Dance Interrogations

Dance Interrogations 2016 is a re-working of the tools and content of the cultures of dance and disability. Melinda Smith, a dancer living with cerebral palsy, and screendance artist, Dianne Reid, develop improvisational dance performance that interacts with video projected imagery. It extends upon the Dance Interrogations series presented in 2015 at Abbotsford Convent by introducing aerial work into their unique collaborative practice spanning 6 years.

The dance works celebrates risk-taking for performers and audience. The risk of being seen in an awkward moment, of not conforming to expectation, of aging, of falling over, of revelaing our thoughts and using our imagination, of moving in different relationships to time and space. Dance Interrogations 2016 plays between the formats of art installation and dance performance, shifting the angle from which audiences engage with the body and dance.

“Thought-provoking, quirky, original; this is intimate dance at its best”
—Carl Cranstone, Rip It Up

“‘Dance Interrogations’ challenges the boundaries between dance performance and dance spectator”
— Rachel Donnelly, Festival Journal, Edinburgh

“It is at times a very real and personal memoir, and at others, a free-wheeling, physical and mental catharsis”
— Simon Eales, Australian Stage

Created & Performed by
Melinda Smith & Dianne Reid

Sound Design and Additional Soundscapes by
Mark Lang