STRUT Dance SUNSET Interview

Tim, you have been a STRUT member for two years now. How did you find out about us?

I’m pretty sure it was whilst whilst I was at WAAPA studying performance making. We were always looking for interesting workshops and classes to do, and STRUT has those in spades!

As a theatre-maker, what drew you to our program?

I’m really interested in the intersection between dance and theatre, and I think that the point at which the two crash into each other is really exciting. Not having had any kind of formal dance training, I was really apprehensive at first. I chose to apply for the Andrew Morrish & Humphrey Bower workshop last year because I had seen them perform previously, and was intrigued about how the two of them would work together. That workshop also spoke about text and movement — it felt like a comfortable zone for me to work and learn in. After the incredible experience that was that workshop, I had to apply for the Maxine Doyle workshop. I was really interested to get an insight into the process and methods for creation of her particular kind of performance.

What was your experience of those two workshops?

From the Morrish & Bower workshop we were continually plunged into the depths of improvising movement and text in front of each other. As a maker I can get caught up in my own head, so being forced to become comfortable in the discomfort, and follow the pleasure of the experience was really quite incredible for me. During the Maxine Doyle workshop, I think a lot of ideas were presented to me in ways that really clicked. Particularly the idea of ‘slipping’ from the real to the abstract and back again whilst maintaining a really rich inner-world and specificity. The way that they work with/to/from sites was an amazing thing to experience as well. In both workshops the attendees were awesome groups of people. I learned so much about myself as a maker and performer, and opened up so many avenues for future collaborations with some incredible people.

And now you have been offered a role in SUNSET to premiere next year in Perth Festival next year! What does that mean for you and your own practice?

Yes! I am so excited to see what Maxine, Sarah and Connor have in store for the work. This will be the largest scale project I have been a part of as a performer, and I am preparing to throw myself into the deep end and give them all I’ve got.

What are you up to now and when will we be seeing you again on stage?

At the moment I am in Fringe Festival recovery mode, this year was pretty exhausting for me. At the moment I wont be performing a little while, I am co-directing Tissue which will be re-mounted for Subiaco Theatre Festival in June which is exciting, and I’m working as a collaborator/stage manager on another really exciting project that I can’t reveal just yet!

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Questions answered for STRUT Dance member's news, 4 May 2018