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 first week of programming presents work by mitch spadaro, =w=, rachael wisby.
"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
Slow City Moving, by Mitch Spadaro
Slow City Moving highlights the art of subtle protest. Embodying principles of the slow city movement, the work aims to explore the act of honouring the present while turning to psychotherapeutic principles to aid in movement generation.
Choreographer and Performer Mitch Spadaro
Dramaturg Lauren Catellani
Musician Third Space
Odd to be beings, by =w=
Odd to be beings, is a contemporary dance duet created by =w= and their dance teacher, Coco Li, a significant influence on =w=‘s artistry and growth in their formative years as an artist. The work delves into the intricacy of human connection, and unravels threads of randomness that grow and evolve in our life encounters.Odd to be beings emerged out of =w= and their mother’s duet in their autobiographical piece, "Ode to being", featuring vigorous movement compositions and snippets of live music played from the traditional Chinese instrument Pipa by =w=‘s mother, Wanjun Wu.
Acknowledging and conversing with their past selves, Odd to be beings sees two performers weave, echo, and embody shared emotions and intuitions, drawing upon their deeply internalised thoughts.
Odd to be beings invites audiences on a journey with the performers, reflecting the fluidity of relations and identity, the significance of shared moments, and the perpetual dance between self-discovery and connection.Together =w= and Coco Li navigate the abnormality of existence, examine the intersections of life with other, and contemplate the essence of continuity and change.
Choreographer and performer =w= (Jiawen Feng)
Collaborator and performer Ke Li
Musician Wanjun Wu
Sybylla, by Rachael Wisby
Choreographer and performer Rachael Wisby
PERFORMANCE DATES AND TIMES
Thursday February 1, 7.30pm
Friday February 2, 7.30pm
Saturday February 3, 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
Mitch Spadaro
Mitch is an independent dance artist and a graduate of WAAPA in 2016. Mitch has worked with organisations like STRUT Dance, The Blue Room Theatre, Fremantle Biennale, Perth Festival, Tone List and Oriental Land Company. Mitch has worked with artists and choreographers Sofie Burgoyne, Lauren Catellani, Bennett Miller, Ellen-Hope Thomson, Yvan Karlsson, Daisy Sanders, Jo Omodei and Lyndon Blue. Mitch was one of three co-producers facilitating in the works, a lab for independent dance artists held in conjunction with PS Art Space in Walyalup. Mitch’s solo practice incorporates elements of psychotherapeutic theories as improvisational motivation.
=w=
=w= (any/all), a Naarm-based mover/artist. =w=’s movement vocabulary is a culmination of improvisation, release-based contemporary techniques and Chinese Classical Dance.
=w= graduated from BFA (Dance) at Victorian College of the Arts in 2022. Their most recent work Ode to Being, an immersive autobiographical work, premiered at Melbourne Fringe Festival 2023. =w= practice is interested in “immersiveness”, which grew from their passion for multimedia performances and interactive technologies. =w=’s experience of working with technology include: involvement in Swinburne University’s Siggraph Asia Project(Mogon Capture) and Volumetric Capturing project(2021-2022) organised by Kim Vincs as dancer capturee; as well as working with Megan Beckwith for “Parallax” (choreographed and artistically directed by Megan), a full-length solo integrating rigorous movement score, animation and 3D illusions, performed at the Castlemaine Fringe Festival.
Rachael Wisby
Rachael Wisby (she/her) is a physical artist who lives and works in Naarm on the stolen lands of the Wurrundjeri people. Rachael graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2018. She has enjoyed learning from and dancing with artists including Lee Serle, Jo Lloyd, Phillip Adams, Geoffrey Watson, Jenny Kinder, Nana Biluš Abaffy, Walter Dunderville and Natalie Abbott.
Rachael’s artistic practice articulates a desire for physical action that undermines the body-mind dichotomy. She makes performance-based, body-derived work that manifests as self-generating choreographic systems. She is most concerned with the fabricated, the fantasised and the fictitious body. Rachael is a student of the body and extends her inquiry with studies in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
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. Sybylla by Rachael Wisby, image by Nasim Patel
2. Mitch Spadaro performing at Out of Bounds, image by Jeff Busby
3. =w=, 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.