Simone Flavelle

Breathe In, Breathe Out

 3rd day, Georgia  Comments Off on Breathe In, Breathe Out
Mar 142017
 

When you reach out to touch me, I recoil. Do I know you? Do you know me?

Breathe in. Breathe out.

My skin and self are distorted and disjointed. My body, my skin contains what I am, not who I am. Who I am is caught between our physical exteriors.

Our flesh fools us into thinking we are different, into thinking we are alone, but we are not alone.




I can’t quite find the words or comprehend the depth of the imprint the three days in Fremantle left on my soul. This, I guess, is somewhat appropriate, since my literal and metaphorical speechlessness is something that coloured both my creative practice and personal experience while there. A week later, when subsequently attempting to describe the residency to people, I still find myself leaning on overzealous and annoyingly vague adjectives – it was “amazing”, “brilliant” and “wonderful”.

The brief and concise nature of this particular residency, was juxtaposed with the multilayered subject matter of 4:48 Psychosis, a play by the British playwright, Sarah Kane. Because the piece profoundly pulls apart the human condition, leaving the raw, real and gut-wrenching stuff of isolation and despair exposed. In the medical context, the protagonist desperately seeks, not so much relief, but a rational way to frame the emotional state, so it will be less likely to destroy them. The work is then punctuated by the added frustration of these feelings being diminished and simplified by their doctor.

My genuine attempts to candidly connect and collaborate during the residency, felt relentlessly fragmented and incomplete, as my mind struggled to understand the intricate inner workings of my heart. I found myself battling to cope with it, and felt myself unable to communicate anything of value. That said, I recognised a sort of forced staccato of my typed/signed words that coincidentally mirrored the inherent and fraught struggle to adamantly express the inexpressible parts of the self in Sarah Kane’s play. Continue reading »

Introduction: name signs

 1st day  Comments Off on Introduction: name signs
Mar 032017
 



Looking

 1st day  Comments Off on Looking
Mar 032017
 



Names and Name-signs

 1st day  Comments Off on Names and Name-signs
Mar 032017
 



Names, and signed and spoken name-signs. Continue reading »

Freckly Cheeky

 1st day, Eva  Comments Off on Freckly Cheeky
Mar 032017
 

Mid-shot of Eva facing camera using her name sign, FRECKLY CHEEKY with hands played on either side of her face.

I was awake for 22 hours and then only 4 hours sleep before Day 1 of Jenny Sealey’s workshop.

I LOVED Name Sign. Are name signs usually given to you? I just loved it because it just came down like a shaft of light from heaven…laaa…Eva this is your name….FRECKLY CHEEKY!

Our group in expressing love through our signs was extremely energetic. There was a lot of compassion coming through. I felt that we were all propping each other up on the journey. Holding hands with each other and encouraging each other.

I was in pairs with Matt from Adelaide which was lovely as he reminded me that we met at Interwork. He’s a lovely lovely lovely man. I was just looking at his body yesterday. It’s beautiful.

I was just so struck by the absolute joy held for each other’s difference but also in the combined and comparative journeys of everyone.

The opportunity to do offerings such as this with my peers solidifies our standing as being at the cutting edge of disability arts in Australia and this offers us the opportunity to broaden our vision of how we work.

The Mad Hatter

 1st day, Sam  Comments Off on The Mad Hatter
Mar 032017
 

I personally am LOVING what has happened so far in Jenny Sealey’s workshop…
Made new friends
Made new pieces of art
Favourite moments:
Alice in Wonderland skit I did with Rachael on DAY 1
Me and Rachael went off into the back room and ideas were pretty much exploding out of both of our heads and she said Alice in Wonderland and of course I had my green Mad Hatter hat on and it was perfect for Alice in Wonderland so we did Alice in Wonderland.
What Jenny’s teaching me is that it’s okay to put yourself out there in the world.
When you start something new and you’re a bit unsure about what she’s gonna do whether its happy happy joy joy or deep dark depressing work she knows how to put the happy spin on the deep dark depressing.

Alice In Wonderland 

 1st day, Rachael, Sam  Comments Off on Alice In Wonderland 
Mar 032017
 

I really enjoyed working with Sam. It was important for us to take the time to find the best accessibility, the best enabling, to find alternatives, to not stop at barriers, no matter how many barbecue shapes we broke we will find a way for Sam to measure my foot. To go into the back room so we could actually hear each other speak. This reminded me (particularly as someone who struggles to identify as having a disability) to take up/ask for the access options, because guess what they really help. Once we were in the back room we thrived and made some really great stuff, and had lots of fun. The theatre and the play of it I loved!

Lunch

 1st day, Rachael  Comments Off on Lunch
Mar 032017
 

Lunch. Lunch like always was great. So important to connect with each other. Also really important to do when interpreters are on break. To learn, to be called a bitch, to talk about experiences and things that are important to us. Always take the time to have a long lunch and get to know the people you are working with. 

Jenny Sealey: Day One

 1st day, Jenny  Comments Off on Jenny Sealey: Day One
Mar 032017
 

 




Just Looking

 1st day, Maddie  Comments Off on Just Looking
Mar 032017
 

         

Our sign name introductions at the very beginning of the residency acted as more than just a ‘getting to know you’ exercise. They allowed us to create a common language and to peek inside the hearts and minds of those around us, forming a bond or sense of trust among us.

We then looked at one another. In partners. Just looking. Silence. Looking. Really seeing.

          

From there, we created portraits of ourselves without looking, and gave them a title based on what we saw in the person we drew right there on the page. We then drew portraits of our partners, again without looking, and presented them to our partners. We gave titles to the portraits our partners created, and it was so powerful to feel how someone else sees you – or what they see inside you. I was paired up with Gaele and found that though we were uncomfortable at first, once the giggles subsided, I saw Gaele’s heart by simply looking at her face and all the beautiful details that make it up. It was no surprise to me that the kindness, imagination, and creativity I saw in her face were all uncovered through the remainder of the residency as I saw her contributions to the group. Continue reading »

Accessibility for Everyone

 1st day, Rachael  Comments Off on Accessibility for Everyone
Mar 032017
 

Today I sat in a room with a whole heap of different abilities and disabilities. Together we were forced to be accessible. We couldn’t slip into talking, nor into watching. Thank you to everyone who sat in that room.

A room with white walls and 20 people sitting in a circle. Day one of Jenny's Sealey's residency for PIAF Connect DADAA 2017

I will be honest I was scared at how I was going to communicate to people today, I didn’t know any sign language I am not the best at articulating myself anyway. But geez it was easy. I found myself speaking with my hands for the rest of the day. I had to leave the workshop early which was a real bugs to go teach a drama class. And I could feel myself as I was teaching using my hands to communicate what I was saying, I could articulate myself better and be better understood. Accessibly is not just helpful for those who need it but also helpful for everyone else.

Soft Soft

 1st day, 2nd day, Phoebe  Comments Off on Soft Soft
Mar 042017
 

Maddie sits on the left holding a piece of paper and sharing paper with Phoebe who sits on the right for viewer. Maddie is wearing a striped T-shirt and Phoebe is wearing a blue dress with green and red flowers.  Maddie is on viewer's left and Phoebe on viewer's right. They are sharing and looking at pieces of paper/script.

I get really shy in front of people so the initial impulse to connect is always difficult and usually I end up standing alone when people are making friends which seems really counter intuitive to what I want to achieve.

But then the first exercise which was creating our sign names and a shared language instantly made that connection accessible and began a conversation which has gone on for the entire weekend.

I think that’s the greatest thing I’m taking away from this residency. Not knowing where to begin but with a shared dialogue and really listening to peoples’ experiences which you’ve never experienced yourself and going forward to create something that everyone can share in. That’s what has been the greatest experience of this weekend.

Phoebe measures Belinda's head using a snake. Belinda is on the left and Phoebe on the rightPhoebe participates in group work

This is Bridget. This is Gaelle.

 1st day, 2nd day, Gaelle  Comments Off on This is Bridget. This is Gaelle.
Mar 042017
 

“This is Bridget. She is tall. She is small. She thinks she is large.”

“This is Gaelle. She has beautiful crinkly hands. She sits. She has piercing blue eyes and measures
7 squiggly snakes across her boobs.”
 
“You held out your hand for an egg, and fate put into it a scorpion. Show no consternation; close your fingers firmly upon the gift; let it sting through your palm. Never mind; in time, after your hand and arm
have swelled and quivered long with torture, the squeezed scorpion will die, and you will have learned the
great lesson how to endure without a sob.”
 – Charlotte Brontë

Alphabet

 2nd day, Bridget, Georgia, Rachael  Comments Off on Alphabet
Mar 042017
 



Georgia teaches Bridget and Rachael AUSLAN/American sign language alphabet.

Meeting Place

 1st day, Rachael  Comments Off on Meeting Place
Mar 042017
 

Yesterday I went to the Meeting Place and I thought I would just put a few reflections on that. They were certainly things circling around my head today.
Yesterday’s discussion on What does it mean to be disabled? was so important to me, and how I entered the room today. Currently having a disability identity crisis, I think I articulated it well yesterday, I don’t identify as being disabled but I have been labeled as disabled. In the social model of disability I am not disabled by my society. In the medical model, yes I have a disability, a doctor diagnosed me and told me my brain did “not work as well as everyone else’s”. Because of the way that I was labeled as disabled, I did identify with being disabled while I was still needing some access requirements and getting help but I don’t think I do now.  Continue reading »

Monster

 2nd day, Scott  Comments Off on Monster
Mar 042017
 

Group activity wth Sam, Scott and Rachael       Rachael on viewer's left and Scott standing with plastic body outline

i like the use of temperature to describe the room and what we are doing
a performance can be hot or cold and everything in between
on the first day i dropped a large wooden plinth onto the floor and it had the effect of producing a huge arctic blast that pummelled the viewers which on reflection was not the desired effect
as an exclusive gesture it was intended for the deaf members of the group as a visual sound or
a beat that could be felt.
the way i take this is that you can fill the bath with hot water but you need to adjust the temperature with cold water before you ask everybody to get in. 

Some thoughts..

 2nd day, Rachael  Comments Off on Some thoughts..
Mar 042017
 

and pondering on things that I do not know and need to ask some people…
As a theatre maker my job is to manipulate the audience, to make them feel different things to take them on a journey. And I use different techniques to make you feel different ways, I use visual images, I use sounds, I use text, I use acting (as in the way we say text).

As someone who is visually impaired do you want to imagine what is visually happening or is it ok to just hear things that will take you on the same journey at the same time?  Continue reading »

Mapping sound and emotion

 2nd day, Elizabeth  Comments Off on Mapping sound and emotion
Mar 042017
 

Elizabeth looking at Pony and smiling

Day two I felt I relaxed more into the group and the exercises we were given. We were given time and space to think about who we are: a question that is both frightening and exciting to ask.

I created a work with Pony who was so lovely to work with that my cheeks hurt from laughing. We used audio description as part of our performance as we abstractly conversed about who we are by mapping sounds and emotions over our body.

There is no question about the importance of accessibility and the need to have an AUSLAN interpreters or audio description as soon as you have someone who is deaf and vision impaired in the group. Every time I make a new work now I will be asking myself ‘will Sarah or Peter want to come this show/exhibition?’

Jenny Sealey: Day Two

 2nd day, Jenny  Comments Off on Jenny Sealey: Day Two
Mar 042017
 



I am because you are . . .

 3rd day, Gaele  Comments Off on I am because you are . . .
Apr 202017
 

  

Jenny Sealey spoke about why she places great importance on us as artists creating and controlling the description of our own physicality.

 While the residency focused on Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis, it was this concept of creating and controlling our descriptions that threaded through, and informed all our actions, processes, outcomes.

 We took time out to study ourselves, to think, to feel, to articulate. We worked individually and we worked together, exploring various tools of description, drawing portraits of each other, making body maps, writing, devising and performing work.

 We listened, we spoke, bounced ideas off each other, improvised. There was no time to polish. No place for self-conscious dithering. We were drawing on a huge range of impressive experience and talent. We were figuring out how to respect each other’s descriptions, carry them, translate and interpret them to ensure we were interconnecting.

 It was raw and emotional, vulnerable, powerful.  It was human. There is a saying from Botswana which applies to how this wonderful residency has made me feel –  Motho ke motho ka batho meaning a person is a person because of people –  I am because you are.