Friday 13 December – Sunday 2 February

turning and gliding together through space

Raef Sawford

Video with audio
Duration: 20 minutes
 
Using the gesture of a traditional ballroom dance, this site-specific work explored part of Mildura’s history through community engagement. The Viennese Waltz was one of many traditional dances that had been performed in the purpose-built ballroom of Rio Vista Historic House at the turn of the century. By inviting local ballroom dancers to return to this site, it reclaimed the Bolte gallery’s original function as a ballroom. Two GoPro™ cameras were attached to the torso of each dancer as they performed this waltz, recording the embodied motions as they glided and turned together through the same space. By combining the gallery’s traditional use with contemporary imaging technology, the space was reactivated, binding the past with the present. The digital recording of the movement and flow from the performance of The Viennese Waltz was projected back into the Bolte Gallery, using modern technology to bring a fresh perspective to this historical space.