On The Table is a weekly event for artistic exchange and collaboration run by Caitlin Dear and Rebecca Jensen. Dancers of any training background, as well as people curious about movement though new to dance, are welcome.

Each week’s session is hosted by a different artist or collective who are invited to put something ‘on the table’ for everyone to examine together. The program features artists working with different styles of dance, approaches to choreography, methods of bodily practice and relationships to movement. On The Table particularly aims to highlight artists who work with dance in combination with other fields (for example gaming, science, therapy and visual art). Anyone from these intersecting fields are encouraged to come along!

Monday 5 September, 6.30pm — Chris Chua

Movement improvisation meets game culture in this playful session. Chris will present his work ReinCardNation, an experimental movement-based game where a group is taken on a shared improvisation journey. The game seeks to create fluid leadership within the group, involving a combination of guidance from the cards and personal agency from the players.

Monday 12 September, 6.30pm — Inplay Projects

In the lead-up to their upcoming Melbourne Fringe Festival performance, “Withhold”, Inplay Projects will test out some in-progress material. Come and watch, reflect upon and play with excerpts from the show’s development.

“Withhold” is a high-energy dance-theatre work which explores how the suppression of emotions can lead to false confidence across gendered lines, often with explosive results. Drawing on the lived experience of cast members, both trans and cis, it explores ways in which we hide from ourselves.

Monday 19 September, 6.30pm — Jonathan Sinatra

Somewhere between an in-process showing and a rehearsal, for this session, Jonathan will share video and live movement material from his 1000-day dance-video project. You will be invited to engage with his choreographic material and offer suggestions, as he works towards the final project outcome of a durational performance.

This project began during 2020’s lockdowns when Jonathan developed a daily practice of recording himself dancing across different sites, publishing them as an Instagram journal. He is now examining how to bring material developed outside into an indoor performance setting and how his largely improvised material may be revisited and scored for future repetition.

Monday 26 September, 6.30pm — Louella May Hogan

Louella will lead an exploration into what it means to be “absolutely doing things”. Imagine a stocktake of your body’s range of dynamic qualities, or like physically writing a personalised edition of The Guinness Book of World Records. We will seek all kinds of extremes- the mundane included. For example…

THIS is absolutely how precisely I can match up my hands.
THIS is absolutely how delicately I can touch my face.
THIS is absolutely how floppy I can be on the floor.
THIS is absolutely how fast I can punch the air.
THIS is absolutely how ridiculously I can get from A to B.

About On The Table:

Sessions range from workshops and in-progress performance showings to open artistic explorations. Artists might share choreographic material, a practice, an idea, a framework, a question, a score, a reading or any manner of provocation. Everyone is invited to take part in the tasks at hand. Participation can be as little or as much as desired and you are free to come and just watch.

On The Table is free to attend and everyone is welcome whether you’re a professional dancer or you’ve never danced before. Please wear comfortable clothing that you can move in and bring a water bottle.

For any questions or to submit an idea, please contact [email protected]

Instagram: @on.the.table.melb

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