Yield to Resistance at Dancehouse
Sandra Parker
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'Yield to Resistance at Dancehouse' (2022), Sandra Parker. Photo by Gregory Lorenzutti.
Conceived as a series of one-off performance events, Yield to Resistance at Dancehouse is the second iteration of this new work by choreographer Sandra Parker.
Inspired by sit-ins and feminist activism, this durational performance event welcomes the post-lockdown audience out of isolation and back to live dance. The work references the industrious period of Parker’s early practice as a young choreographer in 1980s/1990s Melbourne, where dance activated sites and spaces in disused halls, as well as the history of Dancehouse itself, having been claimed as a site for dance and established in 1992 by a group of independent dance practitioners.
Through organised, planned and staged choreographic movement, Yield to Resistance at Dancehouse extends Sandra Parker’s examination of the relationships between bodies and subjects, regulation and control. The dancers inhabit the upstairs studio across the entire durational event, lending constancy and perseverance to their occupation of the space. As time presses on, they demonstrate their capacity for human persistence, will, endurance, and the potential for change.
Yield to Resistance at Dancehouse follows previous full-length choreographic works Small Details and Adherence, examining the strictures of choreographic form performed by a trio of dancers —Arabella Frahn-Starkie, Caroline Meaden and Oonagh Slater.
Choreographer: Sandra Parker
Dancers: Arabella Frahn-Starkie, Caroline Meaden and Oonagh Slater
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Sandra Parker’s work focuses on the minutiae and detail of gestural movement, somatic embodiment and perception, and includes theatre pieces and gallery installations that employ a range of materials including movement, light, sound, video, interactivity, sculptural objects and text. An evolution of methods and processes that interrogate the creation, production and presentation of performance can be see across her body of work, achieved by applying highly organised spatial-temporal structures that speak to the ontology of the presented medium, examining the relationship between the performer and material, and the instruction imposed on them. Sandra is the recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts Dance Board Fellowship and a Centenary Medal for Services to Australian Society and Dance. Recent projects include Replacement (2021) Sarah Scout Presents; Looming (2021), ‘This is a Poem’, Buxton Contemporary; Adherence (2019) Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Melbourne, and Small Details (2016), Dancehouse, Dance Massive.
This project has been created and presented through the generous support of the Cité internationale des Arts, Paris; Lucy Guerin Inc WXYZ Studios; Temperance Hall; Dancehouse; and the City of Port Phillip. This project is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria. This presentation has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.