A joint research project Professor Emma Redding (dancer, dance scientist, researcher) and the Director of the Victorian College of Arts in Melbourne (VCA).
Preview clip from E-0923
Athina was invited by Professor Redding to spend a month in Melbourne (August 2023). The visit entailed exploration of movement performance in two different areas:
1) Physical performance/autobiography/dance science: This was a continuation of collaborative research taking place over many years between Redding and Vahla. The area of focus is a professional dancer’s physical and mental preparation; their pre-performance routines, often training to extremis. One research outcome centred around integrating this ‘real’ technical state with elements of autobiography into a hybrid solo performance. A short film titled Quest has been created in collaboration with the director of the Television and Film studies in VCA, Andrew O’Keefe, the Head of the Music Department VCA, Professor Mark Pollard, and with Redding performing herself as a dance scientist and dancer in her studio practice.
2) The group embarked on the first steps of exploring ways to understanding symbols, and performance rituals of Indigenous communities in Australia, and their connection to the Country through discussions with the Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at VCA, Tiriki Onus and field trips.
Another outcome, which will have it's own news item on this page, is a video short that came from footage shot with a drone in Melbourne, Australia. The improvised clips, and subsequent video arose from an experimental encounter of a rooftop scene during the filming of Quest. The title is 88 seconds. The Performer in the clip is Emma Redding. Concept Direction was by Athina Vahla. Drone footage capture and edit were by Gary & Tracey Mendum.
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