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AWESOME Farewell Tea 2012

Admittedly, this post is far from belated but just plain way over due!  In my defense I did birth 2 small (well large) children, move to a new country, search and find a new home, move into said home and try to cope with above mentioned 2 small (well large) children in the past 2 years so maybe you will cut me some slack.  I understand if you won’t.

I wrote this over 2 years ago in the early morning hours of learning to cope with my new baby Ethan, while I was still living in Perth, Australia, so I hope that counts for something…

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So we’re in the midst of packing all our belongings and starting our next adventure in the USA, Texas to be exact.  While so happy to be moving closer to family and friends in the States and the UK I can’t help but think what a wonderful life we’ve made for ourselves here.  We’ve both had great experiences in work, travel and play!

I also can’t help but think of the wonderful opportunities I was given to grow in my practice as an artist and teacher.  By opportunities I mean beautiful offerings of nurturing trust from so many individuals, organizations and companies in Perth.  Every job no matter how small or large gave me so many chances to re-examine myself as an artist and teacher!

I would like to extend a warm thank you to Francis Greep, the then Head of Music at the WA Opera Company.  When I arrived in Perth, the company did not currently have a movement program but Francis took a chance on a new transplant and together we developed and created an exciting addition to the Young Artist Program.  This relationship led to me directing the Young Artist Concert Series for four seasons and three years directing the companies lovely Opera in the Park.  If I every questioned my abilities, Francis was always there to push me forward and he opened me up to a whole new world of Opera!

Opera in the Park 2008 – Madama Butterfly

The other company that can’t go without a huge thank you is AWESOME Arts!  I remember sitting on a sofa in Scotland 2 weeks before we began a 3 week journey across the globe to Perth, writing an expression of interest to volunteer at the 2006 AWESOME Festival!  A girl called Amanda wrote me back saying they’d love to have me work as an artist assistant for the festival and the rest was history.  I began working as Project Manager for the company in 2007 as well as accepting a role as one of their Creative Challenge Artists that year on the Make Your Move project.  Over the next 5 years I worked as a Project Manager on two different Community Development Projects and worked as an artist on 5 different Creative Challenge Projects, one of which (Open Book) I created and developed as Lead Artist.  I also worked our version of full time which meant almost every waking minute of November on 5 different AWESOME Festivals!  It was bittersweet to leave such a creative and caring work environment where the lines between co-workers and friends became blurred, well non-exsistent.

AWESOME Festival 2011 – Amanda & Amanda both circa 6 months pregnant

We are very excited to start the next stage in our journey but also cherish all the memories we’ve made and will take them with us forever.

AWESOME Festival 2009 – After Party

So excited to share the video my good friends, The Voltaire Twins, created with an amazing film crew here in Perth, WA!  I was very honored to work as Movement Director for the “bird” section of the video.  The entire crew, direction team and dancers were a pleasure to work with, hope you enjoy the video!

If you like what you hear, visit the Voltaire Twins website to stream Animalia as well as their new single Romulus live on the internet.  You can also check out their upcoming tour dates!  They are fantastic in concert so I suggest checking them out live!

2010 AWESOME Arts Creative Challenge “HOME GROUND” Residency in Wickham!

Photo by Max Kordyl courtesy of AWESOME Arts

I just returned from Wickham, another two weeks in the Pilbara and I can’t believe how well I know the area now after spending a month there over the last 8 weeks!  On this Creative Challenge Residency I was working with textile artist, Bronwyn Constance.  We had a fantastic and fun school holidays doing all sorts of arts activities.  We wanted to keep the workshops from feeling like school and I think we were successful!  However unwittingly the kids ended up learning all sorts of interesting things including how to use leaves to create natural dye for fabrics, how to mix amazing new shades of colour and even how to work as a team to use bodies to create structure like shapes!

Photo courtesy of AWESOME Arts

On our third day of workshops the kids took us on a walk around Wickham, which is located up in the Pilbara, about 45 min inland from Karratha.  We were introduced to the oval, school, pool and even the skate park!  We gathered interesting things along the way including leaves, sticks, flowers and seeds.  We used these materials to make all sorts of things including small structures, natural dye and even printing tools.  We loved that all the kids’ work was made from things from their “Home Ground” as this was the theme for the project.  On the last day we had a fantastic celebration with parents and community members celebrating the work of these amazing kids!

Photo courtesy of AWESOME Arts

Check out more photos from the residency here and check out www.awesomearts.com for more details on the Creative Challenge project!

Had a fantastic Creative Challenge experience working on the HOME GROUND project!  I spent two weeks up in Karratha in July doing a residency at Roebourne District High School working in collaboration with artist, Amber Onat Gregory.  We worked with the high school students as well as the Year 4 class over at the Primary School.  I was truly inspired by the experience and still miss the new friends that I made along the way…

Photo courtesy of AWESOME Arts

While exploring the concepts of “homes” and “dwellings” the kids came up with fantastic “dream home” ideas and not only created structures but also objects such as a generator, a pool table and even a desktop computer complete with usb plugs!  We also had fun doing a bit of body painting, with the Year 4s we used the paint to create a banner for our “house” and with the high school students we took the painting even further, exploring the culture of the kids.

Photo courtesy of AWESOME Arts

On Celebration Day we welcomed the students from the Karratha Creative Challenge with a sausage sizzle and then shared the High School Exhibition and also got a chance to see some of their performance scenes.  The Karratha kids were also special guests at the Year 4s celebration installation and everyone had a great time sharing their works.  Overall it was a great residency and we were truly grateful for having such a supportive school to work with during our residency.

Till next time…

Photo courtesy of AWESOME Arts

Check out the article on the Roebourne and Karratha Residencies in the Pilbra Echo here.

Next adventure, heading to Wickham for a school holidays HOME GROUND Creative Challenge on September 27th, stay tuned!

Welcome to the new design of my website, moving-body.com.  I decided to kick things off by creating a few posts about the exciting projects I’ve been involved in during the last year.  My hope is that with this new design I’ll be able to keep you updated much more easily about future projects.

Please leave comments as I look forward to sharing with you and receiving your feedback, can’t wait to read what you have to say!

All the best,

Amanda Barrett Hayes

p.s. to leave comments simply click on the specific post you wish to comment on to access that post’s comment box.

In March 2010 I tackled another production of Opera in the Park with the WA Opera Company.  As one of the largest yearly free events in Perth, it’s always an exciting night under the stars!  This year I directed a semi-staged production of The Mikado, a Gilbert & Sullivan classic, to the delight of a music loving crowd.

The cast included a number of young artists from the company as well as a few seasoned professionals and the WASO orchestra was conducted by David Wickham.  Crowd favourites such as “Three Little Maids from School” and “Here’s a how-de-do” were highlights of the evening.

The event took place in Supreme Court Gardens in Perth’s CBD and was for a first time simulcast to Bunbury and Geraldton!  Check out the online review here.

As always it was a joy to work with the WA Opera Company and I look forward to our next project together.