All images courtesy of Samara Cunningham. Photographer Mardi Sommerfeld © 2022
Action Station is the second in a series of community dance projects, which matched a group of professional artists with a diverse range of community members, of all ages and skill levels, to collectively create an original and distinctive dance work.
After the success in 2021 of Fill The Void, Action Station, was conceived and built as an entirely new work, but on the model and experience of the previous project. It was created in the lead up to the biennial Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival in Victoria’s South Gippsland, and was staged, in the Supper Room of the Fish Creek Hall, as one of the final events of the Festival. The original team came together again to create new video, music and costumes, but the cast had many new faces. Word of the success and power of the first production had well and truly circulated around the district. People wanted to be involved in something that encouraged them to be brave, to take on something unexpected, giving them both creative agency and a creative voice. The idea is so simple, yet profound and affecting, for both audiences and participants. I can honestly say that I’ve never been involved in something that’s moved me so much and made me so proud of what our little community can do.
Samara Cunningham was, again, the instigator and creative force of the whole process, inviting a diverse group of skilled and unskilled participants, then working with them to conjure up an entirely original dance piece. I was commissioned to compose a new work of music to be the sound bed of the production. Kate Russell created the beautiful video projections that lit both the space and the cast. Mayumi McPhee was employed to create up a new collection of bespoke costumes for the performers. And finally, photographer Mardi Sommerfeld, along with filmmakers Sam Cross and Luke McNee, documented the process.
Performers & Creators
Hannah Bradsworth
Elowen Costin
Lynden Costin
Wing Yi Chan
James Friday
Tiffany Friday
Aiya Murray
Pippa Murray
Leticia Prosser
Isla Sands-Morris
Rachel Sands
Jasmine Susic
Marg Watson
Director
Composer & Sound Designer
Film Projection Artist
Costume Designer
Cinematographers
Photographer
Samara Cunningham
Michael Shirrefs
Kate Russell
Mayumi McPhee
Sam Cross + Luke McNee
Mardi Sommerfeld