Chrissie Parrott2017-10-07T09:09:33+00:00

Chrissie Parrott and Floeur Alder

In Residence on the verandahs at Donnelly River Village

9 – 17 August 2017

Commissioned by dance artist Floeur Alder this dance solo will explore nature, easy flow, femininity and ways of dealing with real-life trauma like that inflicted on this young dancer after she was attacked and badly injured …

The new dance work will be created in collaboration with choreographer Chrissie Parrott … an animation using the same choreographic structure will be created alongside the dance work over the duration of the residency …

the outcome, a digital stage design that will bathe the dancer in light and sound.

Chrissie Parrott

Creative Director Visual Artist Advocate for the Arts in WA

Chrissie Parrott is a multi awarded creative artist whose career spans over four decades she has worked extensively in the creative industries with an impressive portfolio.

Her primary practice is in Dance, as dancer, lecturer, choreographer and Arts festival director, she has directed for theatre TV and film, designed set and costumes, taught multimedia and animation and creates large – scale digital artworks.

Chrissie’s outstanding contribution to contemporary dance-associated arts has been significantly acknowledged by the presentation of the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award, Swan Gold Award Sounds Australia Award, Western Australian Citizen of the Year 2000, Golden Key for high achievers, USA and a Centenary Medal.

In 2014 she was awarded a lifetime achievement award though Ausdance WA.

In 2015 she was honoured as a State Living Treasure

Chrissie Parrott – CitWA

Chrissie Parrott’s distinctive choreographic style draws equally upon her foundations in classical dance and the richness of the 20th Century contemporary dance vocabulary.

She has created a repertoire of over 90 works – Choreographic commissions include works for WA Ballet, Australian Dance Theatre, Queensland Ballet, Tasdance, Sinfionetta de Lorraine France, Theater Vorpommern in the Baltic city of Stralsund, Crameer Balletten Stockholm and Tanz Forum Cologne.

Her works have been performed in France, Japan, Korea, UK, Holland Germany and Indonesia

Chrissie was a dancer with West Australian Ballet, One Extra Company Sydney where she was associate director, Tanz Forum Cologne and Crameer Balletten in Stockholm.

ABC TV has broadcast four of her choreographic works Wrath – seven deadly sins, Coppélia with West Australian Ballet and West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Hawk II and Motel Deception.[ ABC, Screen West, Blue Moon, DCA]

She was awarded a Research Fellowship by ArtsWA to investigate the implications and use of motion capture technologies within the context of dance. Her research into the various sciences associated with the process of motion capture led her to spend time in the world’s leading commercial motion capture studio Medialab, in Paris.

Chrissie’s interest in new technologies has attracted commissions to create works using Life Forms ® choreographic software and Poser6â, [WAAPA at ECU] Hawk, Hawk II [Tasdance] Virtual K©ontours [QUT] Pixilated Sea [LINK Dance company] Cyg.net and Yin.

Works in collaboration with composer Jonathan Mustard include Swimming the Luna Sea, Divining, Cyg. ‘MetaDance in resonant light’ as part of the Perth International Arts Festival and DisPatch which was screened as part of the multimedia component at the 2004 Monaco Dance Forum – Monte Carlo.

She held the position of senior research fellow with Edith Cowan University teaching Dance Forms dance animation program. She was adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology 2004 teaching into the multi media units for the dance department. She held positions of senior research fellow and adjunct professor consecutively at ECU and QUT.

During her time with WAAPA she was instrumental in the set up of artistic structures and was founding Director of LINK dance company – a fourth year [Honours] graduate company.

Chrissie was program manager at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, PICA. Has been a board member for Artrage Fringe Festival and advisory panel member with Perth International Arts Festival PIAF under the artistic directorship of David Blenkinsop.

She has worked extensively in community events working closely with youth dance and theatre initiatives as well as with mixed ability performing artists. She regularly presents as a keynote and motivational speaker at educational conferences.

Chrissie is well known as a movement director with emphasis on movement manipulation and modification through and by technologies including motion tracking, video tracking and the utilisation of the components embedded in the data storage and programming of the movement vocabulary.

Over the past five years she has traversed into the field of visual performance art and film. She has successfully presented four exhibitions of digital art works that are figurative showing digital lineages, wire frame and fully rendered hyper realistic replicas of dancers.

She was commissioned to create a new work for the opening of the Heath Ledger Theatre and commissioned to make a new dance work for UWA’s centenary celebrations this work was viewed by 8,000 people.

She has worked with Perth Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse Melbourne and Black Swan Theatre Company.

Floeur Alder

Floeur Alder graduated from WAAPA in 1998 with an Advanced Diploma and in 2000 with a BA in Performing Arts. In between her studies, she received a Creative development fellowship from DCA to study with several top contemporary dance companies in Europe.

In 2004 Floeur was awarded two grants from the Australia Council.  The first was a Foot in the Door grant to work with Leigh Warren and dancers where she performed Like no-one is Watching by Toni Rizzi and then Tasdance, where she stayed for 6 years working with over 25 choreographers such as Tanjia Liedtke, Raewyn Hill, Natalie Weir, Graeme Murphy and Frances Rings. During her time with the company she was voted Dancer to Watch in the Dance Australia by Rita Clarke.

The second was a Project Workspace Grant to choreograph, Rare Earth on her parents, internationally famous dancers, Lucette Aldous and Alan Alder for which she won Most Outstanding Achievement in Choreography at the WA Ausdance Awards. This then led to a Skills and development grant in 2008 from the Australia Council to create a film of Rare Earth.

In 2011 Floeur received a Churchill Fellowship to study at the Paris Opera School, Royal Danish School/Company, Perm Ballet Academy in Russia and the Royal Ballet School in London. On her return Floeur performed in Trois Generation by Jean-Claude Gallotta for PIAF and became a founding member of Ochre Contemporary dance company.  As a dancer with Ochre Floeur has performed in Diaphanous, Dreamtide, Pulse, Sculptures by the sea, DNA Simply human, Articulating Landscapes 1 & 2, Kaya and has created 3 works for the company.   Floeur also worked with Chrissie Parrott during 2012 on Cicada and Luminous: Birds for the UWA Centenary. Floeur has choreographed for numerous Strut performances, Link at WAAPA and WA Ballet company for their Genesis season.

In 2015 Floeur was approached by travel writer Stephen Scourfield to collaborate with him to create a solo based on his book, Beautiful Witness, which premiered at Government House and then performances at the New Norcia writer’s festival and a sell-out performance at St Georges Cathedral for the Fringe festival.

In 2016 Floeur returned to France to work with Robert Bestonso, ex star of the Paris Opera to create a solo, Don’t Push which was performed in Angouleme and will be featured in the Rare Earth documentary.

Throughout her career Floeur has taught at WAAPA, WA Ballet Company, Tasdance, Ochre Dance company, numerous full time ballets schools and has most recently been appointed the dance teacher for Aboriginal Theatre at WAAPA.

Dance artist Floeur Alder and choreographer Chrissie Parrott will be in residence at the Donnnelly River village working on the creative development of a new solo dance work, Petite Floeur.

The piece, inspired by nature and the choice to embrace the beauty in the world, compliments and existing solo developed for Floeur by renowned French choreographer Robert Bestonso.

Together the two present the range of Floeur’s performance skills and form a complex portrait of her personality.

Works from the Residency

See the full gallery of work here

Updates

Paintings, workshops, exhibitions

A glimpse into Donnelly

Tuesday  4:30pm "Rules for residency: respond to surroundings on impulse. Follow impulse. Start two new works each day. No rethinking. Complete all works later." [...]

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