Underscore Alchemy [2013-2014]


Underscore Alchemy investigates how artists from disciplines outside the performing arts might engage with Nancy Stark Smith’s framework for researching and engaging in movement improvisation, the Underscore, in order to enhance their creative practices. Inspired by the Underscore, I developed a workshop methodology in which creative artists with limited prior experience of somatic practices can be encouraged to participate in a process that gives attention to the experiential body (doing and sensing), and can consider their creative processes in a new way, individually and in concert with others.

Image credit: Underscore Alchemy workshop participants, Edith Cowan University (ECU) South West, May 2013. Photograph by James Binsali.

Underscore Alchemy workshop participants, ECU South West, May 2013. L-R: Vahri McKenzie, Marcus Eastman, Evelyn Liao, Joe Savage, Marnie Orr. Photograpg by James Binsali.

‘Christiano worked diligently on his sketch of the moon’. Artwork by participants in Underscore Alchemy workshop, ECU South West, 2013. Photograph by Vahri McKenzie.

Underscore Alchemy workshop, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries (BRAG), 2014. Photograph by Sarah Mills.

Timelapse of practice week 5

Highlights of vision from practice week 5

This project was supported by:

  • Ausdance WA’s Regional Professional Development Fund
  • Edith Cowan University’s Small Faculty Grant

Published research: