DANCE PLANT GOES TO MELBOURNE

Earlier this year, Bella Wilson, in collaboration with Dance Plant Collective, was accepted into the Making a Start artist-in-residency program at the prestigious Lucy Guerin Inc. in Melbourne, Australia!

The residency will be used to begin the early, exploratory development stage of Dance Plant Collective's next full length work, STRUCTURE, choreographed by Bella Wilson. This is an amazing opportunity where we have been awarded two full weeks of studio space at the amazing WXYZ Studios, administrative and marketing assistance, and a chance to share our work with Australian dance makers to gain invaluable feedback and insight. 

STRUCTURE is a dance show that has existed in the back of Bella's mind for about 5 years. Bella is  fascinated by the human desire for structure: for routines, rituals, roles. This manifests in many ways: through our mundane daily routines, our systems of government, spiritual practices, and traditional gender roles being just a few of many examples. She is also curious about the structures of the natural world: the underground tree-root networks which communicate with each other, the ways in which groups of animals organise themselves. There is an incredible level of meticulous detail and order in the natural world, as well as the world we have created as humans, yet things are also so variable and subject to probability. Every lived experience has a relationship to structure in a multitude of ways, through the ways our lives are organised in every facet of our lives. The translation of this into an experimental dance context has the potential to open up space for conversation, contemplation and discussion.

Being alive at a time when the world is facing a huge climate crisis, and society is becoming increasingly polarised, making art which is topical and reflects contemporary society feels necessary and important. Dance Plant Collective believes in making art which people can relate and connect to, and which is intellectually rigorous, without being isolating. Art that invites the audience in. STRUCTURE has the potential to do all of the above.

In order to make this happen, we are needing to cover what is left for our 5 travelling artists; flights, accomodation, and a small stipend for food and transport! Without these crucial things, we may have to pass up on this fantastic chance to grow and develop both ourselves as a collective and this exciting new work.

Photography by  Lucie Smeriglio