The Every Woman dance performance, based on the real-life stories of four local Illawarra women, has been brought to the stage by a young female choreographer.
The dance explored themes of the journey from adolescence to womanhood with dark themes and life-changing experiences.
Choreographer Mara Elisabeth Glass included pre-recorded live interviews of four Illawarra women to the stage in a feminist performance of narrative dance, visuals and audio.
“I wanted to create work that was a little bit more tangible and a little bit more real about women,” Miss Glass said.
“That lead me to thinking about doing live interviews and using that as a basis for the work.”
Ms Glass, who completed her Master’s in Dance Research said she wanted to focus on voice to create feminist work.
All the dancers in the production volunteered to rehearse and perform Glass’s vision.
Lead dancer Zoe Simpson said it was a pleasure working under Glass and said she was honoured to convey the lives of women in the Illawarra.
“They show we are each unique but we also go through many of the same challenges and there’s things that bring us together,” Miss Simpson said.
“Something that someone told me after last night’s show was that it brings home the message of hope amongst the hard things in life.
“I think that’s a really an important lesson for life.”
According to Mission Australia, one in six women encounter abuse in a former or current relationship. However, Miss Glass said she did not expect that experience to be discussed in the interviews she discussed.
“I knew that was something that I wanted to explore but I wanted to be really respectful about it,” Miss Glass said.
“That was really important to me, not to over-dramatise it, but for it to be real and honest.
“How can we bring this to life, and have it be real and raw?”
Miss Glass said there were a lot of struggles with obtaining funds for the performance and having the dancers rehearse on a volunteer basis.
However, Miss Glass kept her motivation and passion by thinking that if this performance was important to her then it’ll be important to others.
“I think there’s like an inherent worth in all of us and that’s what I wanted people to take away,” Miss Glass said.
