Wellington Festival, New Zealand, 14 – 17 March

By contrast with Ireland, Wellington turned on uncharacteristically balmy weather, and festival audiences very much enjoyed the four performances and a meet-the-artists forum in the beautiful old St James Theatre.

After Wellington, the Teac Damsa company moved on with performances in Luxemburg, Seoul and soon in Cologne, Germany and Longford in Ireland. Elizabeth is taking a short break from touring to work on home based projects at Mirramu.

2017 was a busy year at Mirramu and elsewhere.

Perth WA -February, working on the second stage of Dust on the Shortbread.

Mirramu Creative Arts Centre Bungendore NSW– March, working with Sue Healey from Sydney and Dancecology from Taiwan on Lineage/Contours, a dance film project supported by artsACT. Also performing and presenting at Liz Lea’s BOLD festival, March, in a variety of Canberra venues including Belconnen Arts Centre, National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery of Australia as well as QL2 at Ainslie and Gorman Arts Centres (Gorman House).

 Loch na hEala in 2017 continued its success and a demanding world touring schedule

• Brighton Festival, UK, May
• Clomel, Ireland, July
• Stuttgart, Germany, July – Colours Festival
• Sydney Opera House, NSW Australia, September
• Moscow, Russia, November – Theatre of the Nations
• Sadlers Wells, December, London return performance

At Mirramu Creative Arts Centre – in association with Force Majeur and Griffith Regional Gallery/Theatre – a five-day dance workshop for young Aboriginal women from Griffith.

Adelaide, South Australia, September – the launch of the Australian Dance Theatre book, FIFTY and a celebration of the 30^th anniversary of Dance Excentrix/Arts Excentrix. Book launch photographs: Barbie Robinson

 

Critical Path Residencies – supported by funding from Regional Arts NSW, in partnership with Critical Path Sydney, Mirramu welcomed choreographer/dancers Katina Olsen in September and I Chin Lin (Taiwan) and Lisa Maris McDonell (NSW) in November.

 

Taiwan – Elizabeth was joined by Mirramu Dance Company co-founder, Vivienne Rogis, for the Tsai Jui Yueh Festival in Taipei in November. They performed a duet entitled Spiral Passage.

 

2016 was a year of transition and progression for Elizabeth and  Mirramu with many and varied opportunities to share with other artists. 

In Perth WA – working with Serena Chalker and Quindell Orton from Anything Is Valid Dance Theatre in Perth on their new project – Dust on the Short Bread. Elizabeth worked with actor George Shevtsov on this production. This is a site-alternative performance set in a house in North Perth. exploring the lives of an older couple; the tension between maintaining independence and vitality and the effects of dementia in the ageing process. This work explores a generational connection to the comforts of home.

In Sydney –  working with Sue Healey on her film En Route. This was a great experience traveling to Sydney for a shoot on the railway lines at Carriage Works and then up to Cooma for filming on some very old regional railway stations. The film is now complete and recently was showing on a new panorama screen at the Wynyard train Station in Sydney. Congratulations to Sue for her great work, her camera-man, Judd Overton, and the rest of the team. Photos supplied by Elizabeth Cameron-Dalman.

Auckland, New Zealand – attending the un-Disciplining Dance Symposium in Auckland, New Zealand. Elizabeth presented a paper entitled Embodiment of the Land.

In Ireland  – and the beginning of an amazing new adventure. Elizabeth was accepted into Michael Keegan Dolan’s dance theatre company, Teac Damsa, to perform in his new version of Swan Lake – Loch na hEala. It was an exciting adventure to travel to Ireland and to work with Michael and his team of performers, musicians, designers, technicians and management. They are a wonderful group of people coming from many different parts of the globe – Ireland, England, France, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand, Korea, Belgium and Australia.  After 6 – 8 weeks of preparation the troupe moved to Tallaght near Dublin for two performances.

From there the tour went to:

• Dublin proper for nine performances as a part of the 2016 Dublin Theatre Festival
• Aarhus in Denmark for two performances in a gorgeous old style theatre (pictured).
• Sadlers Wells Theatre in London. This for Elizabeth was the highlight in a wonderful theatre where nearly 800 people came each night.

The production received excellent reviews everywhere. It was listed by Judith Mackrell from the Guardian in London as one of the 10 best productions in Great Britain for 2016. Loch na hEala/Swan Lake was awarded  best production and best costume design for 2016 in  the Irish Times Theatre Awards.

Cadenet, France  –  attending a special Mobius Kiryuho workshop in Cadenet, France. This was a celebration of the work of Master Kajo Tsuboi in France during the past 30 years.

Already lots has been said about 2015 – it was a year of celebration with the 50^th anniversary of Australian Dance Theatre and Mirramu’s suite of performances and events in Canberra and Adelaide. Fortuity and L showcased Elizabeth’s signature works and saw collaborations with Dancecology from Taiwan and Australian Dance Theatre.

We were fortunate to be supported by Arts NSW and artsACT for our local projects and went all out with personal; funding for the very important Adelaide season at the Festival Theatre Centre. Photographs: Barbie Robinson

TAIWAN  –  TNUA and Tsai Jui Yueh Festival

Elizabeth worked as guest lecturer at the Taipei National University of the Arts for four months from September 2015.

She also participated again in the Tsai Jui Yueh International Dance Festival mounting three sections of Tango Lament from Mirramu Dance Company’s repertoire.  Vivienne Rogis and Hans Ahwang-Ware joined Elizabeth for the festival and together they danced a new version of Tree Spirit. Hans also performed a Torres Strait Island dance.

Elizabeth joined Dancecology for several events and was one of the teachers for their three-day Dance in the Environment workshop. Grace and Elizabeth spoke to members of the Taipei Wilderness Society about their intention through site-specific and nature inspired works to bring people’s awareness to environmental issues.