The Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance - Previous Recipients

Suzanne Cowan

Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance 2010

With her Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance, Auckland performer and choreographer Suzanne Cowan plans to choreograph a dance project from the perspective of people with visual impairments.

Working with the Dunedin sight-impaired community and students from Dance Studies, she plans to use the media of dance, photography, video and sound to create a "vision for dance as a means of embracing diversity and difference."

The planned finished work will involve a performance at the university and in a Dunedin community arts space, a website designed for people with visual impairments, and an academic research paper for publication based on the project's findings.

"I am thrilled and honoured to be the next recipient of the Caroline Plummer Fellowship," she says.

"It is a wonderful opportunity to develop something really unique in an exciting part of the country. It is also an opportunity to build on my choreographic experience and take it in a whole new direction."

She says her interest in the creative possibilities inherent within physical and sensory impairment stems from her own experience of living with a spinal injury and using a wheelchair.

Ms Cowan received First Class Honours upon completing her Master of Creative and Performing Arts degree from University of Auckland in 2009. She also worked for an international mixed ability dance company 'Candoco' for three and a half years touring internationally (from 2000 - 2003).

'House of Memories' - Performances 2 & 3 July 2010

House of Memories was a kinaesthetic, aural and visual performance directed by this year’s Caroline Plummer Dance Fellow, Suzanne Cowan. Audiences experienced a sensory dance journey through a series of vignettes representing the unique world of people with visual impairments. The performances were on the 2nd and 3rd of July at 551 Castle St as part of the Tertiary Dance Festival at Otago University.

Visitors to the Castle St villa were led through seven performance installations, to experience a slice of the performers’ lives: the high speed technological sound equipment of a blind man juxtaposed with a graceful duet derived from guiding techniques; a woman’s passion for wool-handling explored as a gestural solo and the precious memories of a man’s ballroom dancing days brought to life with a live band. The audience also experienced a maze navigated entirely through sound and texture.

Each room’s intimate story was an expression of home and told through a variety of mediums including voice and sound recordings, dance and photography.

House of Memories was the culmination of Cowan’s fellowship project for 2010. The Fellowship, hosted by the Department of Physical Education at Otago University, focuses on community dance and developing awareness of cultural diversity. As a dancer/choreographer, Cowan has worked in mixed ability dance both nationally and internationally for the past ten years. In 2008 she was the recipient of the Art Award and Supreme Award for the NZ Attitude Awards for people with disabilities. Her most recent piece for the mixed ability, Touch Compass Dance Company, ‘Grotteschi’ (2008) was described by Auckland dance reviewer, Bernadette Rae, as winning her “My Most Memorable Work of the Year prize”.

"Dance: Another ingredient in the mix"

Download article by Francesca Horsley, New Zealand Listener , August 21, 2010 (PDF, 78 KB)

Sean Curham

Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance 2009

Four Legs Better Than Two – dogs, dance and community

'Four Legs Better Than Two' is a community arts project based on the experiences of dog walking. Reflecting the diversity of this community a number of small and medium sized projects have looked to capture the experiences of 'walking the dog'. Key to the project is participation – and so the main event has been many, many shared walks. And yes, I have a dog – her name is Tippy. Alongside these walks have been numerous smaller events – some light-hearted - “Good dog, bad man”, “Dog Park Karaoke” and “Commune” - a project being developed in collaboration with the Dance Studies programme.

Over the last few years I have been looking for opportunities to shift my work from a theatre/gallery context into the 'real' community. This reflects my changing interests and desire to explore more directly the value of ideas in a practical way. It also reflects a change in focus from producing 'things' – artefacts or performance events to an interest in participation. The fellowship has presented the ideal opportunity to work directly within the community. I believe that the knowledge and experience of the community represents an unequalled resource and provides the ideal site for experimentation and the development of ideas.

This will be a challenging project – I am always working away on questions to do with the body and movement. Central to the work is an engagement with the critical and philosophical ideas that question the way in which we come to 'know' or experience the world.

Proposed within the project is the idea that there is a relationship between the potential of dance and the shape and activities of the dog walking community. It is suggested that dog walkers share a unique experience of place and time – and that this experience is manifest in the fluid and ever changing network that is the dog walking community.

The final event for the project will be on Friday 31 July, in the School of Physical Education. All the stories and records will be presented as an installation and will include “Dog Park Karaoke” a light-hearted interactive game designed to make the dogs the stars of the show.

Final Report, January 2009

“Four Legs Better Than Two” – a dance in the community project based on the experiences of dog walking
The primary strategy employed to realize this project was to participate in the existing activities of the dog walking community and through this engage with the community to realize a creative event.

“Four Legs” was designed to enable participation at many levels – from a 'one off' contribution to a more sustained involvement. Some of the participations points included discussion boards, a dog diary/blog, and ‘one off’ interviews.

This dissemination strategy aimed to introduce the core ideas of the project to the wider dog walking community – and to start a broad process of reflection/participation as to what dog walking offers socially, creatively and critically.

In essence this project explored the idea that dog walking presents new experiences – and that due to the participation of the walker – the fact that the walker is generating or encountering these new events through being active, a new and creative perception is encountered. The suggestion is that this unrestrained experiencing brings forward potential that can alter the way in which community, creativity and art can be further explored.

For a more detailed final report and access to the dog diary/blog and other aspects of the project go to:
http://fourlegsbetterthantwodunedin.blogspot.com/

The future

“Four Legs” represents a major shift of focus from making for theatres and galleries to seriously considering the potential for work based in the community. Since completing “Four Legs” I have finished another community situated work, “One” a collaboration with the Auckland Old Folks Association (Auckland's original provider of support services for the older person) as part of the Heritage Festival. The work was in four parts and incorporated the oral histories of the last eight members of the Association. Other events included a video wall – a season of performance works and collaboration with thirty eight local businesses. The success of this event and the compounding of ideas from “Four Legs” has further affirmed my interest in community based work.

I'm now planning a number of future events – which includes participating in the 'Living Room Project' with Auckland City, a reworking of 'Commune' for the Blue Oyster Gallery in Dunedin a project with Selwyn Village (a community for the older person), another with the community of an entire street in West Auckland, a dog park work in Pt Chevalier and the development of 'Sensational' a work situated both in the community and theatres for 2011.

Barbara Snook

Caroline Plummer fellow in Community Dance 2008

I am a Brisbane High School teacher and have taught dance and drama in an educational context for the past seventeen years. I am also involved in the dance education community as District Panel Chair, co-chair of the Ausdance Educators Network Queensland and as an independent dance education consultant running dance festivals and work-shopping with primary school teachers. I have written four dance text books for use in primary and secondary schools. I was the recipient of an Osmotherley Award for my contribution to the development of dance education in Queensland in 2007.

My project in community dance involves movement workshops with the cancer community, those diagnosed, in remission, bereaved, or a close family or friend of a person with cancer. The idea is that the workshops may allow those affected by cancer to take control of their lives by expressing themselves through movement. Emotional and physical pain are closely linked. Allowing the expression of emotion through movement explores the different levels of being human and provides opportunities for growth of the spirit and soul. The dancers will perform for the wider community on Sunday June 29th at 2 p.m. at the Art Gallery and again on Sunday 17th August at 3 p.m.

Having lost a daughter and husband in the past eighteen months to cancer, I have combined the experience of these losses with my ability to facilitate movement workshops. I am passionate about the power of dance to communicate beyond what many people are able to express verbally. I am delighted with the opportunity offered by the Fellowship as it allows me to follow my creative passion and share it with others. In this way an understanding and appreciation of the power of dance will grow within the wider community.

Reflections on an amazing six months

Barbara Snook

I was very conscious that I was being given an opportunity that many people could only dream about when I started my fellowship and I was determined to make the most of every moment. What a joy it was. I felt nothing but total support from the University, particularly the School of Physical Education, and also from the wider Dunedin community. Dunedin seemed to be the perfect place in which to conduct my project with the cancer community, big enough to be dynamic and exciting yet small enough to be supportive and personal.

My work with the adult participants from the cancer community resulted in a shift in the lives of all who were touched by it; the dancers, the visual artists who worked alongside us and the audiences. This project involved a collaboration with Sue Wootten, the Burns Fellow and Chris Watson the Mozart Fellow. A documentary was commissioned and has been beautifully crafted to capture the essence of the project.

I wrote a children’s book Come Dance with Me, about death and the healing power of dance. Bill O’Brien, the 2008 Writer-in-Residence at the University of Otago’s College of Education edited the book for me and it has since been published. Pauline Bellamy, who worked as an artist alongside the adult dance project, illustrated the book with beautiful soft water-colours. It is available at the University Bookshop. The book was also used for young people from Canteen to perform a movement story to in public performances.

The positive energy surrounding my project allowed me to achieve many other works. I gave talks to various organisations and danced in St Paul’s Cathedral as well as other other churches. I did some co-lecturing with Ali East on the Community Dance paper and worked with many of the students on the course to choreograph and perform Hikoi a response to McFarlane’s Hikoi installation of walking sticks in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. I gave workshops to primary teachers on teaching dance and worked with young students in schools.

I was delighted with the flow-on effect my project had with the wider community. Cancer touches many families and for this reason, and the way it was dealt with through art, it created interest. The collaborations with the other Arts Fellows and with the visual artists who held successful exhibitions allowed the project to touch many people.

2/3/09

Katrina Rank

Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance 2007

Dr Katrina Rank is Education and Training Manager with Ausdance Victoria. She trained as a classical dancer at the Australian Ballet School and peformed professionally in Australia and the United Kingdom.

During her tenure as Fellow, Katrina conducted a project entitled 'My Body is an Etching'. The aim of the project was to develop a solo dance work, for unrained dancers, that reveals a person's history in a way that can only be articulated by the moving body. She worked with different community groups, ranging in age and ability, establishing three separate classes that met regularly during her tenure.

'The Body's Canvas', DANZ Quarterly, Issue no. 10, December 2007

Katrina Rank, 'Considerations for the Choreographic Treatment of Personal Movement Vocabulary in Community Dance Practice', in Dance Dialogues: Conversations across cultures, artforms and practices, 2009 (PDF)

'Research Profile - Community Dance', Otago Bulletin, Issue no. 15, 2007, p. 9 (PDF, 262 KB)

Georgina White

Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance 2006

Georgina White is a researcher at Te Papa, with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a Bachelor of Performance and Screen Arts in dance. A professional dancer, she has performed with the Footnote Dance Company.

During her tenure as the Fellow, Georgina continued her research and conducted interviews in and around the area for her book Light Fantastic : Dance Floor Courtship in New Zealand : Dance Floor Courtship in New Zealand. The book was published in 2007.

Book Description of Light Fantastic by Harper Collins Publishers (NZ) Ltd.

Book Review of Light Fantastic, DANZ Quarterly, Issue no. 9, October 2007

Petra Kuppers

Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance 2005

Petra Kuppers is a community artist, disability-culture activist and scholar. She is an associate professor of English at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she teachers courses in disability culture, community performance and performance studies.

During her tenure as Fellow, Petra focussed on facilitating dance in New Zealand both internally and internationally. She ran a large number of community dance workshops in different venues and with many different participants. Some of these included the Otago Community Hospice, the Cancer Society, local libraries and day care centres, the Disabled Persons Assembly, Dunedin.

Details of her project can be found in the following articles.

"Dance of Life", University of Otago Magazine, Issue 12, October 2005, pp.30-31 (PDF, 1.5MB)

Petra Kuppers,"Dancing Stories: A Community Dance Residency in a Hospice in NZ", Environmental Communication, Vol. 2, no. 3, November 2008, pp. 274-280 (PDF, 90KB)