Day 1
An introductory session in the Orbost Mechanics Institute at 11am talking through the plan for the week, making a schedule. The dancers do some work on the floor together. I go looking through abandoned timber mills searching for log heaps and sawdust heaps. I try to gain entry to a telecommunications tower to record the electro magnetic frequencies. In the evening I give a presentation about my practice to everyone in the empty shop that Andrew Morrish has rented on the main street.
Day 2
A visit to the local custodians of the land, we hear about indigenous involvement in logging, about the lack of jobs in the area now that the logging industry is slowing right down, about the various programs being run in the area and the many programs still needed.
Then we travel down to Marlo to see where the Snowy River comes out to meet the ocean. The estuary there is clogging up with sand which was once pushed out to sea by the force of the flowing river, but now that the river is just a trickle, it doesn’t have the energy to push the sand out.
We learn about the effects that all of this has had on the breeding cycle of turtles, eels and many other animals in the region.
Back at the Orbost Mechanics Institute, I watch the dancers do a 40 minute exercise. I actually just sat down to watch for a few minutes, but got sucked in and next thing I knew…….
That night Louise gives us a fascinating slideshow of the journey down the river along the entire Snowy Hydro Scheme. Andrew Morrish does a performance response to her presentation and I play some electricity in response.
Day 3
I participate in a movement workshop lead by Ros Crisp, the aim was to teach a process to allow the body to be inhabited by its environment. It went for about an hour, on the floor, working through exercises.
Onwards to meeting local people and accessing some unique and beautiful spaces.
Andrew Morrish does a 35 minute performance in his empty shop before Peter and I head out to the old Bean Barn to start the process of preparing to for a performance/installation.