INDance is Sydney Dance Company’s annual celebration of independent contemporary dance. This year’s program runs until 24 August and features dance works created and performed by independent Australian artists.

Geraldine Higginson asked one of the contributing choreographers, Ashleigh Musk, some questions.

Where did the original idea/impulse for the creation come from Subtitles come from?

Subtitles was born out of an ongoing fascination with future scenarios and exploring scenarios where our planet becomes uninhabitable. In the early stages, I was thinking about whether the subterranean space could be a place we could burrow into to survive, how we might prepare for the future and what we might take with us.

I began to study the topics of mining, volcanoes, soil, caves, burial and disposal (and many other things) and was truly fascinated by the depth and breadth of this area that we often ignore in our everyday lives.

What do you hope viewers will take away from their experience with Subtitles on the quay?

Everywhere we performed, the audience reacted differently to the work. Subtitles is a visual, emotional and aural experience that really evokes the landscapes of the locations where it was filmed – particularly the harsh stone desert of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) and the humid, cavernous mountains of Queenstown (Lutruwita). Audiences in these locations could really see the references to their homeland.

It will be very interesting to perform Subtitles in an urban landscape and for an audience that likely lives in an urban environment. I hope they are drawn into this new world that is being created on stage and leave with a sense of urgency about the ecological crises we face. I hope that through the bricks and mortar of the city they consider that the ground beneath their feet is constantly shifting and remember that we coexist with the natural world and live in connection with one another.

I believe you have been living and working in Alice Springs since 2020. How do you maintain your artistic practice in provincial Australia? Do you think regional/remote dance artists face particular challenges?

Yes! I have been coming to the desert since 2018 to work with GUTS Dance and made the move here in 2020. Maintaining an artistic practice in remote Australia can be challenging and I always try to balance my work at home with travelling and connecting with other artists and organisations across the country. I have many different roles in my work – I not only create work but teach, facilitate, produce and dramatise – and that’s how I usually manage to make it work.

Living in remote Australia makes you quite resourceful when it comes to finding ways to be an artist that is perhaps outside the norm and organisations like GUTS are really leading the way in providing platforms that enable the practice of dance remotely/regionally. There are unique challenges such as geographical isolation from the wider dance community but also so much joy in things like strong audience connection and participation, deep relationships with the small but powerful arts community here and a space, time and appreciation for the landscapes around you.

How important is it for you as an artist to collaborate with your fellow artists?

For me, the creative process is ALL about collaboration – bringing in ideas, thoughts, images, text, references and sharing them with the other creatives in the room. The artists I work with are all incredibly generous and a lot of the process is conversations, trying out ideas, thinking and trying again. The original team of Subtitles We worked together for over three years and shared so many experiences that it really cemented the trust between us and our ability to take risks knowing that we support each other. I really believe that collaboration, that connection and that trust is visible in the work itself.

Ashleigh Musk’s SUB will be on the programme alongside works by Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Kristina Chan and Sarah Aiken. Find out more here.

Find out more about GUTS Dance here.