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“Making art is a sedimentation of layers. What we make today indirectly reflects what was done before. Maybe it comes as an opposition, or a continuation, as an echo, but we need to be aware of that. And I do think that in Australia we are not aware of what’s been done.”
– Angela Conquet

In episode three, the Artistic Director of Dancehouse, Melbourne’s home of contemporary dance, Angela Conquet, joins hosts Jana Perkovic and Fleur Kilpatrick. We talk about contemporary dance in Australia, what makes it particular; about the urgency to preserve it, and whether Australia, being such a young country, is not aware of the forces of impermanence.

Discussed in this episode:
Russell Dumas, how much space Australian pedestrians take, reinventing hot water, RoseLee Goldberg not getting Australian dance, what it means to have or not have a revolution, Merce Cunningham, the historical importance of being seen at Avignon, and much else.

“As the in-house Australian here, I apologise on behalf of us all for our extravagant use of space.”
– Fleur Kilpatrick

Enjoy and stay tuned: we have more exciting and intellectually rigorous conversations to come.

Podcast bibliography:
Julian Meyrick: Trapped by the Past, Why Our Theatre is Facing Paralysis (Platform Papers, Quarterly essays on the performing atrs, No 3, January 2005)
Peggy Phelan: The ontology of performance: representation without production (in Unmarked: The Politics of Performance)

For more information about Angela Conquet’s work, visit Dancehouse (also in person).

Photo credits: Alfred Mrozicki.