VCA dance scholars awarded ABC residency

 

Early career researchers Amaara Raheem and Yvette Grant from the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts, have been awarded a 2022 ABC TOP 5 Arts Media Residency.

Amaara and Yvette are two of five talented scholars chosen to undertake the two-week residency at ABC RN, where they will work alongside some of the nation’s leading journalists and broadcasters, learning how to better communicate their ideas with audiences while developing content across radio, television and online.

“I'm looking forward to learning about the art of storytelling from a media perspective,” said Raheem, who teaches students in the VCA’s Masters of Dance programRaheem’s ABC research project will investigate artist-in-residence programs and how they offer invaluable site-specific infrastructures for critical thinking, cross-cultural collaboration and artistic experimentation.

“I will speak with a range of artists from all disciplines about their experiences ‘in-residence’ and share these fascinating insights about artistic processes with broader audiences,” she said.

For Yvette Grant, a PhD (Dance) candidate at the VCA, the opportunity to participate in the program is a huge honour.

“It's an incredible opportunity for me to develop new skills and importantly share my project with a wider audience,” said Grant.

Grant’s research explores the lives, works and practices of former Australian dancers Louise Lightfoot, Joanna Priest, Laurel Martyn and Valrene Tweedie who were working towards an Australian style of ballet and produced many modern works in the mid-20th century.

“Sadly, their work has largely been forgotten. Through archival research and the reconstruction of their works with dancers at the VCA, my project aims to recover these important cultural figures and bring them back into active cultural memory,” said Grant.

Professor Marie Sierra, Dean of the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music said Australia’s cultural and social wellbeing depended on the contributions of researchers like Amaara and Yvette.

“Their work reflects the active and vibrant research culture here at Fine Arts and Music through their distinct mix of traditional and practice-led modes of research.”

In partnership with the University of Melbourne and the Australia Council for the Arts, the ABC TOP 5 Arts Residency will be presented at ABC Southbank Melbourne from October17 – 28  2022.

Photos supplied by the Melbourne University VCA.