) at the Victorian College of the Arts. As a performer Thomas has worked with a number of artists, particularly with Jo Lloyd of late. His choreographic work is preoccupied with human and non-human encounters, the micro and macro, multiplicity, eschewing notions of originality (how original…), the influence of mass media, and the function of imagination in performance and beyond. Thomas most recently presented the multi-modal work A dead-end in itself (2022) at Temperance Hall as part of a triple bill. He approaches choreography as an equally conceptual and material form, drawing from a pool of multidisciplinary interests.

Megan Payne is a dancer/choreographer, writer and associate editor with The Suburban Review, living on stolen Wurundjeri land. They’ve shown work at venues like Judson Memorial Church, Gertrude Contemporary gallery and PS Artspace, and are the co-founder of ‘No Manifesto for Palestine,’ together with Angelita Biscotti and LJ Connolly-Hiatt, which is shared here to promote solidarity. Megan co-developed and presented the radio show Land Swimming with Oonagh Slater, produced by Bus Radio. Investing in the choreographic practices of fellow artists, Megan has collaborated with Russell Dumas, Shelley Lasica, Sarah Aiken, Rebecca Jensen, Arini Byng, Ivey Wawn, Ellen Davies and Alice Heyward. More recently, they performed in Shelley Lasica’s ‘When I’m Not There’ at the Art Gallery of NSW. Megan’s writing extends to reviews for books, performances and exhibitions, and fiction and poetry.

This project has been supported by Performance Space & Carriageworks through their Live Dreams program and by Lucy Guerin Inc. through a studio residency at WXYZ Studios. Thank you to Thomas Lemon and Caitlin Dear for your documentation support, and to Jo Lloyd and Michaela Coventry for the studio time at The Booth.

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