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Sculptural dance

Sculptural dance

New artist-in-residence at the Boyd Community Hub Deanne Butterworth says she is focused on dance, public sculptures and space.

Having received a six-month residency as part of the City of Melbourne’s (CoM) Creative Spaces program, the career dancer says she wants to explore how people’s connection with sculptures and space can be expressed through dance.

Deanne will aim to develop a choreographed response to sculptures within the Hoddle Grid and she encouraged locals to engage with the project to assist her research.

“I’m interested in why a sculpture comes into being and what affect the sculpture has on the city on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “There’s quite a lot of sculptures in the CBD but what is the relationship that people have to that?”

“What is it about the space or what is it that people desire from this time that they might have – whether it’s five minutes on a break at work or whether they are a tourist.”

Occupying a former classroom in the JH Boyd Girls School, Deanne is the second artist to be given free use to test her work in the studio after the Creative Spaces program was established at the start of 2016.

CoM arts and culture portfolio chair Cr Rohan Leppert said the Creative Spaces arts residencies gave artists the freedom to use their talents to explore new ways of producing unique creative work.

“The program gives artists an opportunity to develop and expand their practice, which is vital for our city’s continued growth as a vibrant and diverse arts capital,” he said.

“Deanne has a new, unique and creative concept and I look forward to seeing what she produces during her residency.”

The initiative consists of six residencies each year for both individual artists and arts organisations. Each residency receives a stipend of between $7000 and $10,000 and free use of the space at either LAB-14 studio in Carlton or at Boyd.

Deanne said she was looking forward to utlising the unique Boyd studio as well as testing her ideas in its outdoor spaces.

“It’s a very calm space in here even though I’m surrounded by high-rises and freeways. I’m kind of interested in doing something in the space out the back of Boyd as well with some experiments,” she said

“How can I use this time? But, also the fact that it’s in Boyd, how can I engage with people that come to this space as well?”

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