Canberra Dance Theatre's In the Spirit was presented in partnership with Ausdance ACT and Contour 556 in October 2020.

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In the Spirit featured sixteen members of CDT’s GOLD and REVEL performance groups, directed by Jacqui Simmonds and Philip Piggin with original music by Teresa Wojcik.

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The work was inspired by the life of Marion Mahony Griffin and her contribution to the design of Canberra – her irrepressible nature and indomitable spirit. The work explores themes of relationships: between nature and the built environment; between the woman and her more famous husband; between ideals for a better world sacrificed in grabs for power.

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In the Spirit was performed on and around Fiona Hooton’s sculpture, Ziggurat, a straw bale construction located on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin, as part of the Contour 556 2020 Festival, Canberra’s Public Art Biennial.

 

Ausdance ACT provided funds to enable the dancers to participate in the work, for the commission of the original score by emerging composer Teresa Wojcik and to pay the choreographers for their work.

 

An excerpt of In the Spirit was performed at the National Museum of Australia’s iDay Celebrations, which was live-streamed in December 2020.