What's happening in and around the Department of Performance Studies . . .

See Dr Paul Dwyer in THE BOUGAINVILLE PHOTOPLAY PROJECT

Produced in association with VERSION 1.0 and PERFORMANCE SPACE as part of LIVEWORKS 29th Aug – 7th September @ CARRIAGE WORKS, Wilson St Redfern

SAT 6 SEP 2PM

A slide show with fireside chat. Join our own Dr Paul Dwyer in an intimate, moving and constantly surprising monologue performance that grapples with the ethical, epistemological and practical dilemmas of making art and conducting research in post-colonial, post-conflict settings – particularly when the performance-maker/researcher is a citizen of the former colonial power. This is politics and performance at its most personal.

PERFORMER/DEVISOR: Paul Dwyer
DIRECTOR: David Williams
VIDEO: Sean Bacon
PRODUCTION: Russell Emerson

for more information and tickets go to Performance Space/liveworks

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Tess de Quincey, one of the Department’s honorary associates, and her company de Qunicey Co. will launch a new presenting program THE WEATHER EXCHANGE this week at the Performance Space. This venture will support the development and work of independent Bodyweather artists at the premiere of The Weather Exchange’s first presentation 2 SOLOS at Performance Space, also part of the LIVEWORKS festival at the CarriageWorks, Wilson St Redfern on THURSDAY 4 SEPTEMBER at 7pm

2 SOLOS
BORDERLINES by LINDA LUKE & TARKOVSKY'S HORSE by PETER FRASER

Thursday 4 September at 7pm
Saturday 6 September at 6pm
Sunday 7 September at 2pm
LIVEWORKS FESTIVAL
PERFORMANCESPACE @ CARRIAGEWORKS

for more information and tickets go to Performance Space/liveworks

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MARTIN DEL AMO in EXCERSION @ LIVEWORKS

Also presenting on Sunday 7 September at LIVEWORKS festival will be a work in progress by another Performance Studies associate Martin del Amo. Martin is a regular user of the Rex Cramphorn Studio and contributes to the research profile of the Department. This work-in-progress showing is about 24 hours Martin spent outside in the city streets. During that period, he visited different parts of the city and conducted a series of task-based explorations. This physical lecture demonstration EXCURSION distils his experience into a radically compressed time frame.

SUN 7 SEP 6.30PM
LIVEWORKS FESTIVAL
PERFORMANCESPACE @ CARRIAGEWORKS

for more information and tickets go to Performance Space/liveworks

Performance Studies at the University of Sydney was well represented by staff and postgrads at the recent Performance Studies international conference at the University of Copenhagen, 20-24th August.

May-Brit Akerholt (PhD candidate) presented “Bless thee, Bottom, bless thee, thou art translated”
Nicholas Hope (PhD candidate) presented “Actor in Interregnum”
&
Dr Ian Maxwell offered “The Space Between: Pneumatism, magnetism, transluminescence and the actor” which he will also present at our regular Friday seminar this semester (3-5 @ the AV Room, Woolley Building, Manning Rd) on October 10. See Postgrad Seminars for a full program.

Welcoming Dr Sophie Nield - International Visiting Research Fellow
The department would like to introduce and welcome Dr Sophie Nield from the Central School of Speech and Drama at Royal Holloway College, University of London. Sophie received one of the prestigious International Visiting Research Fellowships from this University and will be with us for five weeks. She is currently completing a book, The Social Theatre of Power: Space, Theatricality, Resistance, for which she received an AHRC Research Leave award in 2004-5. Sophie Nield undertakes research and supervises in the areas of: space, theatricality and performance; film and representation; theatrical 'magic' and stage technology; historiography. She has held lectureships at the University of Glamorgan and Goldsmiths College, University of London, and was most recently Senior Lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at Roehampton University.

Sophie is also a Trustee of the Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection, and completed a major AHRC-funded project on enhancing research access to the Collection, developing a catalogue, digital image archive and website. With Dr Nicholas Ridout of QMUL, she is co-convenor of the London Theatre Seminar, Institute for English Studies. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and Secretary to the Theatre and Performance Research Association.

Dr Nield's other recent publications include:

'On the Border as Theatrical Space: appearance, dis-location and the production of the refugee' in Contemporary Theatres in Europe, Joe Kelleher and Nicholas Ridout (eds) Routledge 2006

'There is another world: space, theatre and global anti-capitalism' in Contemporary Theatre Review: Theatre and Globalisation , 2006
Jen Harvie and Dan Rebellato (eds)

'The AHRC Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection Access for Research Project: Conversations with Cataloguers' in Theatre Notebook, 2005, Paul Davidson, Kristy Davis and Sophie Nield

'Popular Theatre 1896-1940' in Cambridge History of British Theatre vol. 3 Baz Kershaw (ed) Cambridge University Press 2004

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CONFERENCES
Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies Conference - July 2008
The Department of Performance Studies was represented in large numbers at the annual conference of the Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, held at the University of Otago, Dunedin.

12 papers were presented by 10 Staff and Postgrads:

May-Brit Akerholt (Ph.D. Candidate)“ ‘And I stand on the edge’ (Death Variations by Jon Fosse)”
Kath Bicknell (Ph.D. Candidate) ‘Feeling their ride: Embodied senses of place in cross-country mountain bike racing”
Robin Dixon (Ph.D. candidate) “Space and Place in Plautine Comedy”
Paul Dwyer (Academic staff) in collaboration with Michele Zappavigna and Jim Martin from the Department of Linguistics): “ ‘From a certain place’: Negotiating a sense of community in ceremonies of reconciliation and restorative justice” &
“Walking to Moratona with Peter Kebono: Speaking nearly troubled places in The Bougainville Photography Project (2008)”
Russell Emerson (Technical director): “Archiving Ephemera: Determining best practice in creating accessible performance archives for the World Wide Web”
Ariana Grabrovaz (Ph.D. Candidate) “Room to move: Indigenous actors’ interpretive process in Australian mainstream theatre”
Glen McGillivray (Academic staff) “The Picturesque World Stage”
Ian Maxwell (Academic staff) “‘Flying the kite’: a Phenomenological Prolegomenon to a chorography of Sydney Harbour”
Mark Seton (Honorary Associate) “Employment of Spirit: How acting teachers and students negotiate intercorporeal experiences” & “Digital Places: Testing the thresholds between artists and other researchers in relation to the Sidetrack Performance Group archive”
Liza-Marie Syron (D.Arts candidate) “Critical reception of Indigenous theatre practice and the cross-cultural experiences of Actor Training in Australia”

AWARDS at A.D.S.A
Liza-Marie Syron's paper short-listed
Liza-Marie’s paper was short-listed for the Veronica Kelly Prize for outstanding presentation by a Postgraduate

Dr Ian Maxwell awarded the Marlis Thiersch Research Award for excellence in theatre studies
Dr Ian Maxwell was awarded the Association’s Marlis Thiersch Research Award for excellence in theatre studies for his essay “The Ritualization of Performance (Studies)” in Graeme St John (ed) Victor Turner and Cultural Performance, New York: Berghan Books, 2008. Ian was also short-listed for the same prize for another essay, “‘Who Were You?’ The Visceral and the Visible” in Maaike Bleeker (ed.) Anatomy Live: Performance and the Operating Theatre, Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press, 2008.

NEW A.D.S.A PRESIDENT
CONGRATUALTIONS!! to (President) Dr Ian Maxwell
Topping off the week at the conference, Ian Maxwell was elected President of A.D.S.A. for 2008-9.

OTHER CONFERENCES ATTENDED THIS MONTH
Australian & New Zealand American Association Conference 2008
Dr Amanda Card (Academic Staff) presented a paper this July at the Australian & New Zealand American Association Conference at the University of Sydney called "Dancing 'round a Tipi: the life and work of Reginald and Gladys Laubin"

World Dance Alliance Conference 2008
Justine Shih-Pearson (PhD Candidate) presented a paper at the World Dance Alliance Conference in Brisbane this month with choreographer Ade Suharto - "A View from the bridge: a dialogic practice".

Catching up...
This has been a busy semester and the 'news page' has languished somewhat, our apologies.

Our NEW 0.5 Appointment
Early this semester we welcomed Glen McGillivray - our new 0.5 appointment. Glen is a former director, acting teacher and dramaturg and has a PhD from this department. He also lectures in Performance at the School of Communications Arts at the University of Western Sydney.

CONFERENCES
Jim Martin, Michele Zappavigna and our own Paul Dwyer are co-authors on a keynote presentation to the prestigious European Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference beginning in Helsinki next week. Their paper, “Negotiating Shame: Exchange and Genre Structure in Youth Justice Conferencing” presents work-in-progress from the project “Enacting Reconciliation” which has been funded by the Australian Research Council.

NEW PUBLICATIONS
Dr Laura Ginters & Dr Glen McGillivray have articles in the latest Australasian Drama Studies 52, April 2008: "Mis-recognised Knowledges: National Identity and the Unreliable Narrative in Jack Hibberd's [[i|A Stretch of the Imagination]] and Josephine Wilson's [[i|The Geography of Haunted Places]] - Glen McGillivary; "Interview: Lindy Davies: A Path to a Process, Part 2", Laura Ginters. (Part 1 of Laura's interview with Lindy Davies can be found in Australasian Drama Studies 50, April 2007.)

Dr Andrew Filmer (PhD 2006 and former Honorary Associate, recently appointed to a Lectureship in Performance Studies, Department of Theatre, Film and Television at University of Wales, Aberystwyth) has an new article in the latest New Theatre Quarterly Volume XXIV, Part 2 May 2008: "Minding the Gap: the Performer in the Wings".

IN THE REX STUDIO
The Fondue Set (Jane McKernan, Elizabeth Ryan and Emma Saunders) have just presented their latest performance/dance work at The Studio, Sydney Opera House, moving to Campbell Town Arts Centre and Arts Space Melbourne over the next few weeks. "No Success Like Failure" was developed in association with various partners including the Department of Performance Studies. During their time in the Rex Cramphorn Studio, Jane, Elizabeth and Emma also contributed to our Honours and Rehearsal Studies programs, providing our students with an invaluable insight into their process .

More appointments . . .
The Department congratulates two of our recent PhD graduates on exciting new appointments . . .

Dr Kate Rossmanith (PhD 2004) will take up a Lectureship in the Department of Critical and Cultural Studies in the Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy at Macquarie University.

Dr Andrew Filmer (PhD 2006) has accepted the offer of a Lectureship in Performance Studies, Department of Theatre, Film and Television at University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

We wish Kate and Andrew all the best in their positions, both of which commence early in the new year.

They join recent graduates Dr Paul Moore (PhD 2005), Dr Pauline Manley (PhD 2007) and Dr Stuart Grant (PhD 2007), who have all accepted positions in the past two months at, respectively, the University of Ulster, Macquarie University and Monash University.

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The latest issue of the Department's refereed journal, About Performance 7–Local Acts: Site-based Performance Practice–is now available.

Edited by Gay McAuley, the volume includes articles by
Mike Pearson (University of Wales, Aberystwyth); Fiona Wilkie (University of Surrey); Mark Minchinton (Victoria University) and Domenico de Clario (Monash University); Maryrose Casey (Monash University); Elizabeth Dempster (Victoria University); Paul Brown (University of New South Wales) and Xanth-Rose Crittenden; Kerrie Schaefer (Exeter University) and David Watt (University of Newcastle); Lisa Warrington (University of Otago); Mary Elizabeth Anderson (University of California, Davis); Kate Lawrence (University of Surrey); and Michael Cohen (University of Sydney).

For details on contents and how to order a copy, click here or download
an order form here.

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Some publications

A couple of recent articles about the Department, available on-line in Semiotix:
"State of the Art: Performance Studies" by Gay McAuley and
"Semiotic Profile
Gay McAuley: A leading figure in Australian Performance Studies" by Andrew Filmer.

Congratulations

. . . to successful applicants for Australian Postgraduate Award scholarships for PhD projects commencing in the Department of Performance Studies in 2008:

Kathryn Bicknell (Honours 2007);
Niamh Kearney (Honours UNSW); and
Jeffrey Stewart (MArts 2007).

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Congratulations to the Honours class of 2007:
Claire Dunn
Rosie Findlay
Kathryn Bicknell
Travis Hodgson
Elena Knox
Mimi Leith
Sabina Popescu and
Calista Sinclair

All eight will graduate early in 2008, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

The Department would also like to thank the following artists and organisations for assisting with placements for these students:

de Quincey Company: The Stirring (Kath Bicknell)
Bell Shakespeare Company: The Government Inspector (Sabina Popescu)
Nigel Kellaway: Sleepers Wake!Wachet Auf! (Travis Hodgson)
Opera Australia: Tannhauser (Rosie Findlay)
Sydney University Women's AFL (Claire Dunn)
State of Play Wilde Tails (Mimi Leith)
Compaigne Genty (Paris) (Calista Sinclair)
The Sydney Opera House: The Hanging of Jean Lee (Elena Knox)

Casebooks documenting these placements are held in the Department's Archive Room.

Visiting Scholar, 2008

From the 18th February we are pleased to welcome Adam Ernst from the University of Vienna, who will undertake research towards his PhD project "Audience vs. Critics in Contemporary Dance."

This thesis implements theories used in communication sciences into the spectator-analysis of dance productions. "How do producers work for this audience?”, “how do they influence their perception?", and "how do audience/ critics influence the production of future works?" are some of his main points of interest and direction for further research. Special attention will be directed towards the question of whether there is a unique ‘Australian Gaze’ compared to the European perception of the spectacle.

Until recently Adam has been the coordinator of danceWEB Europe, a European network of dance institutions involing 32 countries. He was head of the Coproduction and Scholarship Programme, which brings each summer 60 young dancers from 40 countries to Vienna, to undertake professional training withing the frame of ImPulsTanz Vienna Dance Festival.

In February 2007 he published his book Art criticism: An approach for causality classification.

The collaboration with the Department of Performance Studies is supported by the Endeavour Europe Scholarship a merit-based scholarship provided by the Australian Government. The Endeavour Programme brings leading researchers, executives and students to Australia to undertake short or long term study, research and professional development in a broad range of disciplines and enables Australians to do the same abroad.

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Congratulations to . . .
Pauline Manley, who, having received her PhD on October 26th, has successfully applied for the position of Lecturer in Dance at Macquarie University.

The Performance Studies team–'The Revisionists' (Ian Maxwell and Amanda Card with ring-ins Michelle Arrow (Department of History, Macquarie University) and Katy Coote (Darlinghurst Theatre)) who won the SAMAG Trivia Night at the Australia Council on Monday night.

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Publication news
Congratulations to Kate Rossmanith, whose essay about stem cell research, "Many Me", has been published in Best Australian Essays 2007 (Black Inc. 2007).

In the Rex Studio . . .
Untitled (Triptych) is a residency led by performer and writer Rosalie Lester (pictured right). Rosalie will build the beginning for a triptych of short works exploring memory and forgetting and will extend her collaboration with the creative team who made Back in 5, performed at "Accidents and Alchemies" in 2005. Rosalie and her collaborators will develop elements of the two companion audio-visual installation works, addressing the fractured reality of dementia.

This Residency is supported through the Department of Performance Studies' collaboration with Performance Space at Carriageworks.

Congratulations
Ian Maxwell has been awarded a Faculty of Arts 2007 Teaching Excellence Award.

Friday seminar November 2nd
Amanda Card & Martin del Amo
“Becoming undone with the dances of del Amo: a developing dialogue”.

and

Kate Rossmanith will present the opening sections of a work-in-progress:
"Steve Irwin, Crocodiles, and Far North Queensland: how people perform 'living-with-crocs'"

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Coming up, following creative development in the Rex Cramphorn Studio . . .

de Quincey Company
The Stirring
8-17 November THU-SAT 7:30PM
Performance Space @ CarriageWorks
De Quincey Co's new site-specific performance
a labyrinth unfolds within the installation and buildings, touching the past, present and future of the Eveleigh railyards, with performers Henrietta Baird, Tess de Quincey, Peter Fraser, Oguri, Alan Schacher
sound installation Natasha Anderson, lighting Travis Hodgson, costumes Lian Loke
$25/$20/$15 + Student Rush Thu all tix $12
Artists Talk 15 Nov (following the show)
BOOKINGS
moshtix.com.au 1300 438 849, moshtix outlets
Performance Space Info 02 8571-9111

de Quincey Company
embrace: GUILT FRAME
27 February - 9 March THU-SAT 7:30PM
Richard Wherrett Studio, Sydney Theatre
Tess de Quincey and Peter Snow negotiate the eight key states of human emotion, as outlined in The Natyashastra–the cornerstone of artistic practice in India.
Presented by Sydney Theatre Company as part of WHARF 2LOUD
sydneytheatre.com.au
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Friday seminar
October 26th, 3pm-5pm, AV Studio, Department of Performance Studies

Tim Fitzpatrick
title to be confirmed
Dr Stuart Grant
title to be confirmed

Level 1, Woolley Building. All welcome.

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In the Rex Cramphorn Studio . . .

Deborah Pollard: 24 September to 21 October

This is the second residency for performance artist Deborah Pollard who will continue to develop her solo piece Blue Print. Deborah Pollard draws on the experience of losing her family home in the 2003 Canberra bushfires as a way to explore how people grieve, and memory in relation to lost places.

The initial creative development phase occurred in March 2006, and Deborah performed the work before students in Dr Paul Dwyer's class at Department of Performance Studies.

The collaborative team includes Deborah Pollard (devisor/performer) together with [[b||avid Buckley, Daniel Fenech and Louis Fitzpatrick (performers); John Baylis (Dramaturg), Sam James (multimedia & space design), Erth (Object Design), Gail Priest (sound and composition), Katia Molino (Costume Design), Neil Simpson (Lighting), and Stephen Klinder (production Manager).

Blue Print goes straight into production at Performance Space at Carriageworks, 26 October to 4 November. Please visit www.performancespace.com.au for more information. Tickets are available through Moshtix, and are also available at the door. The artist talk is Wednesday 31 October, straight after the show.
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Fondue Set: 22 October - 11 November 2007

Fondue Set will be working on the beginnings of a new work directed by UK artist Wendy Houstoun. Wendy will arrive in Australia following the Fondue Set's time in the Rex Cramphorn Studio.

The piece which has the working title of No success Like Failure will be performed in June 2008 at The Studio, Sydney Opera and the Campbelltown Arts Centre.

The three week residency period in the Rex Cramphorn Stuidio will be spent investigating and devising new material through the exploration of movement worlds, specific tasks and imagery. Not having Wendy's physical presence in the Rex, a part of their process will also involve receiving instructions and tasks from Wendy via email.

Fondue Set is comprised of artists Elizabeth Ryan, Jane McKernan and Emma Saunders. The trio formed in 2000 after they met at the Omeo Dance Studios in Sydney. Since then they have created and performed works including Soft Cheese (2001) and Blue Moves (2003) for the One Extra Dance Company, Sydney.

Blue Moves was also presented at the Melbourne International Arts Festival (2003) and the Antistatic Festival, Performance Space, Sydney. They presented Love and Other Indoor Sports at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (2003) and produced a short film Are We There Yet? with Sydney based Peter Volich.

Keep an eye on this page for more news about No success Like Failure, or view their website at www.thefondueset.com.au

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Congratulations to . . .

Lecturer Paul Dwyer, who, in collaboration with Professor Jim Martin of the Department of Linguistics, has been awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant for the project "Enacting Reconciliation: Negotiating Meaning in Youth Justice Conferencing".

Stuart Grant, Pauline Manley and Yana Taylor, who have all qualified for the degree of PhD following the successful examination of their theses.

Stuart Grant: Gathering to Witness
Pauline Manley: Opening the Pod: Involution and Dehiscence in Contemporary Dance
Yana Taylor: Doctors of Presence: Tadashi Suzuki's Training Methods in Sydney Contemporary Performance

Joanne Harris, who has been awarded her MArts following the successful examination of her thesis Historical Impressions: Ballet in a Nutshell–the Athletes and Dancers Company–the Dance Company (NSW) 1965-1976.

Jeffrey Stewart, who has also been awarded an MArts for his thesis Significantly Sentimental and the Possibility of Love.

Daniel Johnston, who has just submitted his PhD thesis, Active Metaphysics: Acting as Manual Philosophy or Phenomenological Interpretations of Acting Theory.

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