Name: Context is Everything
Start: 2021-03-12T19:00:00+11:00
End: 2021-03-13T20:30:00+11:00
Location: The Drill Hall

Context is Everything

Weird Nest

Context is Everything - a "performed archive" by Dean Walsh, presented in association with Weird Nest, Critical Path and March Dance

The Drill Hall

PLEASE NOTE: Due to covid restrictions we can only allow up to 45 per night. If circumstances change we will increase the capacity, so please join the waiting list if we&#x27;ve sold out!“Walsh is a mesmerising ,charismatic, sinuous and slinky performer: the actual dance segments are just splendid” - Lynn Lancaster, Nov 2018, Sydney Arts Guide (reviewing first staged development, Remote Control)<h2>Context:</h2>Context is Everything is a 90-minute “solo” - as a &quot;performed archive&quot;, that maps, re-embodies and re-reveals (within a new, contemporary context), stories and performance aspects of a 30-year commitment to dance, contemporary performance, teaching and research practices - undertaken mostly within a Sydney context.Dean has been an artist who has many times lobbied official funding bodies, agencies, organisations, venues and other &#x27;gatekeepers&#x27; to be more inclusive of artists stemming from and/or living within, lesser known or acknowledged existences.Dean has spoken up for/with several communities, groups and individuals, pushing for a more authentically accessible and inclusive dance community - including more supportive infrastructure for independent dance practitioners in Sydney and opening up more possiblities for interstate collaborations between &quot;indie artists&quot;. Dean&#x27;s commitment to developing a more equitable and open-minded dance and performance system - from practitioners, producers, festival directors, critics and institutionalized learning systems, since the mid-nineties, is well archived. His insights into why (and how) things need to and could change, also came from touring his work, as an independent choreographer, several times across Australia and the UK between 1995 and 1999. He was also funded (Robert Helpmann Scholarship), in 2002 to investigate other choreographic practices and supportive systems in the UK and Europe. His influences for such a push towards system rethinking and change in funding and programming infrastructures, also extend across several diverse human communities and natural environments and extensive collaborations with other deeply-invested professionals within these lesser-known sectors of wider society. ---II---Dean was inspired to create this &quot;performed archive&quot; when engaged by the independent dance archiving initiative in 2018 - Dancing Sydney: Mapping Movements, Performing Histories. This is a collaboration between leading contemporary dance and performance academics from UNSW, Uni of Sydney, Macquarie Uni and the NSW State Library, as well as Critical Path.Some of the themes explored in Dean&#x27;s body of work that are revisited in Context is Everything (recontextualised) include: growing up queer through domestic violence, childhood sexual abuse and neglect, familial homophobic violation, notions of &quot;masculinity” and &quot;normality&quot;, war and its intergenerational trauma, HIV/AIDS and the significant loss of friends and lovers and homophobia, classism and ableism within dance in Australia. Since 2007 he has moved his practice into researching marine environmental conservation, insights and developments, including through his own immersive methodologies, into all aspects of his dance and performance practice, going forward. In 2021 Dean celebrates his 30th year as a dance and contemporary performance artist who identifies as living with “invisible/hidden disability” through a co-morbidity of autism, ADHD and complex trauma. Accessibility:The Drill Hall at Critical Path is wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet. Note: We had budgeted for the Sat evening show will have an Auslan interpreter and Audio describer present, however due to lack of funding (though not for lack of trying) we&#x27;ve been unable to provide these access supports.Trigger warning:Please be aware that this presentation is not suitable for children. Whilst nestled within a larger atmosphere of community empowerment, love and acceptance, communication and hope through persistence, Context Is Everything contains several moments (both spoken and/or physicalized), that some people may find personally confronting. This work contains explicit nudity, stories of extreme domestic violence and child abuse and social homophobic violence. These are the works that shaped the foundation of Dean’s career across the 1990’s and into the early 2000’s - prior to departing for Europe and the UK, for 3 years, working with DV8 Physical Theatre and a string of highly reputable independent dance and queer performance practitioners. More info about this project can be found here <a href="https://www.weirdnest.com/context-is-everything" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.weirdnest.com/context-is-everything</a>Covid SafetyDue to Covid-19 seating for this event is strictly limited, please reserve your seats in advance, as we are likely to sell out.This production has been supported by;

Context is Everything

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Context is Everything

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