Ivey Wawn

My practice is based in the body and in dance, but is deeply motivated by ideas and research. Generally my work comes into being through a negotiation of, at one end, deep focus on the internal, and on the other end, formulaic construction of systems of operation for the body, and/or bodies, to act within. The physical practices and processes that emerge in the act of making work, for me are derived from the specific lines of conceptual interest and the structures that those lines produce. I work in collaboration with these ideas and with the other bodies that my practice comes into contact with – be those human bodies, other-than-human bodies or inanimate bodies. I am motivated by the politics of the choreographies that emerge and are constructed in the relationships between things. A lot of what I do is powered by a well-articulated imagination and the ability for my body to physically express the sensations that emerge from my attendance to different things. Hence my practice is a practice of tuning the body, or in the case of a group work, bodies, to express a vast array of ideas and sensations.

Three dancers use the choreographic material from the related videos to build a live performance. They slip between the conformity of a dressage choreography and sensation-based impulses for dancing, building an energetic spiral between themselves. ‘In Perpetuity’ is an evolving tool that one can use to sense the world. When sensing the world through In Perpetuity, one sees human and non-human bodies bent to the demands of capital through consensual and non-consensual labour processes. Constrained by the rhythms of capital, bodies are abstracted from their sensuous connections to the world and cut off from their spontaneity in a constant need to remain useful. ‘In Perpetuity’ has been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council – its arts funding and advisory body, Next Wave Festival, Performance Space, Critical Path, Arts House, Chunky Move, City of Sydney and Tanzhaus Zurich.