Earlier this year dancer and visual artist Shana O’Brien was announced as the Lucy Guerin Inc (LGI) First Nations Graduate Intern for 2022.
This paid internship offers a tailored program of professional opportunities for a recent NAISDA graduate and is part of an ongoing partnership between LGI and NAISDA, reflecting a shared vision to create new career opportunities for emerging First Nations dance artists.
About Shana
A NAISDA graduate, Shana is a senior dancer with Wagana Aboriginal Dancers, sharing and learning with community and performing at national and international festivals and events.
Since graduating from NAISDA in 2017 Shana has performed with Jannawi Dance Clan, Erth Visual and Physical Inc, as well as with Atamira Dance Company on their remount of Shapeshift by Frances Rings, Bangarra Dance Theatre’s next Artistic Director. She also worked with Anishnaabe choreographer Waawaate Forbister as part of the 2019 Intercultural Indigenous Choreographic lab at the Banff Centre, Canada. In 2021 Shana premiered her first work in development, Waterholes, at Yellamundie Festival as a part of the Sydney Festival.
An interest in mixed-media works led her to commence a Bachelor of Visual Arts which she graduates from this year with plans to incorporate this knowledge into her choreographic practice.
We spoke with Shana recently to find out more about her LGI Internship experience.
Congratulations on being selected as NAISDA and LGI’s First Nations Graduate Intern for 2022. Your internship started in June when you spent a week in Melbourne at Lucy Guerin’s studio. Tell us about that week.
I spent the week in the studio with Lucy and her dancers in the development of her upcoming work, as well as taking company classes in a range of styles.
It was a cool time to be there as this particular work has a large cast of dancers that Lucy has worked with over the course of her career. That was a really great experience to just talk to them, see all their unique styles, and footage of the work that they had been in.
This also meant that I got to get a glimpse of Lucy’s body of work that she has established over a lifetime as well as how she worked with that many dancers in space and co-ordinated everything.
I also shared this week with two current NAISDA Developing Artist secondees, so it was nice to just yarn with them about their hopes and plans for when they graduate.
What made you apply for the internship? What were you hoping to get out of the experience?
I really believe that experience is often the best teacher, as an emerging artist it is important to learn from every chance you have. Over the last few years, I have been able to slowly begin curating these experiences by what really inspires me.
I was interested in working with Lucy Guerin to try something a little different and out of my comfort zone. In my first year at NAISDA I did my dance theory assignment on her, so I have always had an interest in her work, especially the way she uses lighting, projection and props. I have not worked in the Melbourne independent dance scene much so that was also something that felt like a fun adventure to take.
Was there anything that surprised you in your time spent at LGI?
The beautiful sunsets are the first things that come to mind! The studios are beautiful, and to be greeted with such a lovely sight at the end of each day was a real gift. I was not surprised so much but more impressed with how calm and kind Lucy was through the whole week, there were so many dancers and bodies in space with lots to achieve in a short time, and the whole thing maintained a really positive feel.
What are the main learnings you brought back from your first week at LGI?
That a harmonious space is not something that needs to be compromised for efficiency, and everyone works better as a team in a positive space, such as the one Lucy creates.
Did you try any new techniques during the internship?
Lucy has some fun improvisation choreographic techniques that opened my eyes to how improvisation can become choreography.
You are interested in developing your choreographic practice in the near future, how did your first week with LGI contribute towards this?
I think mostly I have been influenced by seeing Lucy’s body of work, and her looking back on it in retrospect. I have started to think about my current chorographic practice as steps toward my future body of work, as a bigger picture and the ways I might like each step to intertwine.
Providing professional development and supporting industry experience for Developing Artists and recent graduates are core components of NAISDA’s curriculum. Find out more about our range of internships and scholarships here.