PERFORMING ARTS CRAWL 

Report by Lynden Nicholls (coordinator of The Performing Arts Crawl)

Sunday 15 March, 2015   1.30 PM – 6.45 PM

When we think of the performing arts we often lump them together, we generalise. The performing arts however are as varied as the visual arts. We know that under the category of visual arts come disciplines as different as drawing, ceramics, graphics and sculpture to name a few. Within the performing arts there are many styles of dance, vocal work, improvisational approaches, community/self-devised work, text based work, physical theatre, comedy and much much more.

Ballarat Arts Alive Performing Arts Crawl opened up the stage door to this hugely rich and diverse world, the world of theatre.

Participants were guided through a journey behind the scenes of four dynamic approaches to the performing arts: contemporary dance, voice and vocal work, improvised movement theatre and drama and acting. It is rare that in one afternoon participants would be privy to such a range of work and disciplines. There was an opportunity to question the presenting artists as well as enjoying their work both from an audience perspective and also from a participatory angle. We travelled from a private studio to Federation University to Suttons House of Music, all venue types utilised by performing artists in their endeavours.

Following is a brief exposition of each presenter and their input to the Crawl.

Alison Shirley is a contemporary dancer and Pilates instructor with a studio in Armstrong Street South. The inspiration for her work comes from the human body’s form and its experiences. She and some helpers taught us a dance sequence which we then put together into a larger dance piece. This was filmed and played back for us all to see. Alison then elaborated on some choreographic processes that generate material for performance.

Julianne Eveleigh is the voice lecturer at Federation University’s Arts Academy in Camp Street. Together with twelve second year theatre performance students Julianne pulled apart a Shakespearean sonnet by vocalising various aspects of the piece and discussing the written structure. There were many questions from us, the audience in our comfortable seats in the Helen McPherson Smith Theatre at the Arts Academy.

Al Wunder has been teaching improvised movement theatre as a performing art for decades. He is fondly known as the grandfather of improvisation in Melbourne and has quite a following. Firstly Al elaborated on his journey from a performer with New York’s Alwin Nikolais to an improviser here in Ballarat. He was then joined by Julianne Eveleigh and Robyn Sedgwick (ex Graffiti Dance) in a series of trio and solo performances. These involved the use of voice and vocal material with a focus on movement. Each performance was stunning. The audience had many questions and the discussion that followed was very animated and interesting.

Actor Andreas Litras finished the afternoon with an active and fun exploration of how to create material that forms the basis of a text and image based theatre work. We drew, discussed and physicalized ideas in groups and presented short pieces to each other. Andreas showed how a director might go about refining and selecting in the rehearsal process.

Along the way drinks and refreshments were provided. Suttons House of Music was a perfect venue to kick back and discuss the proceedings of the day with each other. By the end everyone was almost overstimulated. Conversation flowed and questions arose.

Feedback from the event has been really positive. Many people had little knowledge of the practice of the performing arts and really appreciated the insights offered. It was an action and information packed afternoon that demonstrated a small area of rich skills and expertise right here in Ballarat. I have had several enquiries as to when we might repeat this event.

Ballarat Arts Alive received financial assistance from The City of Ballarat for this project.

As always, feel free to comment below or send us your feedback from the event.