Sabbatical

I am relishing this very different start to the year - the first half of 2016 has become a performance and research sabbatical. I am in the midst of rehearsals with visual artist Neha Choksi (LA/Bombay) as we collaborate on the performance aspect of Neha’s installation, The Sun’s Rehearsal for the Sydney Biennale. The performance In Memory of the Last Sunset opens in March and performances will be repeated in April and May.

In February I attended performances at the Perth Festival and the Fringe. Outstanding was William Kentridge’s Refuse The Hour and Nicola Gunn’s solo performance, Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster.

Brenda Downing’s book, Feeling the Fleshed Body was launched recently in Perth, in a memorable and moving occasion for all of those present. Dr Lekkie Hopkins introduced Brenda’s book with quotes from her PhD examiner’s reports and her long term knowledge of Brenda’s research. I spoke of my relationship with Brenda through our somatic research and performance making.

Brenda has written a book that changed her life and will change the lives of the women who read it.” Feeling The Fleshed Body” is an extraordinary achievement. It will move you. Brenda is a poet, her words sear your flesh illuminating what it has meant to be imprisoned by the violence of her story. What a privilege it has been to offer her my hand in love and support.         Alice 2016

In January, students came from around Australia to study the Skeletal and Organ Systems as part of the Professional Development Program at Riddells Creek. As always it was a rich and transformative time for everyone present.

In June I will be in NYC to work with colleagues and then on to Montreal where I am presenting at the annual BMCA conference, Metamorphosis: Evolutionary Pathways in Somatics.

I then have a residency at Concordia University, made possible through Erin Manning and the SenseLab. Based in Montreal, the SenseLab is an international network of artists and academics, writers and makers, from a wide diversity of fields, working together at the crossroads of philosophy, art, and activism.