Reference Material by Alisdair Macindoe

A woman with long curly hair sits across the lap of two men. She wears a red print dress and holds her right hand in the air with her elbow resting on a shoulder. The two men wear eclectic regal clothes.

Presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy

An irreverent dance work that asks, can artists compete with the internet?

Reference Material is a new dance work from choreographer, Alisdair Macindoe, exploring the process and history of dance making in the age of narcissism and digital interdependence. Sitting somewhere between a lecture, a stand-up show, a guided tour and a dance recital, Reference Material is a chaotic and humorous performance that reflects a world saturated by media technology.

In an effort to salute the historical figures and social icons who have paved the way toward our current privileged performance culture, Reference Material takes on the impossible task of acknowledging and referencing its own cultural context, unashamedly exposing its own creative process in doing so.

Creative Team

Director, Choreographer, Sound Designer: Alisdair Macindoe
Performer, collaborator: Geoffrey Watson
Performer, collaborator: Harrison Ritchie-Jones
Performer, collaborator: Rachel Coulson
Visual Designer (object/costume): Andrew Treloar
Lighting Designer and Production Manager: Thomas Roach
Producer: Freya Waterson
Image by: Pia Johnson

Artist Bios

ALISDAIR MACINDOE - Choreographer & Dancer
Alisdair is an Australian dancer, sound designer and choreographer. His experience in these fields has taken his work to many countries world-wide, earning critical acclaim in the media and receiving local and international awards including five Greenroom awards, a Helpmann, and a New York Bessie. Notable collaborations include his work as a dancer for Lucy Guerin, Chunky Move, Antony Hamilton, Stephanie Lake and DanceNorth, and his work as a sound designer for Chunky Move, Antony Hamilton, STOMPIN and DanceNorth. His choreographic work includes commissions for DanceNorth, Lucy Guerin, Next Wave, Performance Space, and STOMPIN.

Alisdair’s unique multidisciplinary interests extend into the digital realm, and in 2018 he presented a major commission/exhibition NONCOMPETE at The Substation exploring electronics, creative coding and physical computing. As a multidisciplinary artist, whose work spans performance and technology, the intersection of humans and technology in both dance and music is one of his recurring interests. 

GEOFFREY WATSON - Dancer
Geoffrey is an experimental artist whose work is rooted in dance, and has branches in costume/set design, fashion and sculpture. Geoffrey's work has been presented and supported by bodies including Next Wave Festival, Uferstudios (Berlin), Lucy Guerin Inc., Chunky Move and Melbourne Fashion Week. Geoffrey was awarded the Temperance Hall Artist in Residence and the Tanja Liedtke Fellowship in 2019 and the 2020 Chunky Move Solitude residency. 

Geoffrey has performed in work by artists and companies including Alisdair Macindoe, BalletLab, Nana Bliuš Abaffy and The Australian Ballet, and his designs have appeared in work by Lilian Steiner, Brooke Stamp and BalletLab. Geoffrey's own work includes: Reverse Fruit (supported by Chunky Move, 2020), Rachael Wisby (Newport Substation, 2019), Geoffrey's Corps parts 4:5 and 5:5 - John Spurlock (Uferstudios Berlin, 2019), DISTRACTION: Smackdown (Melbourne Fashion Festival, 2017), DISTRACTION: The Old Tim is a Piece of Shit (Counihan Gallery, 2017) and Camel (Arts House, 2016).

RACHEL COULSON - Dancer
Rachel (she/her) is based in Naarm (Melbourne). She began her dance career in 2011, performing in Stephanie Lake and Robin Fox's A Giant Theremin. She has gone on to perform in works by Antony Hamilton (Blood & Bone, Melbourne International Arts Festival 2012; Nyx, Melbourne International Arts Festival 2015), Keith Deverell and Shelley Lasica (Grace Note #5, Sugar Mountain Festival 2013), Rebecca Jensen and Sarah Aiken (Overworld, Next Wave Festival 2014; Dance Massive 2015), and Melanie Lane (XO Space’s DARK program, Asia TOPA 2017. =Rachel trained at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts and The Victorian College of the Arts.

HARRISON RITCHIE-JONES - Dancer
Harrison graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) in 2014. In 2013, he was awarded a Victorian College of the Arts Undergraduate Most Outstanding Creative Scholarship. He has worked with, and performed in creations by Stephanie Lake, Graeme Murphy, Rebecca Hilton, Lucy Guerin, Phillip Adams, Prue Lang and Alice Heyward, in commissions by Chunky Move, Tasdance, Lucy Guerin Inc. and The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet. He has also performed in the frame of Ludwigshafen Pfalzbau (Germany), Pieces For Small Spaces at Lucy Guerin Inc. (Melbourne), and Murray White Room Gallery, (Melbourne).

ANDREW TRELOAR - Dancer
Andrew Treloar is an artist working between contemporary art, choreography and fashion design. His work has developed from a 2014 MFA which pursued a shifting nexus between these disciplines. From 2016 to 2019 he inaugurated and ran Treloarland, his own dance-specific development and performance studio. Recent works include the design, production and choreography of Insufficient Therapy Dance 2018, Splintering 2017 and The Venusian Slip with Harrison Hall in 2018 and 2020. Andrew has worked extensively in costume and set design with leading choreographers, such as Jo Lloyd, Lucy Guerin, Marrugeku and Dancenorth. Andrew and Alisdair Macindoe have worked alongside one another on many projects, however Reference Material is their first direct collaboration.


his production received additional support from the Australia Council of the Arts and Creative Victoria. Additional support for the creative development was provided by the Sidney Myer Foundation and Lucy Guerin Inc.

Black and white text of the Australia Council of the Arts logo    Creative Victoria logo

 

 

When

  • Wednesday, 14 April 2021 | 08:30 PM - 09:30 PM
  • Thursday, 15 April 2021 | 08:30 PM - 09:30 PM
  • Friday, 16 April 2021 | 08:30 PM - 09:30 PM
  • Saturday, 17 April 2021 | 08:30 PM - 09:30 PM
  • Sunday, 18 April 2021 | 06:30 PM - 07:30 PM
  • Thursday, 22 April 2021 | 08:30 PM - 09:30 PM
  • Friday, 23 April 2021 | 08:30 PM - 09:30 PM
  • Saturday, 24 April 2021 | 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
  • Saturday, 24 April 2021 | 08:30 PM - 09:30 PM

Location

Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre, 189 High St, Northcote, 3070, View Map

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