Your guide to making a Responsive Program proposal
Responsive Program Guide
INTRODUCTION
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Cover: Tanya Voges. Photo: Tim Standing from Daylight Breaks
This page: Kirk Page, Mark Cauvin and Nikki Heywood at the Drill Hall, 2013. Photo: Sam James
Critical Path’s Responsive Program supports choreographers to realise their own research aims and objectives. It seeks to deepen research practice throughout the NSW dance sector by creating occasions for shared experience of research practice and by fostering exchange and dialogue between peers.
An overview of the Responsive Program
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Who can apply and what is research?
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Writing a winning proposal
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Which category is best for you?
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What is the best way to communicate your research?
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Artist Testimonials Responsive Research Residency Nikki Heywood
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Sandra Parker (Research Room)
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Angela Goh
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Vicki Van Hout
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Narelle Benjamin
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Tanya Voges
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Wei Zen Ho
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Associate Artist Paul Gazzola
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Dance Sites Kay Armstrong
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Indigenous Mentorships Eric Avery
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Henrietta Baird
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Contents
This booklet contains information for prospective applicants responding to Critical Path’s Responsive Program and includes the distinction between the two discrete categories, the process on how to apply and quotes from previous recipients who have undertaken research at Critical Path between 2012–14.
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Critical Path’s Responsive Program:
What is available through the Responsive Program?
Each year, Critical Path responds to choreographers’ proposals to conduct practice-based research through a competitive peer-assessed program. Research proposals reflect each applicant’s interest and are individually devised to support the pursuit of the project goals and dimensions.
Critical Path’s Responsive Program provides substantial financial support, as well as space, equipment, technology and advice. Space and funding is available for projects at the Drill Hall, or it could be offsite if you wish to devise your project that way, or at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) through our partnership with the Creative Practice Lab (CPL) at the School of Arts and Media (SAM), UNSW.
Self-directed, blue sky research
OVERVIEW
The Responsive Program includes multiple opportunities for practice-led research: • for choreographers from culturally diverse practices; • to support mid-career and senior choreographers; • to offer younger choreographers new experiences and; • to create initiatives that promote a playful relationship between audiences and research.
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We also offer Research Room Residencies at Critical Path’s Research Room. Supported by Woollahra Municipal Council, the residencies offer up to three months of office space and facilities including video editing equipment. Research Room Residencies are unfunded. Occasionally Critical Path will advertise other Responsive opportunities such as travel grants and other types of professional development residencies, and there are also many other opportunities available through Critical Path’s Facilitated Program (which consists of workshops, laboratories, master classes and forums). The best way to stay up-to-date is by subscribing to our enews which you can do via the Critical Path website.
Kristina Chan in Hiding in Plain Sight. Choreographer: Narelle Benjamin. Photo: James Brown.
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ELIGIBILITY
Who can apply?
What is research?
Independent choreographers and dance artists across all cultural practices and at any stage of their professional career can apply. First time applicants are required to list two referees. This requirement is specifically there to allow access to choreographers at early stages of their career. If you are unsure if you have produced work of a standard to call yourself a professional choreographer, please seek advice from a choreographer you believe could speak to your credentials.
Research is the process of discovering and of communicating those discoveries. Critical Path encourages practiceled research which is based on the learning, risk-taking and play involved in exploring ideas. Research is part of a creative journey and part of the joy is not being sure where or when you will arrive.
Please note that only the Research Room Residencies are open to national and international applicants. All other residencies are open to NSW-based choreographers only. (This means you have a permanent address in NSW and work at least three months of each year in NSW; and a track record of working in NSW, and the intention to continue working in NSW in the foreseeable future.)
Does your idea need to be new? No, research often looks back. Research residencies are a great opportunity to reflect on past work. You may want to return to an old work or previous theme to see how it has influenced your current ideas. Or you may want the opportunity to create a community discussion around dance histories or to create a documentation of a previous work. The act of researching can reflect any number of approaches to suit your practice and concept. It may involve working with ten people for a day or a week. Or it could be working with two dancers for 10 weeks. It may involve a presentation of choreographic ideas to others to receive feedback – maybe from a mathematician or a poet. Or you could create a workshop to develop your movement vocabulary. Practice-led research could be trying a new collaboration with a composer, a dramaturge or a lighting designer. It could be a solo exercise to explore a movement response, or an investigation around visual media. Or to simply allow you some time to take some risks, play with your inspirations or try new ways of working. The possibilities are boundless.
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Writing a winning proposal
Do I need to write the proposal in academic language?
Our aim is that the program reflects YOUR diverse needs and forms of expression. Your proposal should explore ideas and materials that are inspiring you now! So what’s in a proposal?
Plain English is best!
Give other examples of other research or artists’ practices that are relevant to yours and explain in what ways they might be relevant. You may also want to situate your research in an appropriate genre. A large part of your proposal should be a description of your methodology: how will you explore these questions? Define the role of each of your collaborators, and why they are needed for the project. How many artists do you want to work with? How long do you need to work for? What other resources do you need? Do you need any production or technical support?
Short-listed applicants will have the opportunity to speak directly to the panel about their proposal and to outline the relationship of support material to proposals.
HOW TO WRITE A PROPOSAL
To start with, describe the questions or your points of investigation for the research, then explain how it connects to your ongoing practice, or how it will give you the opportunity to interrogate other practices to enhance yours.
Practice-based research is not the same as academic research. There is no requirement to write in an academic language or to have formal academic qualifications. Critical Path encourages proposals from choreographers who simply have ideas they want to understand better. In order to receive support for your proposal, you need to be able to articulate your ideas somehow, but this need not involve academic writing. Your proposal may be a combination of written work, documentation, audio, visual or video material.
We aim to provide all applicants with the support and tools they require to take advantage of our range of opportunities.
Finally you will also need to outline how you wish to document/evaluate your research, and the tools you may need to support the documentation/evaluation. We encourage you to be ambitious! But realistic. And recognise that our mandate is to support a diverse range of research projects in any one year. Use plain English, and get someone else to read over your proposal before you submit it. Remember, clarity of the proposal and integrity of your research idea, the methodology and tools, are the ingredients to a winning proposal. 7
Kay Armstrong at the Drill Hall, 2014. Photo: Kay Armstrong
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INTRODUCTION
How do I decide which research residency category to apply for? These two discrete categories are distinguished by both the duration and depth of focus of your proposed research.
Investigate / Extend
Tasters / Testers are research residencies to support research proposals seeking shorter (up to three weeks) residencies at the Drill Hall or at Io Myers Studio, UNSW*. How pointed/defined is your research? Do you have a clear question or feel you just need to jump in the deep end to get a taste of what your research emphasis is or requires? Or perhaps you want to test collaboration or bring a group of people together to define what your research question is. This category is for those who want to test or play with ideas over a short period. We are hoping to support two or three Tasters / Testers Research Residencies in 2015.
Investigate / Extend are research residencies to support research proposals seeking longer (at least five weeks) residencies at the Drill Hall or at Io Myers Studio, UNSW*. They provide time and space for a sustained research period. It is expected this research will span at least 5 weeks, with at least one week, budgeted and scheduled, for planning and evaluation in Critical Path’s Research Room. Investigate / Extend research periods may be split into several blocks over the course of the year, as this can be beneficial in accessing new perspectives on research questions and evaluation. We are hoping to support two Investigate / Extend Research Residencies in 2015.
HOW TO CHOOSE A CATEGORY
Tasters / Testers
*The Io Myers Studio at UNSW is available as part of a partnership with the Creative Practice Lab (CPL) in the School of the Arts and Media (SAM) at the University of New South Wales. Please refer to the SAM Profile for Creative Practice Residencies and to Io Myers Studio webpage for specific information on resources provided.
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How do I know my proposal is a research project
How should I communicate my research?
RESEARCH VS CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
and not creative development?
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There is discovery, risk-taking, play, new explorations and knowledge in both research and creative development. So what is the difference between the two? It is definitely a grey area, but if you are beginning a specific new work, or you have a presentation date set, or you have a clear picture of the end result and you are just working out how to make it happen, this constitutes creative development rather than research. Critical Path’s mandate is to support research, not creative development. This can be characterised by a sense of not knowing where or when you are going to arrive, by being free to stop and reflect on the way, by being open to influences from new knowledge, and by being completely free to change your mind and to disagree with previous assumptions. A research project may result in identifying something that doesn’t work, as successful research projects can often involve failure.
Sharing is the process of communicating and asking questions, or receiving feedback on your research, and of articulating what you have learned. It is not a performance and it is not an academic paper; there are no rules on what a sharing should be. Past participants have found that sharing is a useful element of their research; they have found it helpful to find ways to let people into their journey and what they have discovered. The act of discussing your journey and discoveries with whomever you choose, and showing how your ideas have changed over the time of your research, can create useful stimulation for further ideas, as well as enriching the understanding of the dance community. It also provides one way of tracking the effectiveness of the Critical Path program.
When is WHAT NEXT? it best to share? Who should I share with?
HOW TO COMMUNICATE RESEARCH
Participants sometimes find that directly at the end of a research period, it is simply too soon to share. You may prefer to digest and align all the threads you have explored. You may need to watch the hours of video documentation made in the research before formulating any conclusions. You may be excited to find you have really discovered something, and you want the world plus all its producers and presenters to know, now! You define and set the context for your sharing. Discuss your ideas with Critical Path’s director, decide who to invite, and when. Alternatively you may prefer to write an article or make a film. Do whatever you think will be the most useful.
We hope this booklet will help choreographers understand research is not a restrictive and limiting process but rather an open and stimulating opportunity to explore, discover, share and debate what interests them about choreography. Most of all, we hope this booklet inspires you to begin writing your proposal today. To make a proposal, please download a form from the Critical Path website or request one from Critical Path on 02 9362 9403 or email admin@ criticalpath.org.au 11
Here is what some of our past artists have said about their Critical Path experience.
The space itself was the best facilitation Critical Path could have given me. I was free to explore new ideas and do what I needed any hour of the day at any time – Sandra Parker Critical Path is such a fantastic space for research and one should not pass up an opportunity in any shape or form that is offered – WeiZen Ho
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The value of this time and space to research and experiment should never be under estimated. It is pure gold – Nikki Heywood
Sandra Parker
As often happens in a truly collaborative space, especially one of pure research, many of my initial ideas quickly transformed or were entirely jettisoned as our work together progressed. It was great to be met equally and challenged by my fellow artists and by provocateur (Benedict Anderson). What emerged as the dominant interest was an interrogation of some of the foundational principles of our own respective practices and finding ways to share these principles with each other. Our creative strategies included sharing concepts across forms. Each one of us traversed the mobile boundaries of our usual practice: the sound maker (Mark Cauvin) moving, dancers (Kirk Page and myself) contributing to and shifting the visual field of the projection, the image maker’s (Sam James) drawings and objects working actively and initiating their distinct performing presence… indeed, each artist becoming crossroads/thoroughfares for the influences of other ways of inventing within our own forms.
My research led to the development of a series of installation works from the perspective of a choreographer, which blurred the boundary between live and mediated physical presences. Using combinations of movement, video and sound my work explored auditory, visual and embodied engagement between the audience and the performer – creating an affective loop between the two.
Our modus operandi was highly improvisational and, due to the lack of constraints in an experimental space, our mutual dialogue was able to move beyond technical concerns, and be influenced by enquiry of a more poetic, metaphysical nature. The choreographic, visual and sound material that began evolving in the team’s creative collaboration broaches new territory for all of us. The value of this time and space to research and experiment should never be under estimated. It is pure gold.
I didn’t have any major clear aim at the start of my time with Critical Path (Research Room Residency); it was more about using the space as a place for the development of ideas. The room allowed me to get on a track of something that interests me. The more I worked in the space, the more I could uncover a line of enquiry in my practice leading to a new direction of work that I wanted to develop. It was more about setting up parameters for creating something new rather than changing how I work or do things.
RESPONSIVE PROGRAM
NiKki Heywood
More than anything, I appreciated that my research residency with Critical Path gave me time and space to work without worrying about the outcome. We are very goal oriented in society today and it is nice to be process focused for a change. As an artist and a person I am process focused and it is refreshing to be given the opportunity to slow down and work in this way. Being provided with the space itself was the best facilitation Critical Path could have given me. I was free to explore new ideas and do what I needed any hour of the day at any time. It is a rare opportunity to be given. I treasured that key to my space. I love that room and think about it often.
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RESPONSIVE PROGRAM
Angela Goh
Knowing that each Responsive Residency is exactly that, responsive, and that everyone’s approach to research, interests, and methodology differs so greatly, I in no way whatsoever know how to give advice for anyone else entering into their own Responsive Residency. I can only speak from a point of view which is tied specifically to my own experience of the program. But, perhaps something might spill off the edge of this specificity, so the following are some decisions I made during my research and I don’t assume they will be relevant for all cases:
Acknowledge and be honest about the pressure you feel in this new situation. Devise a way to deal with those pressures which is on your own terms.
Start. A starting point can be hard to find when swimming in a sea of questions. When everything and anything is possible, maybe you feel trapped by endless possibility and bogged down by freedom. Pick something and run with it. Maybe the content doesn’t matter as much as the rigour that follows it.
Believe in what you are doing enough to defend it. Understand its importance. If you don’t understand it enough to defend it yet, then maybe you don’t understand it enough to discard it yet either. Remain open to listening to outside people’s thoughts on the research ideas.
Be in a bubble. In my initial interview Margie predicted that we would find ourselves in the studio in a ‘conceptual bubble’. This absolutely came true. But a bubble ended up being what we wanted and needed. A bubble is an environment where you can germinate something, kind of like a greenhouse. Of course, contextual understandings of what you are cultivating is very important, but take the opportunity to be in a bubble, and find out what is important in there. Have the understanding that different things will be important if/when these ideas reach a ‘harvesting’ stage.
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Soften the edges between what is work and what is not. Osmosis feels good. Bring together art and life, and put together a team of people that you want equally in both. Trust group chemistry. Practice togetherness. Stick with it, some things require time. Don’t be so precious with time that you are not able to be generous with it.
Believe in contradictions. Sometimes they are an acknowledgement of the existence of complexity. Feel excited. Have fun.
Vicki Van Hout
As an independent artist I often have to make work at a relatively fast pace with a group of dancers unfamiliar with my work and each other, compared to a company situation with continuity of history as well as craft. The responsive residency has always provided a supportive environment for me to explore and create the techniques that will underpin a concept in focus.
In Busy Hands Speaking Country, we sang Wiradjuri narratives experimenting with several indigenous melodies, painted topographic landmarks of Sydney using the repetition of a dot as inspiration and successive straight lines with steady hands holding twigs as brushes, used cameras at odd angles combined with interactive technologies to draw and trigger sound and visuals to represent the intangible; the ancestral forces come to life through indigenous cultural expression. Very often I have a work in mind, an idea, a theme or narrative. In order to make each work fresh, I challenge myself to create new processes. This is differentiated from material - it is the backbone of the material. Systems of logic are; to be developed, adhered to, finally challenged and broken.
As a contemporary indigenous artist I get to test boundaries of cultural protocol and history in a safe environment. I get to explore what is acceptable with people who understand the limits and responsibilities of contemporising knowledge which is integral to indigenous cultural perpetuity. This is a safe place where anything can happen, but which may not be seen outside of the residency-yet. It is crucial to developing best current practice in Australian indigenous dance while being mindful of working with integrity. Because the information I am working with is old, has longevity and is considered the longest continuous, it is a challenge to interpret utilising or fusing with current methodologies. It is erroneous to think that the information has not already changed with the times. I have seen the bombing of Darwin played out in tiwi dances, Yolngu (playing) card, tobacco and drinking (alcohol) dances and have been adorned in bright tinsel Christmas decorations in lieu of woven coconut leaf on Saibai Island. Seen and participated in TSI ‘eggy’ improvisational dance satire.
RESPONSIVE PROGRAM
I have learned from each residency how to play, to really reach beyond my imagination, to be inclusive and value the contribution of each unique group of people. This way we act as collaborators and gain a shared investment in the acknowledgement and future outcomes of a work. With each residency we develop a new way of working together.
I get to ask questions of myself, my practice, about dramaturgy, about how people might react, about how my community might react.
As a recent mentor (Eric Avery 2014) I have had the rare opportunity to provoke closer inspection of cultural practice, to encourage analysis and daring which is imperative for the future presence of indigenous cultural expression in NSW.
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Narelle Benjamin
RESPONSIVE PROGRAM
I have received two responsive grants from Critical Path, which ended up informing and developing into two new works; In Glass, and the other Hiding in Plain Sight, which will be performed at Performance Space in August 2014 with performers Kristina Chan and Sara Black. The time in the studio with the dancers was invaluable. We could concentrate on choreographic material without any pressures to produce. I felt I had the freedom to grow as a choreographer, staying true to the research and able to generate and explore choreographic material in different ways to my usual process. I had time to try new methods with the dancers and the luxury of having more than just my own body in a space to work with, exploring specific interests, without having to think of the bigger picture. This was liberating, and inevitably through this singular view, so many doors opened. My first responsive grant, which formed the backbone of In Glass, was to work on my own choreographic vocabulary as specifically applied to partnering work. The opportunity to work on partnering material rarely materialized for me. Working alone in a studio is and was no problem, as I can always do as much preparation before a project as I want. However before this residency I did not have the opportunity and luxury to explore the possibilities with other dancers on a regular basis and therefore never really took the risk. My second responsive grant was to evolve my choreographic vocabulary, with the focus on creating dance for an audience in the round, who were free to walk around the performers and space. This responsive grant informed my new work, Hiding in Plain Sight
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Drawing on Francesca Woodman’s photographs to inspire movement, give real motivation and life to the material, explore beginnings and endings, illusion, mortality and loss of identity. These photos suggest the subject reaches beyond the flat plane, abstracting the body into the suggestion of past and future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another. I explored having the audience more intimately involved in viewing the choreography. When I had choreographed for film in the past. I was looking for a way that the live performance can capture this, and where the audience can experience being inside the performance in perhaps a more installation style event. I felt having the audience’s gaze at potentially 360 degrees would shift or re-orientate my choreographic process dramatically, as I am usually very aware of the front when choreographing. I found though it didn’t really change my choreography as much as me being constantly conscious of the composition, with an acute awareness of what the audience would take in at any given time. I always use a video camera to document the process which enables feedback when working in the studio by myself. In this new context, I set up a camera, in different areas of the space to where I was sitting and watching so I could read how the choreography would communicate from different angles of the space concurrently. I used the footage that we shot during our showings at CP to then apply to the Australia Council. In Glass was picked up by Spring Dance and Dance Massive.
Tanya Voges
Tanya Voges met visual artist Kellie O’Dempsey at The Synaesthesorium, a laboratory led by multimedia artists Tim and Mic Gruchy, as part of Critical Path’s SEAM2011 symposium and workshop series. In the course of their meeting, ideas were sparked for a collaboration exploring dance and live drawing, improvisational scores and audience participation. Where does the idea for Vestiges come from?
How has your research developed over the course of the residency? The research process allowed us to develop a series of strategies, in the form of a three-way dialogue that underpinned our exploration of memory, drawing and audience participation. We worked with mentors Mic Gruchy (digital media), Kate Stevens (cognitive psychologist) and Martyn Coutts (dramaturg) across their fields of knowledge. The time with them has brought richness into the big questions we had surrounding the new media possibilities in dance and drawing. Your research relies a lot on technology. Can you name some programs that you worked with?
What were the challenges that you faced during the research period? There were many technical challenges! We had great difficulty staying true to choreographic scores while developing the technology. We need to revisit the scores and examine the choreography between technology, performer and form and process what went down. As the choreography is dependent on the audience’s contribution, a lot of it had to be imagined before the performance. Managing the changes when the data input from the audience arrived was challenging. We dealt with the idea of bringing Kellie into the performance – in some of the previous tests, she was rather “behind-the-scenes” – this time we integrated her onto the stage so her movement and drawing became part of the performance. This new element in work we found to be quite successful.
RESPONSIVE PROGRAM
Vestiges comes from Tanya’s choreographic research ‘Retracing Steps’ on audience participation and Kellie’s research into performance drawing and new media integration. Vestiges is the meeting point of this research and is a metaphor for memory and the (drawing) line that fades.
We worked with LiveFeed camera, TagTool digital drawing device, voice recording and wireless headphones for verbatim, live audio mixing and live improvisation with electronic music.
Where to next with this research? We hope that in the next stage, we will be able to develop a stronger form and concept that can be adapted to each unique site and new audience group. We are currently applying for further funding to take this to the next stage.
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WeiZen Ho
Tell me about your time at Critical Path?
RESPONSIVE PROGRAM
I was given a space residency and wanted to make the best use of that arrangement. We had to figure out the best way of moving around the framework so that it would work for us both. We ended up doing 4 separate sessions in the year which created a bit of a broken structure, but I made this work for me as it allowed a contemplative stage between each time working in the space. I participated in several festival performance projects in between time at Critical Path and could apply discoveries and transfer insights from each residency stage into these performances. How did you go about researching your topic of interest? I wanted to focus on contemplation of mortality and how this physically affects us. Translating questions of death into physical form. I started each creative development process with Pancha Tanmatra (a martial artform) that allowed me to cycle through the elements within the body in relation with external matter. I would go through 30-40 minutes of this physical meditation and then see what work was born from there – whether it be drawings that appeared for me or energetic movements, often faces would surface. Has your creative process changed as a result of your residency? I had many volunteers working with me and if anything they gave me a perspective on how I worked through their observation – gave me an insight and deeper awareness of what was going on.
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As my time in the space was divided into 4 sessions I was able to use things I had discovered from each session to inform several performances that came up throughout the year What advice or comments would you like to give to anyone considering a residency with Critical Path? Critical Path is such a fantastic space for research and one should not pass up an opportunity in any shape or form that is offered. The people who work there, Margie, Helen, Yee and Justine (at the time), are incredibly supportive and engage you with a network of people who can assist you at the time and into the future. It is a fantastic opportunity and a wonderful space, well worth any effort that may be required to participate in a residency (for me travelling from the Blue Mountains). I also found it hugely helpful that Niobe Syme, who volunteered with me, documented the whole process. I received a great number of documentation images which I wouldn’t have been able to collect myself. This meant I could view my process from an outside eye and understand what I was doing. It also allows you to look back and understand the process in retrospect. Often your discoveries continue after the linear timeframe you are given in the residency, as you contemplate what has occurred and the documentation of your research really lets you continue to make discoveries.
Paul Gazzola
Paul’s Advice: • Be clear about what is achievable in the time you have • Arrive early, stay late • Speak to Margie as she has a great mind and offers invaluable feedback • Make a workshop to get feedback from others mid way in your research, don’t leave it to the end • Don’t worry if you don’t know, that’s what is partly about • Take the time to take a chance on something you are unsure on, it may be the key to answer your question
ASSOCIATE ARTIST
Paul Gazzola was the inaugural Associate Artist at Critical Path, working for 8 weeks a year across 2 years (2012/13). This period was an opportunity for Paul to develop his artistic research spanning three projects whilst contributing to and developing his curatorial and management practice in an organisation. The 2 year timeframe gave the opportunity for research to gain depth as he explored the ideas through multiple contexts. Divided into two 4 week blocks in 2012 and 2013, Paul facilitated workshops and forums and curated around his own artistic research which also informed the program for SEAM13 Critical Path interdisciplinary practice symposium.
• Research what is going on in the world, chances are someone is doing something that connects and will give you some great other ways to consider your ideas • Eat at the café by the waterside – it’s good food and a great place to take some time out.
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Kay Armstrong
DANCE SITES
I have been involved Critical Path’s Responsive Program twice. Both projects were important moments in my artistic landscape. In the early stages of my career as a dance maker I hadn’t formally engaged in research. I had thought of my development in a fairly conventional way, usually via the creation of work and discrete, sometimes sporadic, blocks of activity - i.e. have idea, get in studio to work on idea, apply for creative development opportunities, maybe get money (or not) to take this into preproduction development, and ta-daaar “The Show”. In hindsight, it was self-limiting cycle and I wonder how I ever reflected, questioned or investigated beyond this product driven minefield-vacuum-lottery. In 2007 I was struck by some questions that somehow did not fit in this circus/cycle, yet were intrinsically connected to my work, my process and my artistic development. I was successful in gaining my first research project with Critical Path in 2007 and found it an insightful and meaningful process, affirming research as another mechanism of growth as an artist. Over the ensuing years I have come to understand how research supports my on-going development and feeds into my critical understanding that questions are good, and answers are not always so important. I embrace my ‘not knowing’ with an avid curiosity, rather than seeing these moments ‘in the dark’ as blots on my credentials, or things to ignore, they are now welcome guests along the way.
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I completed my second Responsive Project in late 2011. While personally it was a difficult time for me, I was glad that I was given that opportunity, not only for what unfolded during the research project, but also, a little further down the track, I was eligible to apply to Critical Path Dance Sites project, with a new solo work, 100th Monkey. Dance Sites has been tremendously valuable as a platform for my re-connection and re-ignition of my solo practice. I have been afforded three development stages - an initial residency at Bundanon, the first shared Dance Sites stage at STRUT in Perth, the second stage more recently at Critical Path. To be able to participate in the gradual development of this work via platforms of engagement with artists and general public, across a series of supported stages has been a huge privilege. The work has benefited from the cogent facilitation / provocation by Dance Sites guest facilitator Rebecca Hilton, the responsive and pertinent dialogue with the participating interstate dance artists and the varied feedback from the informal public sharing’s. Importantly some of the greatest breakthroughs were made ‘in situ’ within the context of performance mode. In 2012, Critical Path, Dancehouse and STRUT collectively formed the DANCE SITES NETWORK (DSN). Dance Sites is a mobility network stemming from the partners’ shared commitment to support the independent dance community by circulating and exposing new works at all stages of development to interstate audiences, peers and presenters.
Eric Avery at the Drill Hall, 2014. Photo: Heidrun Lรถhr
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Eric Avery
In starting my residency at Critical Path I wanted to explore how I could use my spoken Language (Ngiyampaa) as a choreographic device to inspire movement; what processes I could engage with to not just “use counts” to shape movement; and explore the use of phonetics and melodic contours of language to choreograph.
INDIGENOUS MENTORSHIPS
Research Room residency - Critical Path My research time at Critical Path was aimed at researching and collating my materials for use when engaged in the Drill Hall - researching ways in which to use language as a resource when choreographing. An important step was discovering the word “Wakaymali” -”Wakanha” in Ngiyampaa and Wiradjuri means “to dance”. The root of the word “Wakanha” is actually “Wakaymali” - and means “To sing to cause to dance”. This sets up a direct relationship between dance and music in Ngiyampaa culture. THE SOUND COMES BEFORE THE DANCE. The dance is a reaction to the sound. Knowing this word was of great help to me as it provided a tangible process that I could engage in my time in the studio with Vicki - investigating how sound can be an impetus for movement. Drill Hall Mentorship/Residency - Vicki Van Hout From the onset Vicki impressed the importance of process work and I learned along the way her style of process work and we both engaged in research and then various tasks on the floor exploring how to make dance using sound as an impetus for movement. Of the many things we had discovered - Symatics (physical matter moving because of sound waves forming elaborate patterns) was a phenomenon that stood out for us. 22
In using a home-made Symatic Tube we were able to cause red sand particles to move from yelling or singing very loudly in the other end of the tube. The formations and patters made from the sound waves looked like people moving in the sand. Another aspect I wanted to explore in the studio is how I could illustrate the rising and falling of pitch when speaking in my movement vocabulary. I explored with Vicki ways I could “trace” this contour into red sand. I then took this idea of tracing in the sand and repeated the same tracing pattern I did in the sand in different levels in the body. As an extension of this I also explored how I could use my violin playing as an impetus for movement to reflect “wakaymali”, imitating in my body the rise and fall of melodies in the violin. I still feel I want to explore this further. Early on in the process Vicki and I were exploring what I could say thematically with the content I was exploring. The Liberal Party’s argument to remove section 18C from the constitution was an idea that worried us - to imagine a country where anyone can engage in racial slander publicly and for there not to be consequences for it was quite scary - being Aboriginal in this country we face racism all the time. I get followed around shops continually and one week before got pulled up by cops for looking “suspicious” (I was wearing a hoodie) - one thing I started to ask - was this discrimination? Someone assuming I will steal because I have dark skin in my opinion is discrimination. To explore this in the mentorship we fashioned a task - to dress in traditional aboriginal dress, brandish a Buunthii (hunting club) and go shopping.
Henrietta Baird
We were able to film the reactions of many people I walked passed in Edgecliff Shopping Centre. It was quite confronting but none the less opened me up to a way of working from making processes to inform the choreography - this certainly was an interesting process of seeing how people react to me and putting it into choreography. Looking Back
Looking back at my period of learning my language and stories I feel I have gained knowledge related to my people through learning the language. I still feel I have a way to go with articulating some of this in dance. I can say confidently though that this first stage did reflect the idea of wakaymali - I learned 3 songs from recordings of my great grandfather, I learned Ngiyampaa pronunciation and I learned 2 stories and how to say them in language. In the future I wish to explore more of these processes I have explored with Vicki to create material. I also wish to delve into the thematic content of the recordings as an impetus for dance using the processes I have discovered with Vicki.
The time I worked in the studio with Marilyn Miller, was spent putting all the ideas on butchers paper and then moving them in the space. I had never worked this way before myself, but as the weeks went by the butchers’ paper began to fill up with a lot of information. I had the experience and opportunity to work with two collaborators, Paul Osborne and Lisa Duff. Paul helped with sound and lighting and Lisa Duff helped with multimedia. Lisa edited the films that were taken from Wujal. Both collaborators were great to work with and helped me realise the ideas I had been developing.
INDIGENOUS MENTORSHIPS
Looking back at the Residency/Mentorship with Vicki I learned about how to create processes to inform the choreography. I learned how then I could apply themes in order to convey a message. Vicki would always ask me - “what are you trying to say?” - she pushed me to articulate what I wanted to say in my movement.
I was offered an Indigenous mentorship through Critical Path. It was broken up into stages: firstly in the Wujal Wujal community (in Cairns) learning from my elders about native plants and how to make food and natural medicine, secondly at Critical Path with Marilyn Miller which gave me the time and space to create a showing based on the information collected from the Wujal Wujal community, time with Ausdance learning administration skills, finishing at Critical Path learning more administration skills, grant writing skills and looking to the next stage.
As an Indigenous artist I would recommend Critical Path to any artist or Indigenous artist out there. I believe Critical Path is a place where you can research, whether it’s signing up to the workshops or just applying for their responsive applications. As an artist at Critical Path, I felt I had the opportunity to be in a place to meet new people, learn, explore, create and share my experiences with other artists out there and receive constructive criticism to help me on my next journey of creativity.
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Critical Path is an initiative of Arts NSW, with program funding from the Australia Council, the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body. Indigenous Mentorships are funded by the Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development Strategy of Arts NSW.
Critical Path’s Responsive Program is extended through our partnership with the Creative Practice Lab (CPL) at the School of Arts and Media (SAM), University of New South Wales.
The Research Room Residency Program is supported by Woollahra Municipal Council.
www.criticalpath.org.au Critical Path © 2014 All Rights Reserved Phone: +61 2 9362 9403 or +61 2 9362 4023 Email: info@criticalpath.org.au Street: The Drill, 1C New Beach Rd, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney (opp 42) Postal: PO Box 992, Edgecliff, NSW 2027
