DANCING SYDNEY ARCHIVE PROGRAM
The Archive Project, supported by Dancing Sydney in collaboration with Critical Path, began with a sequence of events that included a group visit to the State Library of NSW where participants were given important information on the archiving process. This was followed by consultations with Amanda Card (USYD).
Julie-Anne Long sorted through the flotsam and jetsam of her accumulated artistic notes, professional records and theatrical ephemera. Video maker, Cleo Mees, accompanied her to document the discoveries within this vast archive – often in real time. There is now intention for further collaborative work between the two encouraged by ideas that the archive filming generated. A scrapbook constructed during that process is also proving to be an ongoing creative project.
Kay Armstrong based her archival project out of her own art studio in Seven Hills. On Sunday July 28 she shared a live presentation of her archive, in the form of storytelling, as a way to both embody the past and recount her place in it. The sharing was in turn documented on video, the script available as a written transcript. In addition Kay asked each audience member to take a picture of them-selves using a Polaroid and write a small note on how they may have been connected to the Sydney dance community now, or at any time in the past, and how they may relate to the stories kay told during the presentation. This artefact will be part of the final archive.
Image credit: Cleo Mees & Kay Armstrong