Back to Top Curated Program - 2007 Critical Path has capitalised on interest from partners across Australia to structure a portfolio of 8 curated projects for 2007 which address a range of artistic imperatives, incorporating a diversity of partners and international artists from Israel, USA, Germany, UK and Japan.

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Batsheva Dance Company; January 8-14, 2007 GAGA Classes Monday 8 – Friday 12. Open registration. Master Class Sunday 14 with Ohad Naharin in association with Sydney Festival Critical Path will host a week of GAGA classes, for local dancer/choreographer participants free of charge, to be conducted by members of Batsheva with the week culminating in a Masterclass with Ohad Naharin. Under the leadership and guidance of Ohad Naharin, Batsheva has evolved into a think tank, which constantly develops and modifies its creations. The key to this process is the Gaga/Naharin movement language developed by Naharin in conjunction with the Batsheva dancers. GAGA encourages and teaches multi dimensional movement, efficiency of movement, the use of explosive power, texture of movement, the connection between pleasure and effort, quickness, the clarity of intention, stamina, recognizing one’s own movement habits and acquiring new ones, and ways to reverse atrophy and weakness and helps dancers to maximize their training and strengths. These classes are a one-off opportunity for dancers to participate in a Critical Path workshop. These classes will offer an insight into GAGA philosophy and techniques and provide local choreographers, and the dancers they work with, the opportunity to access this innovative “operating system”. More information - www.batsheva.co.il/site Lucy Guerin Workshop; January 15-19, 2007 10-12 choreographer/participants. Open registration. in association with Sydney Festival Melbourne based choreographer Lucy Guerin will conduct a 5 day workshop, assisted by long time collaborator/dancer Kirstie McCracken. Lucy writes of her workshop K's Corridor: ñIn Kafka's book 'The Castle' there is a long scene describing in detail the comings and goings in a corridor through the many doors leading from it. Kafka's writing has always appealed to me because of his treating as ordinary, the most off kilter events. The uniqueness of his literary style is completely refined and personal, yet has a resonance that is far reaching. These are qualities I value from any artist. I would like to use this text to re-create the scene described in the corridor choreographically. While this is an idea that I have wanted to explore for some time, it would also serve as a basic framework to introduce workshop participants to some of the ways I devise material. I do not have a set process but generally use the idea I have chosen to generate techniques and tasks to create the work. It is on the one hand a very structured and detailed approach to creating movement, but also has departure points which open up the process to the vast possibilities for challenging one's familiar methods and for investigating new groundî. This project will be an opportunity for participants to engage with Guerin's approach to making work. This involves an ability to become immersed in one's own sensibility, balanced with a critical examination of the structure and outcome of the work. More information - www.lucyguerin.com Miguel Gutierrez Workshop; May 21-27, 2007 10 choreographer/participants by invitiation in partnership with Balletlab New York choreographer Miguel Gutierrez has a solo practice which delivers a significantly innovative choreography within a trashy, throw-away aesthetic. Miguel’s performative persona connects to an entire sub-culture associated with a ground-breaking studio project in Brooklyn, which has built a huge profile for independent dance in New York. Critical Path is convinced that Miguel’s input into the Sydney scene will inspire local choreographers not only to embrace and challenge the dominant aesthetic of their city but also to try out fresh approaches to creating a platform for their work. Miguel writes of his workshop, entitled, What you think what you feel what you know to be real: “Creating performance is a way of tapping into how we locate ourselves in our lives and in the world. As such we attempt to find out what our own personal “truths” are and make them known in our work, or sometimes they seem to emerge from our creations. In this research workshop we will look at the idea of what it means to be “real,” “natural,” “authentic,” “free” and “open.” We will work with a variety of methods of improvisation that valorize these terms and see how they relate to our understanding of the conditions and contexts of our work as makers and performers.” Miguel will work for 5 days with 10 NSW based choreographers, selected by Critical Path and paid a training bursary to attend. Miguel will also hold a talk for up to 50 additional guests at The Drill. More information – www.miguelgutierrez.org, www.balletlab.com Antje Pfundtner “Being back”; June 18-20, 2007 10-12 choreographer/participants open to applications. Open registration. in partnership with The Studio, Sydney Opera House, Arts House, Melbourne and Goethe Institut “Being back” is the flipside workshop for Antje Pfundtner at Critical Path, as a development of her successful one week project in 2005. She writes “we will go backwards only in order to move on. And to see what moves us and to observe and discuss where we are NOW? I am really excited to be back and hope that some lovely people will be back with me. But I would love to invite anyone to be back and to move his/hers back in and into this workshop, which mainly incorporates improvisation, leading into predetermined structures”. The workshop will start with a simple warm-up. Then Antje will teach a movement-combination, but the main focus will be on improvising together as is her practice in the creation of choreographic material. In her solo work Antje Pfundtner recounts various stories that play on inner and outer voices of perception. The departure point for this radical, ironically and refreshing self questioning work. Simultaneously, Antje Pfundtner investigates the possibilities of the art of storytelling through a mixture of dance and spoken word which prompts an immediate sense of understanding. Thomas Lehmen Research Workshop October 1-5, 2007 10 choreographer/participants by invitiation in partnership with Strut and Goethe Institut Berlin choreographer Thomas Lehmen moves between performance and dance and asks uneasy questions about the art of dance and himself as a person. With enigmatic irony and minimalist reduction he makes his audience aware of the difference between a choreographic idea and its artistic translation. Thomas’s workshop is structurally based on the rotating system “Funktionen”. The system is able to work with existing themes and ideas of the participants as well as new territory being uncovered through the functions observation, material, interpretation, mediation and manipulation. Thomas will work for one week with 10 NSW choreographers, selected by Critical Path and paid a training bursary to attend. The Goethe Institut will present performances by Thomas in Sydney in October 2007. Carol Brown Workshop on Dance and Architecture; October 22-26, 2007 in partnership with Strut and British Council 10 choreographer/participants by invitiation In response to demand from the sector for projects addressing the built environment, UK based choreographer Carol Brown will work with collaborator architect Mette Ramsgard for one week with 10 NSW choreographers on a project involving media to address architectural concerns. Carol writes of her workshop; “The new work fuses thinking about the environment with digital processes through a program which creates a playful environment for dancers and participants. It merges fields of dance, architecture and computer science, through an enchanted digital seascape the idea of which is drawn from the Sargasso Sea. Performers and participants playfully draw spaces through their interaction with digital agents. From our research workshops this is a very engaging space in which to interact and understand agency which is both human and nonhuman, it also creates new possibilities for choreographic thinking.” Impro-Lab; November 19-21, 2007 10-12 choreographer/participants by invitiation with Japanese Artist Naoyuki Oguri in partnership with De Quincey Co Impro-Lab has a strong focus on improvised dance practice which is based in a hybrid of asian and western disciplines, maintaining a markedly different conceptual approach to the body and to space than traditions of western dance. Ongoing Impro-Lab laboratories, residencies and performances in 2006 form the basis for a new program of exchange in 2007 which builds on the exchange by Tess de Quincey with Japanese artists and residency in Tokyo in 2006. Impro-Lab 2007 will be a 3-day research laboratory led by preeminent Japanese butoh dancer from the Body Weather tradition, Oguri, & facilitated by Tess de Quincey. Impro Lab 2007 will be a 5-day research laboratory led by preeminent Japanese butoh dancer Yasunari Tamai & facilitated by Tess de Quincey. Hosting an exchange between different traditions of dance, with a focus on exploring improvisation, it culminates with performances for an invited audience at The Drill. UK-Australia Research Exchange; November 5-18, 2007 hancock and kelly live 6 choreographer/participants by invitiation in partnership with Dance4 National Dance Agency, Nottingham UK This exchange involves independent choreographers with a strong research based practice, working between sister organizations in Sydney and Nottingham, UK. The project empowers the independent choreographer to act as the producer of their own and the other artists’ research in ways which benefit the local independent dance scene in each country and further the practice and networks of that artist. Each host partner has a slightly different context and agenda, however the common thread is the focus upon research and the independent choreographer and their networks. Australian independent choreographer, Martin del Amo, travelled to UK in October 2006 to work with local artists Traci Kelly and Richard Hancock. Martin was hosted by the British artists and they will visit Australia and work on a program at Critical Path hosted by Martin and involving 5 local choreographers in a workshop. There is a third aspect to this exchange which is planned for 2008 involving Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

Back to Top   Mentoring Projects 2007 In 2007 4 Mentoring Projects will involve over 25 artists with a range of diverse needs. Ideas for these projects have been generated as a response to conversations between local artists and Critical Path. For further information please contact Critical Path. MAP - Facilitator Wendy Morrow. 2 intensive weekends April October MAP’S [mature artists' programs] are professional development programs that are frameworks to re-connect and support the mature artist sector. The programs are part of a portfolio of projects and initiatives that focus on linking artists through artist driven clusters, 1-1 facilitation and creative laboratories. In this project Wendy Morrow will facilitate conversations on practice addressing issues of sustainability, artistic isolation and how we can, as experienced artists, continue to develop and contribute to the dance and new performance sector. Through the facilitated sessions this project will provide a platform for individuals to clarify and review their practice, a framework to discuss collective issues, opportunities to utilise the expertise within the cluster to gain insights and clarification about their work through dialogue and feedback, insights for those wishing to develop a stronger community with peers to support and develop individual and varied practices, alternative ways of thinking and circulate knowledge that develops the collaborative nature of professional development, potential catalysts for the individual in seeking solutions and on-going strategies to further their work. Under the Critical Path mentoring stream this project will be structured around two intensive workshops in April and October for four established artists; Nikki Heywood, Alan Schacher, Tony Osbourne and Jo Clancy. It will use aspects of the MAP programs as a basis, combined with the individual and shared concerns of the four artists. DanceWrite - A RealTime Critical Path Review Writing Workshop. 2 intensive weekends 6 choreographer/writer participants. Open to applications A writing workshop for 6 NSW choreographers/writers (by application) and 3 tutors will respond to live dance, documented dance and dance film. This workshop will address the dearth of dance writers in NSW. Spanning two consecutive weekend periods the workshop will begin on a Friday night with a viewing of a dance performance. The participants will have an opportunity to meet the artists involved and attend a post show discussion. The Saturday and Sunday will include overviews of review principles, writing a review of the performance, shared editing, and re-writing. The two weekends will also include guest speakers on professional reviewing. As well as the written responses to live performance (with the two Friday shows) the workshop will also introduce writing about dance film. Applicants will submit 2 examples of their writing, published or not, to the editors of RealTime and the Director of Critical Path who will jointly select the workshop participants. fLiNG Rural retreat - 8 day residency. Mentored relationship with youth dance company. Open to applications As with the successful 2006 Rural Residency, Critical Path, in partnership with fLiNG Physical Theatre in Bega, will support an independent choreographer to spend a week in Bega in 2007, to undertake creative research. Whilst in Bega, the artist will give a workshop to the fLiNG company members. The quiet time and space of the residency is designed to give the artist a moment of calm and reflection in order to focus upon their practice. A longer term relationship between the choreographer and fLiNG is welcomed. In 2007 Critical Path and fLiNG Physical Theatre will offer a 8 day residency, open to applications. More information – www.sear.org.au/fling1.0.html Looks like Dance/Sounds Like Dance - A series of 5 mentored/curated nites. Sunday evenings June- November Looks like Dance/Sounds like Dance will provide a supportive framework for opening up creative and critical exchange to assist in development of practices and provide an occasion to share work. In conversations with choreographers working in and around Critical Path, there is an often articulated need for furthering opportunities for informal conversation and discussion around practice and research. As a response to this reoccurring concern, Critical Path will invite 5 artists, to bring a variety of approaches and attitudes to the brief. Each artist will curate an informal program, involving other artists, thereby mentoring a small group of artists through the process, to be held on a series of Sunday evenings in the 2nd half of 2007. Each evening will take a diverse form and have a specific focus, as agreed on between the invited artist and the Director. Some areas for discussion already discussed include dramaturgy and dance, improvisation processes, performer/audience interaction, and a continuing conversation about research models. Critical Path anticipates that these nights will provide an opportunity for much needed lively debate, enthusiastic, passionate and intense dialogue, will offer a thoughtful, far-ranging critical exchange and encourage networking and building of community.