Heritage, Lineage & Future

Sites, history & lineage

Heritage Lineage and Future, 2016 to 2018, was a research project investigating dance practices & people. This immersion developed a choreographic process using local history, & landscape as a catalyst. Inspired by the wandering ocean coastline & estuaries, the marks of the early settlers. Over an eighteen-month period, we collected, recorded & physically mapped the experience of our bodies in Place in the Bega Valley & explored the history & the landscape as seen through early settlers’ eyes.

What is a place, & how can we know it? Can we dance a dance of the outdoors, the smell of the ocean, or the feel of a forest? Can we become as ancient as ocean cliffs or walk the steps of our forebears? Through time & experience of a place, a deep knowing & enlivened sense of belonging arises, & we begin a dialogue with one’s locale - breathing in the space, sensing the architecture, & absorbing Place into our living tissues of our body.

images: Paul Hopper,
​Top left to right: Leif Helland, Gabriella Green, Lee Pemberton 
Bottom left to right: Siobhan McKenna, Leif Helland, Kyall Shanks, 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
​Heritage Lineage and Future was a Regional Artists Fellowship Grant awarded to Lee Pemberton. Through research and development it drew upon the knowledge and experience of residents and history of the Far South East region of NSW, Yuin Country, the Bega Valley. 
Artists - Don Asker danced and choreographed for many organisations including the Nederlands Dans Theater, the Australian Ballet, Sydney Dance Company and as an independent artist.His work has been presented in North and South America, Europe, Korea, and China), Colleen Meessmann nee Finneran, Royale Ballet School Graduate and founding dancer at Pina Baush Wupertale Tanz Theatre), Delian Silvan - ADT, Leigh Warren & Dancers, Chunky Move, Jane Mortiss - Human Veins Dance Theatre who all have had extraordinary careers in art and culture and a strong connection with the local landscape. Their combined experience provided access to their lineage of knowledge & the processes of renowned choreographers nationally and internationally..
Other esteemed colleagues included, Professor Mark McKenna - writer &  historian, David Hewitt - member and co-founder of the internationally recognised category-defying outfit – ‘The Spaghetti Western Orchestra’- appearing at London South Bank, the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall, Montreal International Jazz Festival and gaining five star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe & Documentary Photographer Paul Hopper. 
​The outcomes utilised the skills of 'young professional dancers' Leif Helland, Gabriella Green, Siobhan McKenna, Kyall Shanks, Tully Doole, Jazmyn Carter. who who grew up in the region of the South East. It was an opportunity to complete a cycle connecting two generations of dancers through choreographic lineages and landscape - and contribute to the artistic and cultural heritage of the area.

​This project was supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW