Lady Example

"Lady Example is a bewildering bricolage of behaviours and performances, knitted together with total assurance. You feel that it ought to crumble beneath the weight of its own spiralling aspirations. Instead, I found myself enthralled by a precision of judgement and execution that draws together this unclassifiable work into a fascinating unity."
 Alison Croggon, Witness Performance

"...a phenomenal show that works even though, by all means, it should collapse under its own towering ambitions."
Jana Perkovic, The Age 2019

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May 2018

Presented by the Substation and Next Wave

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March 2019

Presented by Arts House for Dance Massive

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An intentionally undefined, expansive horde of stimulus is ground down, knitted into a fine weave, over a slow process guided strongly by our intuition, and our personal baggage. We offer up a semiotic field for our audiences to wander through, undertaking your own journeys of recognition and confusion, completing the work with your own subconscious.

We describe LADY EXAMPLE as ‘a dance of bodies, words and women.’ We choreograph the moving, interacting body, as well as language, theatre, reference and design. From within the broad theme of ‘women,’ we found patterns emerging around performativity, role playing, teaching and learning, inherited behaviour and expectations. Our ‘libretto’ is drawn from a bank of miscellaneous language artefacts, gathered over four years, then mashed up and merged with the dance. The resulting “denatured language” (Alison Croggon) toys with recognition, and what to make of it is ultimately up to you (Personal responsibility, honey).

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Creation, Choreography and Performance: Alice Dixon, Caroline Meaden and William McBride

Performance: Fleur Conlon, Alice Dixon, Caroline Meaden, William McBridee,  Jo White, Hannah Monson, Emma Riches, Patrick Durnan-Silva, Scott Elstermann, Luke Fryer and Ben Hurley (premiere season)

Lighting design: Jen Hector

Sound design and composition: Emah Fox

Costume and set design: Matilda Woodroofe

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Nominated for four Green Room Awards (Best Production, Ensemble Performance, Musical Composition, Best Performer-Caroline Meaden)

Photos of Dance Massive season by Bryony Jackson

Lady Example's development and presentation was made possible with support from the Besen Family Foundation, Creative Victoria, the Australia Council for the Arts, City of Melbourne, Creative Partnerships Australia, City of Maribyrnong, Vitalstatistix, the Substation, Next Wave, Arts House and numerous individual donors.