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That Which Was Once Familiar
That Which Was Once Familiar (TWWOF) investigates how culture inscribes gender and sexuality onto the flesh sacks we walk around in. Dancers explore the abstract, object-like parts of themselves such as the form, weight, scale and shape of how they move. TWWOF engages choreography and sculpture to ascribe agency to performing bodies by rebelling against the way society often objectifies femininity. By focussing on what a body is capable of no matter what orientation, gender, age or ability.
The performance for a theatre challenges the gendered expectations of competitive dance forms through group and solo works that delve into each dancer’s experience of the restrictions of femininity. That Which Was Once Familiar extends my enduring interest in the choroegraphic expectations of space/context through the scale, scope and reach of the stage building upon years of sustained investigation into gender performance in dance. Using scored movement, improvisation, solo performance, and dancers performing in chorus this work is a journey to find freedom and autonomy beyond gendered constraints.
That Which Was Once Familiar, 2021
55:00
live performance
That Which Was Once Familiar was led and choreographed by Zoë Bastin, performed by Hayley Does, Tizana Saunders, Julia Luby, Al Jefimenko and Sue Hockey, sound Design by Grace Ferguson, lighting Design by Govin Ruben, live Music by Merinda Dias-Jayasinha and Byron Meyer, costume Design by Kitty Garry, makeup by Lani Swartz, produced by Natasha Phillips, associate produced Josephine Mead, assisted by Molly Stephenson. Photographs and video documentation by Bri Hammond, Louis Roach and Damien Gill. Presented by Dancehouse and Bus Projects for Midsumma Festival with support from Chunky Move, Yarra City Arts and Arts Melbourne.