Pool
by Alex Dobson
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'Pool' (2026), Alex Dobson. Photo by Claudia Sabella-Hobbs
– Pooling subconscious
Secreting sweat and saliva – the byproduct of the dance – two dancers exorcise a fever in an attempt to discharge and expose the subliminal through movement and sound.
Pool merges ephemeral and fixed sculpture works with choreography and live sound design.
Elements constantly shift between visibility and concealment. Much is exposed, and more remains obscured.
Pool pours the dancers downstage, leaking secrets from outlets and orifices.
Choreography Alex Dobson, in collaboration with the artists
Performers Madeleine Bowman, Alex Dobson
Sound Design Hudson Macushla
Set Design Yvette James
Costume Design Yianna Dorward
Outside Eye / Stand In Eloise Wright
The presentation of Pool is supported by Yarra City Council and Dancehouse. Development support was provided by Lucy Guerin Inc, Temperance Hall, and Dancehouse.
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Alex Dobson is a contemporary performance artist and choreographer living and working on Wurrunjeri Land. Dobson’s artistic practice operates through the forces of personal histories, queerness, and chronic illness. They are interested in Angelique Willkie’s theory of “personal dramaturgies”, which considers an individual’s physical history and cultural imprints as integral and inseparable from their creative expression. Dobson has performed in works for independent artists including Jo Lloyd, Phillip Adams, Alisdair Macindoe, Rebecca Jensen and Sarah Aiken (Deep Soulful Sweats), Zoë Bastin, and companies Tasdance and Phillip Adams BalletLab. They have shown work at Dancehouse Emerging Choreographers’ Program 2021, Adelaide Fringe Festival 2020, Tempo Dance Festival 2020 (with collective DIANGLE), and Melbourne Fringe Festival 2018, 2019. In 2024, Dobson was selected to partake in the Impulstanz International Dance Festival ATLAS Choreographic Training Program in Vienna, Austria.
Madeleine Bowman is a contemporary dancer based in Naarm/Melbourne. She has performed for Chunky Move in Yung Lung (Sydney, Melbourne), Universal Estate (Brisbane) and U>N>I>T>E>D (touring seasons in Singapore, Taipei, Hong Kong and Perth). She has also performed in works by Jo Lloyd (Collision for Tasdance at Junction Arts Festival; and FM Air, Melbourne). She trained at QL2 Dance in Ngunnawal/Canberra before commencing at the Victorian College of the Arts where she graduated in 2020. Throughout her studies she was the recipient of the New Colombo Plan Grant which allowed her to develop a collaborative work with students in Beijing, China and the Choreographic Award in her graduating year.
Hudson Macushla is a Naarm based musician, composer, and artist. His work focuses on the intersection of the strange and the soulful, finding earnest expression in experimentation. His recently released album “Dragonfly Season” is a sonic dive into the micro and the organic, featuring performances from Melbourne’s avant guard including Ryan Williams, Theo Carbo, and Ceridwen McCooey.
His professional career spans diverse fields within sound and music including commissions for TV and film, arranging and production for studio recordings, audio engineering for orchestras, and instrument development and design.
