Eva Sifis

EVA :: FRECKLY CHEEKY

Performer. St. Kilda, VIC

When I heard of this opportunity to work with Jenny Sealey of Graeae fame I was immediately interested. As a versed dancer and cabaret performer with international experience, I suffered an Acquired Brain Injury when hit by a car in 1999. This caused a sudden and immediate about face in my artistic life. Beginning all over again to regain even the most basic of human functions at the age of 23 can do that to you.

Since this event, I have worked tirelessly at all levels of consciousness, seeking ways to ‘get better’. After being successful in gaining an Ethel Temby Scholarship from the Department of Human Services in 2014, I have developed a training series to educate other people who have experienced this devastating injury and their supporters. The inaugural presentation of By Accident™ was completed in March 2016 to truly rave reviews by a community who have no peer initiated or led offerings of this type.

Being employed by Women with Disabilities Victoria in 2014 to co-facilitate trainings around the issue of violence against women with disabilities, society’s most at risk sector, had a huge and lasting effect upon me. At last I knew how to rebrand myself. As a trainer, I utilise my stage presence and know-how to share important knowledge and strategies with those who have almost literally had their world ripped away from them.

My motivation for applying for this opportunity lies in stage craft and where and how to use it in a training context. As the arts have been such a vital tool in the reclamation of mySelf, I wish to open the possibility for like transformation in others. The knowledge and experience of Jenny Sealey would be invaluable in my research of this.

As By Accident™ is yet in development, I am seeking ways to make this unique offering even more accessible. The participants, as a rule, must negotiate new ways of absorbing and processing information. Utilisation of the arts as a way to embody learning could open people’s damaged brains in a way academia can only try to.

Documentation of some of my work follows –

Arts Access Victoria Pathway’s Promotional Video 2014 – https://youtu.be/z_Y3NmhLk3I

Film of personal story ‘Embryonic Zombie Butterfly” in movement and speech La Mama 2014 – https://www.dropbox.com/s/usk85nm67ay0bm6/Eva%20Sifis%20Embryonic%20Zombie%20Butterfly%20H264%202Mbs.mov?dl=0

Website (yet in development) – www.byaccident.com.au