'This is where it happened' is a performance event reflecting on local dance history; the people, the places and memories, by weaving local narrative through the voices of elders in the local community, with contemporary dance-theatre.
Site-specific stories connected to people and place are woven with dance scores and choreography. Performed in the public, but only heard through headphones, the work is experienced from a multitude of perspectives.
A evocative verbatim text comprised of multiple voices of community elders gathered by Özer during her research and development meld with iconic sound samples; the voice of Dame Nellie Melba and the sound of Murrundindi, AKA Gary Hunter Elder and head man (Ngurungaeta) of the Wurundjeri people playing didgeridoo and other skillfull instrumentation in the original sound score created by designer Rod Price. A unique historically based animation video has been created by visual and performing artists Vanessa White to set the scene and open this beautiful work. Exceptional dancers, Sara De Signa, Claudia-Lynn Rightmire & Josh Twee animate this live performance at Melba Park in Lilydale.
Özer’s choreographic inquiry in this work is engaged with; animating place, dance in the public domain, dance and the everyday, dance histories, cultural memory and identity. She has been making place based works in the Yarra Ranges for a number of years now and often reflects in her work upon the complexity of belonging and identity in Australia, be that characterised by ancestral lines, connection to one’s place of birth or as an adoptive home through migration. Özer is a mix of multiple cultures; tracing her mother's family lineage back to her Aboriginal ancestors, she also has Italian, English and Turkish provenance.
The first development of this work was supported by Yarra Ranges Council through their Dance Here program and was presented in March 2016 in Healesville and subsequently in Lilydale (2017), Victoria, Australia.
This work was developed in consultation and collaboration with a number of community groups and individuals including; The Yarra Ranges Council, Lilydale Probus Club, Lilydale Senior Citizens Group, Lilydale & District Historical Society, Murrundindi, AKA Gary Hunter Elder and head man (Ngurungaeta) of the Wurundjeri people, Yarra Ranges Regional Museum and collection and The Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre Group.
Proudly funded by Yarra Ranges Council, Grants for Community - Arts and Heritage Program
Reference publications:
Yarra Ranges Dance Summary, Yarra Ranges Museum:
Reminiscences of Life: Notes and memories of Lilydale residence Vol 1 & 2 Sue Thompson and Ruby Kwijas
Lilydale Icon: A history of Lilydale’s Athenaeum Building, A F Mc Aleer
Site-specific stories connected to people and place are woven with dance scores and choreography. Performed in the public, but only heard through headphones, the work is experienced from a multitude of perspectives.
A evocative verbatim text comprised of multiple voices of community elders gathered by Özer during her research and development meld with iconic sound samples; the voice of Dame Nellie Melba and the sound of Murrundindi, AKA Gary Hunter Elder and head man (Ngurungaeta) of the Wurundjeri people playing didgeridoo and other skillfull instrumentation in the original sound score created by designer Rod Price. A unique historically based animation video has been created by visual and performing artists Vanessa White to set the scene and open this beautiful work. Exceptional dancers, Sara De Signa, Claudia-Lynn Rightmire & Josh Twee animate this live performance at Melba Park in Lilydale.
Özer’s choreographic inquiry in this work is engaged with; animating place, dance in the public domain, dance and the everyday, dance histories, cultural memory and identity. She has been making place based works in the Yarra Ranges for a number of years now and often reflects in her work upon the complexity of belonging and identity in Australia, be that characterised by ancestral lines, connection to one’s place of birth or as an adoptive home through migration. Özer is a mix of multiple cultures; tracing her mother's family lineage back to her Aboriginal ancestors, she also has Italian, English and Turkish provenance.
The first development of this work was supported by Yarra Ranges Council through their Dance Here program and was presented in March 2016 in Healesville and subsequently in Lilydale (2017), Victoria, Australia.
This work was developed in consultation and collaboration with a number of community groups and individuals including; The Yarra Ranges Council, Lilydale Probus Club, Lilydale Senior Citizens Group, Lilydale & District Historical Society, Murrundindi, AKA Gary Hunter Elder and head man (Ngurungaeta) of the Wurundjeri people, Yarra Ranges Regional Museum and collection and The Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre Group.
Proudly funded by Yarra Ranges Council, Grants for Community - Arts and Heritage Program
Reference publications:
Yarra Ranges Dance Summary, Yarra Ranges Museum:
Reminiscences of Life: Notes and memories of Lilydale residence Vol 1 & 2 Sue Thompson and Ruby Kwijas
Lilydale Icon: A history of Lilydale’s Athenaeum Building, A F Mc Aleer