This webpage has some of my personal favourites from my artistic and curatorial portfolio. I include my reason for each one. I have also included a one-page statement on Soft Participation that I discuss in my application.
This is a live webpage and any private Vimeo links will not be distributed totalling three minutes. The second video is over one minute; the first minute of the video can be watched to fit in the Associate Artist Brief.
Access the proposed budget here.
Shower Thots (2023) is a career highlight encapsulating how audiences can participate during a performance. With two 4-star reviews and over 200 attendees, this work was called “a show that will leave you wet and wanting more.”
I Am Series: I Am Maggie, and I Am Carisma –This film work in 2020 and live work in 2022, respectively, celebrated the gamification of dance. Through a word game with the audience given when a ticket was purchased, the audience experienced episodes from the imagined point of view of Maggie and Carisma, respectively. This series solidified my love for creating multiple options for the viewer and performer. This video also features two dancers I would have in the project, MaggZ and Geelong local Kerrtu Ralton.
I Am Maggie got the 2021 Green Room Award for Best Dance Production; the production also got critical acclaim from Dance Informa magazine with the featured press in The Age.
“I Am Maggie employs a palette of Western nightclub moves, East Asian gestural formality and documentary theatre to create its shifting (un)reality.” – Paul Ransom
I Am Carisma was acknowledged in Artshub as “a thought-provoking, stirring performance with so much to say about what it is to be human, yet also so much to invite and encourage.” This work captures the method of using multiple audio sources via earpieces with the dancers and the audience creating new audio with live captioning in real time.
Δ Change from Aotearoa (2023) is a career highlight as it combines my advocacy, research and lived experience across Aotearoa and so-called Australia. Efren Pamilacan and I received funding and partnerships from Creative Australia, Dancehouse, Chunky Move, Basement Theatre and Carriageworks. The community rapport, sold-out audience and symposium research capture my passion for cultural accountability in social dances from Queer, Black and Brown communities and how it can be navigated from a holistic lens, putting community first.
Caca-Capitalismo (2020) is my multilingual audio-described film. It has been presented in Romania, USA, Australia and Aotearoa and was funded by Creative Australia. The work received critical acclaim from Witness Perofrmance’s Olivia Muscat.
Soft Participation is a term I developed to describe an empowering, choreographed event that enhances the agency of dancers and viewers through gamification. This concept is influenced by African dance traditions, which employ call-and-response techniques and circular formations to foster engagement. Performing work with Soft Participation can be seen in the context of the game, where the game enhances the dancer’s agency. The game always offers more than one option for its participant – the performer has options, as does the viewer, willing or not. Soft Participation creates a slippage between the viewer and performer and softens the fourth wall. By providing various choices, Soft Participation mitigates visible and invisible risks, promoting a safe and inclusive environment for all participants.
The concept of Soft Participation aligns with the We Narrative, a collective approach to storytelling that emphasizes shared actions, goals, and intentions. This narrative framework highlights the importance of the audience in creating a temporary culture-building experience. The We Narrative, supported by concepts from Heideggerian philosophy, fosters a sense of communal dwelling and authenticity, enhancing the collective experience of dance and performance.
Soft Participation also integrates elements of Pleasure Activism, focusing on the joy and satisfaction derived from kinaesthetic experiences. Choreographers can utilise a corporeally uncanny perception to centre the sensations of both performers and audience members, ensuring that the intended audience, whether a specific community or the general public, is honoured. Examples of Soft Participation can be found in street and queer-born dance genres, such as waacking and ballroom culture, which celebrate diverse forms of expression and community engagement. By prioritising agency and consent, Soft Participation creates a framework for safe and enjoyable audience participation, particularly for CaLD and LGBT+ youth.
10 selected images from my practice
Jonathan Homsey 