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Mountain Ash Sleeping Woman is a new multidisciplinary performance work rooted in the historic town of Yarram (Gippsland) and inspired by the towering beauty and ecological significance of the Mountain Ash forests in Tarra Bulga National Park. Combining dance, song, storytelling, costume, projection, and sound, the work will explore themes of identity, belonging, ecology and the feminine — reflecting on the relationship between women, the land and community.
“Rochelle and her crew were friendly, highly professional and easy to work with. Liquid Skin operates like a well-oiled machine.” (Suzanne Earheart, Regional Arts Program Officer Yarra Ranges. Dance Here Festival 2016)
MORE ABOUT ROCHELLE’S CHOREOGRAPHIC APPROACH
Rochelle says, “I believe people long to be moved. They want to recognize something of themselves in the stories unfolding before them. My work doesn’t try to tell audiences what to think or feel. Instead, it creates space for them to connect in their own way—to remember, to question, to laugh, to grieve, or simply to experience something that stays with them after they leave”.
Rochelle’s performances combine movement, imagery, sound, and theatre to create layered, emotionally rich experiences. Rather than presenting a single meaning, she offers moments that invite curiosity and reflection.
For the viewer; each audience member brings their own history, imagination, and perspective, making every experience slightly different. While the work leaves room for personal interpretation, it always offers a way in—an emotional thread that audiences can follow.
For more about Rochelle click: http://www.liquidskin.com.au/about/artistic-director/
Rochelle will work together with two performers from her past (Melbourne) to help support both the development of the work, relationships with locals and Rochelle as a creator. Rochelle and these two performers will work closely with the local populace, to produce a work that speaks to the themes of Mountain, Ash, Sleeping and Woman.
As the Mountain Ash stands tall yet quietly yields to the rhythms of the natural world, so too do the voices of women reveal the quiet power of connection — to place, to body, to each other, and to something greater.
The collaboration will balance the community voices with the professional performers bringing a diversity of voices which is important to support ideation and brainstorming. Rochelle’s overarching vision supports the overall development, expression and outcomes of the project.
Rochelle’s work process is highly collaborative, utilising structured improvisation, & spontaneous play, thematic discourse & idiosyncratic physicalization. She draws from collaborators personal response to ideas, images & feelings. Rochelle starts with a strong context & narrative structure, and a well-developed choreographic sensibility.
Artist development & sustainability takes time & space to fully explore the thematic ideas & familiarise themselves with my creative process. Even with past experience of my process, myself, the dancers & artists will need time to identify the particular language of MASW, which will develop from the voices of Yarram and Tarra Bulga locals.
At the heart of Mountain Ash, Sleeping Woman lies the belief that the land holds stories — and so do the women who live and work upon it. This work seeks to gather and honour the voices of local women, whose lived experiences, memories, and wisdom are as vital as the roots of the forest itself. Their stories — of strength, loss, nurture, silence, and resilience — will thread through the work like pathways through the bush, grounding it in the real, the personal, and the profoundly feminine.
Through story, movement, and presence, Mountain Ash, Sleeping Woman becomes a shared act of remembering, reclaiming, and re-rooting.
INSPIRATION
COLLABORATORS
Gelareh Pour (Music) Gelareh and Rochelle will work together to develop some key music for parts of the work.
Iranian born, Persian Kamancheh, Qeychak Alto, singer and song writer Gelareh Pour, studied her BA at the Art University of Tehran’s conservatorium and her Masters of Ethnomusicology at The University of Melbourne. She has recently completed her unique academic research on ‘The Lives of Iranian Women Singers in Diaspora’ at MCM in which she introduces the professional aspects of seven selected Iranian female singers’ lives before and after migration. Gelareh has performed in Iran, Tajikistan, through-out Europe and is now based in Melbourne, Australia. Since arriving in Australia she has collaborated with some of the countries most innovative experimental musicians. Gelareh released few albums ‘Tanin-e Melbourne’ in 2013; ‘Gelareh Pour and Mick Trembath Live in Ballarat’ in 2015 and featured on a Doom Metal album Embittered in collaboration with Terry Vainoras released in July 2016. She is currently a contributing member to both Boite World Music Cafe and Victoria’s Iranian House Of Music (VIHOM).
Links to Gelareh’s music: https://www.gelarehpour.com/music
MEDIA SELECTION: Includes URL links to work.
(1) The Faders – Melbourne Fringe Festival
“The Faders by Rochelle Carmichael is a really ambitious piece – eight dancers, HUGE, cavernous space at The Substation in Newport. This is Carmichael’s most complex work to date. It plays with ideas about desire for fame, celebrity and ideals about the future. There’s a fair bit of talking involved – which is usually a dicey proposition in contemporary dance, but here Carmichael manages to find a good balance of text and physical expression. Her dancers (mostly recent VCA dance graduates) are strong technicians and what some lack in vocal delivery they make up for in physical prowess.
The partnering and the choreographic formations shine. Carmichael is really good at curvacous, fluid, sometimes slightly aggressive groupings. (I think this comes from her time with Meryl Tankard…) A strong, earthy physicality permeates the whole piece. Also a highlight is Carmichael’s use of the ridiculously deep space – diagonals, lines, clusters, upstage, downstage – she finds a way to use it all.”
Stephanie Glickman http://dancereviewsmelbourne.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/dance-and-circus-in-2012-melbourne.html
“DO YOU want to be famous? Be careful what you wish for. In The Faders, choreographer Rochelle Carmichael explores the cult of celebrity and the perils of valuing one’s self-worth in the currency of public adoration. For a work that focuses on a generation that is familiar with the phenomenon of fame for being famous, The Faders is refreshingly old-fashioned in its use of highly physical and complex movement sequences and simple props.
The dancing is the star here, and Carmichael is at her best developing intricate partnering work. Although the use of text occasionally veers into heavy-handed earnestness, there is a sense of a clear purpose and structure with in the drama, which is mostly uncluttered and fully developed. With a vocabulary that suits the skills of these powerful dancers and the luxury of an enormous space in which to move, The Faders is Fringe at its finest.”
(Jordan Beth Vincent. The Age)
Links to The Faders : https://vimeo.com/54005606 https://vimeo.com/50654512
(2) Breathing Space – An evening length work (as part of a double bill) for Dancehouse, Melbourne
“Often the choreography is impressively original, kinesthetically rich and evocative.”
“The ingenious use of simple design features evokes imaginative responses…The suggestion of a twilight zone or dream space behind the transparent curtains is a major strategy and is highlighted by the use of inventive movement phrases.”
Link to Breathing Space (part one) https://vimeo.com/39687147
Link to Breathing Space (part two) https://vimeo.com/39688141
CROWD
“Rochelle Carmichael’s work is Fringe in budget only. If she had one-tenth of the time and money that Philippe Genty has to create a work, she’d be bigger than (Lion King Director) Julie Taymor.” (Chris Boyd, Herald Sun)
Link to Crowd: Winner Australian Choreographic competition: https://vimeo.com/122057373
(4) Out of No Thing (Short n Sweet, Melbourne and Sydney, Tour to Malaysia)
“Out of No Thing, the concluding work choreographed by Rochelle Carmichael was strong, powerful and dramatic. The cast wore simple yet elegant black costumes. Choreographically at times there were laser sharp movements, a frieze-like line at one point, some writhing, sculptural tableaux and some most unusual lifts. Mini duets and trios featured rolling floor work. Did I detect a possible Bonachela influence combined with Butoh ? One to watch out for.”
LYNNE LANCASTER http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/short-and-sweet-dance-company-d/#more-4401
Links to Out of No Thing
Sibu Interational Festival (film of performance) https://vimeo.com/205115812 (p/w: Sibu2016 )
Melbourne: https://vimeo.com/115836290 (p/w: outofnothing14 )
(5) Plucked (nine short films) http://www.liquidskin.com.au/works/plucked/
“For dramatic and expertly crafted film depicting and intimate reflection on life before death, and for a fascinating collaboration between dance, theatre, video and music artists.”
(Australian Dance Awards Panel)
(6) Other
Link to past work Imagery: https://vimeo.com/163035929
Link to show-reel: https://vimeo.com/169067503?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749
REFERENCES AND REFEREES:
1) Rosemary Joy. Maroondah City Council: Artspace Realm Arts Activation. E: rosemary@aphids.net M: 0421 633 033
“I am writing to give feedback about Rochelle Carmichael’s work on the City of Maroondah Arts Incubator project BlockHead.
BlockHead was a four week project at ArtSpace, as part of the Maroondah’s Arts Incubator program at Realm in Ringwood. Rochelle was an inspired and inspiring leader of the project. She worked with a team of four dancers to develop the work, engaging with children aged 3 to 7 years and their families.
the outcome was a lively and captivating expereince through workshops, roaming performances and a formal presentation for local government arts officers. Rochelle worked collaboratively to adapt the work for the needs of the local community engaging with three groups of Burmese refugees a diability arts program and a range of visitors to ArtSpace.
BlockHead was a very successful project and evidence of Rochelle’s strong leadership skills and her ability to conceive, develop and implement effective arts project. I would be happy to answer any questions about the project and can be contacted on 0421 633 033.”
2) Jenny Kinder VCA Head of Dance: jenny.kinder@unimelb.edu.au
“Staff at the School of Dance appreciate your experience and knowledge and the importance of your role in student development. I want to thank you personally for your commitment to high artistic standards and your willingness to help both dance and production students to aspire to professionalism.”
3) Darren Vizer Director DEVISE CO
Letter of Support for development of Rochelle Carmichael’s new work: Mountain Ash Sleeping Woman.
This is a letter of support for Rochelle Carmichael in her application for the development of a new work Mountiain Ash Sleeping Woman. I have known Rochelle professionally and followed some of her work since 2/3/2011. We have collaborated on her ongoing work BeBlocks (formerly known as BlockHead), which recently completed a four week interactive residency at Maroondah City Council, and I have been a keen observer of her developing body of work.
In the time that I have observed Rochelle’s choreography, I have seen clear progression in her ideas and creative process, a progression that reflects a deepening maturity and clarification of her intention. I have witnessed Rochelle present a range of dance works that demonstrate a diversity of thematic content, a broad scope of human and creative inquiry, and a complexity of new movement vocabulary. Her works have terrific energy, often embracing large casts, intricate scores, logistically-challenging sets, and “big’ subject matter. What I admire about Rochelle is her ability to “dream big”, while still working within the limited budgets that most independent choreographers face.
It is my sincere belief that artists who preserve, nurture, sustain and develop a complex and progressive vision for their own work, and for dance, are the most deserving of support in their creative development. Rochelle is such an artist.
INDUSTRY AWARDS
Finalist AICD Dance Creation 2014 Enter Question
Short Listed Australian Dance Awards Outstanding Achievement in Dance on Film/New Media Plucked (nine short films)
Winner The Australian Choreographic Competition CROWD (2014)
Winner The Australian Choreographic Competition Out of No Thing (2013)
Winner Short and Sweet Melbourne Outstanding Choreographic Award Out of No Thing (2013)
Winner Melbourne Fringe Movement Award (2004) for Aoroi
Nominated Artzmedia Antenna Award (2004) for Aoroi
Winner Dancehouse Choreographic Innovation Award (2000) Study at Ground Level
Nominated Greenmill Festival’s Young Choreographers Award (1997) The Plumbing of Venus Beneath the Surface of the Vanity Basin
Winner Peoples Choice Award at Dancehouse (1996) RUSH Slips Sex & Marbles
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