HIERO - Great Southern Dance

INTERGENERATIONAL DANCE EXPERIENCE

Conceived/directed by Felicity Bott with design direction by Paul Wakelam, this Great Southern Dance intergenerational dance production was created in collaboration with Mature Artists Dance Experience and four youth interns. Aged 13-76, Hiero’s cast of 20 dancers spans four generations.

In 2023 great southern dance conceived Hiero and invited Mature Artists Dance Experience to collaborate on an intergenerational dance experience combining in situ residency for a combined ensemble work in nipaluna/Hobart City Hall, community workshops and public performances of said new work.

Combining a professional dance company with an Ensemble of 12 mature artists from MADE and an additional 4 youth performers, interning with GSD from DRILL Performance, this new work saw dancers at different life stages perform together, deeply curious about respective roles, rights, responsibilities and lived experience.

Meaning ‘sacred’, the Greek word hiero is used here to name the way performance will be used as a lens, focussing those present on the dynamics of relating and offering glimpses of intergenerational connections we deeply respect and hold dear to us.

PERFORMANCE RESEARCH RESIDENCY ACCESSIBLE TO THE COMMUNITY: JULY 1-7, 2024

Hiero was a residency project that piloted exploration of what a ‘secular ritual’ might be, aiming to simultaneously develop community and artistry. It also provided opportunities for artists of non-professional and professional standing to create and perform together, these are rare. To work towards this, GSD and MADE was in residence together in City Hall for the first time for a week of creative development, presentation and engagement with diverse community members. This project was the pre-cursor to Dance Commons.

INTERGENERATIONAL

The project aimed to combine dance-making with community conversation, asking questions like:

‘How do our private and civic selves intertwine with the lives of others of different ages?
‘Can intergenerational performance offer a ‘rite of passage’ for the local community?
‘What does the community want to contribute to this?’
‘How do we bring diverse cultural perspectives to it?’