​

Happy Hour #20: THE BUDGET ​

​

ReadyMade Works is excited to announce Happy Hour #20 :The BUDGET.

​

Happy Hour #20 is curated by Lisa Maris McDonell who has reimagined this iteration of Happy Hour as the third stage development of her ongoing project, The BUDGET.

Lisa - "This Happy Hour I'm bringing a handful of Sydney's most respected and experienced artists out from behind their desks (where they work in order to survive and also support our ever more fragile dance community) for a new work development that doubles as a performance. The BUDGET does just as our funding overlords would like us to do and places The BUDGET at the centre of creative output. The BUDGET looks at an artist’s relationship to money in a world that requires everything to have a dollar value.

I'm asking myself a few questions as I enter this stage of development, including;

• How can I creatively work within the budget that I've been given by ReadyMade while completing an entire stage of development for this project AND provide an enjoyable evening out for our audience, while making important statements and sticking to the rules I've made to contain the project?

• Why do mature dance artists in Australia (often female) end up putting their choreographic practices aside to work behind a desk?

• Should I be doing that (working behind a desk) instead of this (making more dances)?

• What if Australia got to see their choreographers work over a lifetime making dance, like sometimes happens in other places?"

​

​

Performers: Jane McKernan, Maya Gavish, Emma Saunders, Lizzie Thomson, + others TBA. 

Live projection: Martin Fox

​​​​​

Dates: Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th December
Time: 6pm
Tickets: $15
 

​​​

​

​

​

With limited seats available, you don't want to miss out – grab your tickets now!

​

Happy Hour is supported by the NSW government through Create NSW

​

Image Credit: Lisa Maris McDonell

​​​​

​

Happy Hour is ReadyMade Works' signature short works program showcasing the extraordinary practices of Sydney's independent dance artists. Initiated by Linda Luke and Samantha Chester in 2016, Happy Hour is the platform for encountering the diverse and uncompromising work being made by local dance artists.

​

​

ARTISTS:

​

Jane McKernan

Bio: Jane McKernan first started sitting at desks when she was at school, and this practice alongside ballet classes and the occasional volleyball game became her foremost physical education. Jane’s first professional engagement as a desk-sitter was at the University of Sydney where she sat at an empty desk reviewing student enrolment forms. Since then, Jane has sat at desks at Performance Space, Performing Lines, UNSW, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and in her current role as director of ReadyMade Works. Her favourite desk role was opposite colleague Phil Sanger at NSCD where the computer screens between them were pushed to a jaunty angle, and they could freely converse while still managing the demands of their roles. Between desk jobs, Jane has choreographed and performed as a member of The Fondue Set and in her own work, winning the KCA audience choice prize in 2015. Her work has been presented at  Sydney Opera House, Performance Space, Dancehouse and Artshouse. 

Maya Gavish

Bio: Maya Gavish has spent more than two decades moving between the studio, the stage, and perhaps most rigorously—the desk. A dancer, educator, researcher, producer, and director, she has navigated every corner of the field with curiosity and a deep passion for all things dance. Her academic adventures include a thesis on choremusical relations and a doctorate investigating the decision-making processes of some of Australia’s most influential choreographers.

As a performer, Maya has inhabited a striking range of worlds: she portrayed Kundri in the opera Parsifal; danced on sand adorned in ocean-rescued plastics for Sculpture by the Sea; and used her best shimmy and shakes as a company member of Jazz Plus (Israel). Most recently, she has taken great delight in portraying Sophia Petrillo in the stage version of The Golden Girls— a casting she notes is mildly confronting in terms of age implications.

These days, Maya channels her experience into nurturing the next generation of artists as Head of Dance for the Academy of Music and Performing Arts (AMPA)- Bachelor of Dance program. With equal parts rigor and artistry, she brings her off-desk presence to The Budget.

Lizzie Thomson 

Bio: Lizzie Thomson works in the performing arts as a dance artist, writer, sessional lecturer and producer. She has presented work at Carriageworks, Performance Space, Art Gallery of NSW, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Murray Art Museum Albury,
Critical Path, ReadyMade Works, Omeo Dance Studio, ACO Air Hong Kong, SODA Universität der Kunste (Berlin), SÍM (Iceland) and ABC Arts Online. Her practice explores idiosyncratic forms of embodiment, soft spectatorship, and scores of
attention. Lizzie has performed extensively throughout Australia and internationally for over two decades, collaborating with numerous acclaimed artists including Rosalind Crisp, Agatha Gothe-Snape, Mette Edvardsen, Janet Laurence, Angela
Goh, Marina Abramovic and Joan Jonas. Lizzie’s writing has been published in books including The Gesture of Writing: a project by Mette Edvardsen; In Perpetuity: a project by Ivey Wawn; Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine: a project by Mette Edvardsen; and Performing Process: Sharing Dance and Choreographic Practice, as well as in several journals, exhibition catalogues and bespoke publications. She has guest edited journal issues on dance for Runway Australian Experimental Art (Issue #36 DANCE) and for Critical Path’s Critical Dialogues (Issue #9 DANCE/VISUAL/ART. Lizzie is currently the producer of Critical Path – Australia’s leading centre for choreographic research and development. Lizzie has lived and worked on unceded Wangal and Gadigal country since 1998.

​

​Emma Saunders

​

Martin Fox

​

​

​

​
 

​

​​

​

​