Congratulations to NAISDA’s Academic Coordinator, Jane Austin, who won the Grand Prize in the recent Short+Sweet Central Coast Festival, for her entry Liminal.
The piece was performed by NAISDA’s Kassidy Waters and Neville Boney Williams, as well as Francoise Angenieux, who is also co-collaborator and choreographer.
Congratulations also goes to NAISDA Developing Artist Jacinta Janik, who also received an award for own choreographed piece Behind Closed Doors at the Festival.
NAISDA acknowledges the organiser of the Festival, Ghenoa De Vries whose vision made this a reality. It is excellent to see creative outlets such as this available on the Central Coast.
We spoke to Jane to find out more about her entry and what it means to her.
What’s special about the Short+Sweet Festival?
This is the first Short+Sweet Festival on the Coast since 2008. Director Chenoa De Vries gave local artists, film makers, actors and performers a chance to showcase their work and receive support, feedback, encouragement from the local community.
Performances which made it to the Grand Final festival had the opportunity to show their work with professional sound and lighting, which was fantastic, and we all had the opportunity to receive recognition, prize money and development opportunities.
Can you tell us about your entry?
My entry, ‘Liminal’, was a multimedia performance piece inspired by a dream. Initially I created an experimental short film, using illustrations and poetry, along with footage of choreographer and dancer Francoise Angenieux, and knitted together a mesmerising little fable of a captured mermaid and the Little Girl who saves her.
I premiered the film with an encore screening at the 2016 MCEVF experimental film festival in New York last February, and I showcased it Sydney later in February, Buenos Aries in June and Europe in July last year. It’s had a fantastic reception and continues to draw response from audiences.
Francoise suggested we explore the fable further for Short+Sweet, so we started with the film then Francoise choreographed a live performance work, with my spoken text and illustrations in the background.
Francoise performed with two amazing young Indigenous dancers, Kassidy Waters, a recent graduate of NAISDA Dance College and Neville Boney, currently studying a Certificate IV in Professional Dance Performance.
Together I feel we created a haunting tale set in the ‘everywhen’.
What was the most challenging part about creating an entry for the Festival?
I would say the most challenging part was during the heats, as Francoise, Kassidy and Neville had to rearrange choreography to fit onto the stage. At the Grand Final we had the amazing support of the sound and lighting guys from Laycock and the piece looked amazing.
Who was in your team?
Jane Austin – writer, illustrator, director, producer
Francoise Angenieux – co-collaborator, choreographer and performer
Kassidy Waters – performer (NAISDA Graduate)
Neville Boney Williams – performer (NAISDA Developing Artist)
Above: NAISDA DA Neville Boney Williams performing in Liminal.