Temperance Hall presents two triple bills showcasing six contemporary dance works by experimental choreographers who disparately and rigorously explore multitudes of 'queer’.
Presented over two weeks, Temperance Hall's second week of programming presents work by Mara Galagher, Alexander Powers, Valentina Emerald.
"These artists talk to the way queerness moves around as ‘experiences' of beauty, decay, chaos and morality, to determine and convey their own internal politics within the domains of popular culture and materialism."
– Phillip Adams, Artistic Director Temperance Hall
big foot pink eye, by mara galagher
turbo banshee with selfie stick in hand in the centre of the city. getting clocked not as a transwoman but as bigfoot. if u were bigfoot u would take this many selfies, i need to be documented. cause i'm not going to be here for much longer. i hope to be on the brink of an exothermic reaction but only by stumbling into it. i want to find a sweet spot of the most arduous beauty to the most pathetic f@ggotry. i will exploit all resources to find out how beautiful I can look in this sewerage drain.
Choreographer and performer Mara Galagher
sexual violence, by alexander powers
A solo work that continues Powers’ stridently exhausting approach to choreography – this time drawing upon Deleuzian immanence and queer post-morality. Powers explores the immanence of the theatre through the use of noise, breath and distortion – summoning moments of futile exhaustion and amputated grief, drawing upon the violence inherent between the gaze of the audience and her body.
Choreographer and performer Alexander Powers
amplify, by valentina emerald
AMPLIFY is an experimental participatory dance work, marked by an onslaught of perpetually fractured perspectives. The performance and its live stream compete for your attention, blurring the boundaries between audience, performer and screen. A cacophony of impulses and distractions dynamically merge physical performance and live stream transmissions in this electrifying display.
Arranged by Valentina Emerald
Performers Iris Elgar, Chiharu Valentino, Sarah Kosoof, Lucy Eidelson, Al Jefimenko
PERFORMANCE DATES AND TIMES
Thursday February 8, 7.30pm
Friday February 9, 7.30pm
Saturday February 10, 7.30pm
LOCATION
Temperance Hall, Main Hall
199 Napier Street, South Melbourne
DURATION
90 mins, no interval
ACCESSIBILITY
Wheelchair accessible
TICKETS
Full $25
Conc. $20
Mobtix $15
Contact: program[at]temperancehall.com.au if you need more information.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Mara galagher
Mara Galagher is a performance artist based in Naarm, she works within dance, performance art and video art.
Recently she performed in Alicia Frankovich’s work Rich in World, Poor in World for Melbourne Now at NGV. Mara has also worked on multiple projects with Gabriella Imrichova most notably, 24.01.23-25.01.23 for Contact High at Gertrude Glasshouse; and Alexander Powers for ALIENS OF EXTRAORDINARY ABILITY at Temperance Hall. She has further worked with Jo Lloyd, Tasdance, Lilian Steiner and Deep Soulful Sweats.
Mara is forming a practice around decay and degeneracy, highlighting the least flattering moments and being a sacrifice for other’s disturbed wants by succumbing to a repulsive form. She grew up training and performing Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian Folk dance as well as classical ballet. Having this foundation in stoic and disciplined artforms is something she both acknowledges and dismisses when moving and making.
alexander powers
Alexander Powers is a Narrm-based artist experimenting across electronic music, dance and choreography. She has created two full length choreographic works, Time Loop in 2019 at the Brunswick Mechanics Institute, and inputs outputs, made for video screened at Foundation Fiminco, Paris. She has performed for choreographer Luke George in his 2019 production Public Actions for Dance Massive Festival and was a participant in Arthouse’s 2021 artist working group Makeshift Publics. Internationally renowned as DJ and electronic musician Female Wizard, Alexander was awarded Best Electronic Act at the 2021 Music Victoria Awards on the back of her second album of experimental techno, TIE-EE-YIE-EE-YIE-EE-YIME released on Heavy Machinery Records. In 2023 she released What A Body Can Do on her own label Powertrip Records, and produced an accompanying performance and sound work, titled What A Myth Can Do, presented by Liquid Architecture.
valentina emerald
Valentina is a performance artist who is interested in how lived experience, influence and environment informs movement and performance. Choreographically and collaboratively, Valentina works with experimental, interactive and interdisciplinary practices across movement, technology, sound, visual art, textiles, and spatial design.
Valentina has worked with prominent artists including, Lucy Guerin, Gregory Lorenzutti, Daniel Riley, Hamish McIntosh, Zoë Bastin, John McCormick and Kim Vincs (on virtual reality and motion capture). She has performed at the NGV, Temperance Hall, Federation Square, Testing Grounds, MPavillion, and non-conventional spaces including parks, beaches, public street locations and various clubs and festivals throughout Victoria and New South Wales.
Temperance Hall's Midsumma program is made possible with the generous support of the Neilson Foundation, City of Port Phillip through the Cultural Development Fund, Palais Theatre Community Fund, Custom Fleet, and Gary Charman.Temperance Hall would like to thank our program sponsors Heaps Normal, and festival partners Midsumma for their ongoing partnership with Temperance Hall.
The seedings of these projects were presented at Out of Bounds, an artistic program delivered in partnership with Lucy Guerin Inc.
Image credits
1. AMPLIFY by Valentina Emerald, photo by Jeff Busby, designed and edited by the artist
2. Alexander Powers, image by Kim Young
3. Mara Galagher, image courtesy of the artist
Temperance Hall acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land in which we dance and create, the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, and pay our respect to Elders both past and present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.