The D.N.A. Intensive is a practical dance/movement workshop program suitable for people from diverse backgrounds and life experience interested to explore the wide and varied world of dance, movement theatre and filmmaking. 

The week-long workshop series held in Sydney (30 September – 4 October 2019) was co-facilitated by Philip Channells (Dance Integrated Australia) & Tania Rose (Artscope Creative) and was supported by Bankstown Arts Centre (BAC).

Participants were introduced to movement and dance-theatre practices that exist outside of ‘typical’ dance classes, and learnt creative techniques which give rise to self-devised choreography and direction, born from their own ideas and lived experiences. The intensive culminated in a series of short films in collaboration with filmmaker, Fadle ‘Fred’ El-Harris (Filmotion) and improvisational performance outcomes.

This was not your typical dance program. As the name implies, participants were encouraged and directed to create works which come from the most part, themselves, incorporating not just movement, but also conceptual ideas, sound and other means of creative expression.

Performer: Tania Rose / Photo: Philip Channells

Authenticity is one of those interesting things, whereby a person can begin in one sense of self, and given congruent opportunities which support creative and explorative avenues, they can unearth a new sense. The DNA Intensive Project fostered these experiences in a very caring and supportive manner, enabling new discoveries, explorations of personal symbolism, and invited  growth in experiential knowing, a fundamental key in the aspect of learning and creating. Tania Rose 

A long-term aspect of the D.N.A. program may also incorporate the creation by the ensemble of the participant’s film and soundscape ideas generated from the intensive and across ongoing weekly workshops. New skills will be honed and developed, an emerging collective vocabulary will arise and the planting of creative seeds to develop other performative outcomes may arise with an ensemble of regular contributors.  

Performer: Kathy / Photo: Philip Channells

SUMMARY

In reflection, having the opportunity to shoulder the therapeutic needs of the group alongside the creative journey, it’s imperative to have the right mix of artistic collaborators, who are collectively focused on those needs, which enable a seamless ebb and flow between individual needs within the group context. The mix of artists is not only based on skills, nor is it just based purely on personality, nor experience, but is a combination of all of these things which form a workable, fluid, dynamic facilitation of all of the essential ingredients that enable inclusivity, creativity, and self-development opportunities to take place to their fullest potential, as creativity is therapeutic by its very nature. However, the D.N.A. project is about fostering artistic pathways and creative possibilities not providing therapeutic services.

For more information about The D.N.A. Project or to enquire about a collaboration, you can contact Philip Channells on +61 432 073 304 or Tania Rose on +61 419 292 046.