Us And All Of This is the name of a sculptural and meditative public dance work coming to Arts Centre Melbourne, Bunjil Place, and the Geelong Arts Centre in March and April next year.
Award-winning creator Liesel Zink is choreographing three epic 100-person dance performances that will take place across three of Victoria’s leading arts venues, engaging 100 locals in each area – varying in age, ethnicity, gender and body type – for a moment of calm reflection and togetherness, in broad resistance to an atomised way of life.
With locals from each area set to take part, the organisers are looking for up to 300 total participants. If you’re willing and curious, no dancing experience is necessary. Led by Zink and four local artists, you will attend five gentle, yet rejuvenating rehearsals to learn a range of choreographic and improvisational sequences that lead to the final performances in March and April 2023.
It’s part of Arts Centre Melbourne’s Betty Amsden Participation Program, in honour of the late philanthropist, which returns for its eighth instalment in a new multisite participatory project with Geelong Arts Centre and Bunjil Place, in Narre Warren.
Arts Centre Melbourne presents Us And All Of This by Liesel Zink
- Produced by Performing Lines
- Arts Centre Melbourne Forecourt | 11 March
- Bunjil Place | 25 & 26 March
- Geelong Arts Centre | 2 April
- Duration: 45 minutes
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“It’s been five years since we lost Betty but it is in her honour, and as a continuing reminder of the joy and values she brought to Arts Centre Melbourne, that we continue to share her legacy. As this year’s champion of the Betty Amsden Participation Program, Liesel’s impactful work will demonstrate the power of art and creating deeper connections with members of the local community,” said Arts Centre Melbourne CEO Karen Quinlan AM.
Us And All Of This is a direct response to rising geopolitical tension, ecological mismanagement, deteriorating labour conditions and social isolation.
“After such a challenging couple of years, it is my hope that Us And All Of This will offer a slow and reflective space for people to be together; to embody their shared experiences and build a sense of collective resilience. For me, the project is a gentle yet urgent act of resistance against individualism and capitalism, division and despair. While the project is meditative in nature, it is powerful in its impact, occupying public spaces in an evocative display of new and more gentle ways of being,” said creator Liesel Zink.
Renowned sound artist and composer Lawrence English will create the soundscape. The project is entirely free for the public to experience and is shared with Victorians through its occupation of public spaces in Melbourne, Geelong and Narre Warren. People are encouraged to attend one of the three locations to witness the 100 participants weave, expand and retract throughout the space in harmony.
“The Trustees of the Betty Amsden Foundation are delighted that the Betty Amsden Participation Program is returning after its three-year COVID-enforced hiatus. Now more than ever, bringing people from across Victoria together for shared experiences and moments of joy are paramount,” said Chair of the Betty Amsden Foundation, Frankie Airey.
Previous Betty Amsden Participation Program works include:
2014 – Play Me, I’m Yours
2015 – Home
2016 – Dominoes
2017 – Fun Run
2018 – Play Me, I’m Yours
2019 – Those Who Rock & A Mile in My Shoes
2023 – Us And All Of This
For more information on Us And All Of This, head to the Arts Centre website here. Sign up to be a participant today: Register for Arts Centre Melbourne.
