NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVEiThe Australian Dance Party

NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVES with The Australian Dance Party

The Archive is a site-responsive dance theatre work set within the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) exploring the body and architecture as an archive. With a quirky and eclectic history, the NFSA building becomes both setting and subject to explore experiential performance. Unfolding in unexpected spaces, courtyards, theatres and underground rooms, we build a journey of discovery and reflection for audiences.

Focusing on research and response, we undertake creative making/experimentation, distilling themes and possible structures for the work. Drawing from archival materials within the exhibitions The Archive invites us to find joy and intrigue in Australia’s cultural memory.

What is an archive? the institution? the practice? the storage vaults? our lived experience?
Notion of the building of the NFSA (or place/nature/architecture) as an archive?
Notion of the body as an archive?
What stories do these archives hold?
What is selected and discarded in the archival process?
What do we let go of?

I worked with the Australian Dance Party in researching potential costumes for the performers of this research program. The mini performance the Australian Dance Party performed for the NFSA staff and special guests was unbelievable and captivating. The audience was invited to follow the performers around the archives as they danced and performed from their research about the NFSA archive.

It was a great honour to work with them on this project and for future projects to start to establish the costumes further.