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PASSING THROUGH & PASSING DOWN TIME Narelle Benjamin
I began my archiving project through Critical Path in December 2019, just before packing up our home in Sydney and moving to America. This was such a poignant time for me to be doing this project as I was going through my entire life’s belongings, deciding what to put in storage, what was no longer important to hold onto, and what had sentimental importance or value to pass onto my children. Archiving my life’s work as a dancer and choreographer during this period was an extension of this process for me and certainly cathartic, as well as incredibly nostalgic. It also felt like the end of an era. Will I continue to make work, teach? What will unfold for me in America, what new direction will I find or take, and what is important to me at this point in my career and life? It was certainly a reflective and enjoyable process working from home in my own surroundings and time, and sorting through everything from
over the last 30 years or more. I was amazed at how much I had actually stored away – studio rehearsal footage, choreography, and solo musings over the years. As part of this archiving project I was also interested in working in the studio with my daughter and professional dancer Marlo Benjamin, and passing on some of my choreographic vocabulary, yoga practise, and ways of working with her. We did this in Sydney, and in Adelaide at the Tanja Liedtke Studio, thanks to Australian Dance Theatre director Garry Stewart. This was also significant for me, as I danced with Tanja back in 2000 for the first season of ADT’s Birdbrain so it was very special to be working in this room with my daughter.
Narelle sorting through her archives.
