The $20 Commissions Project
and its accompanying performance
The Lobster
What is a choreographer worth?
What does $20 worth of a choreographer’s time look like?
How does $20 worth of a choreographer’s time translate to choreographic material?
Proper Motion’s Lisa Maris McDonell has invited choreographers from Australia and beyond to consider these questions by commissioning them to create a dance work worth $20 on her.
The process of receiving and working with these commissions will be documented here.
This is an ongoing project that has accompanying performances titled The Lobster and $20 Commissions Project - Dancers’ Cut.
contributing choreographers
Anna Akabali (Turkey), Crystal Pite (Canada), Kay Armstrong (Australia), Lacina Coulibaly (Burkina Faso / USA), Henrietta Baird (Australia), Bubblez (Australia), Philip Connaughton (Ireland), Ryuichi Fujimura (Australia), Elizabeth Cameron Dalman (Australia), Gaby Hernandez (Mexico), WeiZen Ho (Australia), Helen Johnstone (Australia / UK), Ali Kenner Brodsky (USA), Lady Hart (Australia), Julie-Anne Long (Australia), Gabrielle Neuhaus (Israel), Meagan O’Shea (Canada), Nick Power (Australia), Annalouise Paul (Australia), Vivienne Rogis (Australia), Henry Torres Blanco (Mexico), Sue-Ellen Chester (Ireland), Susan Van Pelt Petry (USA), Emma Saunders (Aus)
This project has been supported by Create NSW, ReadyMade Works through a Moving Ideas Residency, Merrigong X and Merrigong Theatre Company / Performing Lines through their Digital Artists Residency program.
Please scroll down for more
This page will be continuously updated throughout the duration of the project
Image of Lisa Maris McDonell by Children of the Revolution
image by Children of the Revolution
The Lobster
The Lobster
The Lobster @ Merrigong X
The Lobster premiered in 2022 as part of Merrigong Theatre Company’s Merrigong X season.
The Lobster includes performances of all the $20 Commissions woven together with storytelling, video projection (of public performances of a selection of the commissions and interviews with the Australian public on their ideas around money and the arts) and original music by composers and musicians from Dharawal and Yuin country.
The cardinal directions, a megaphone and a simple but important question. The work of Henry Torres Blanco had all the hallmarks of a dance that should be performed in the grounds of Parliament House.
May 2022
April 2022
Well when Emma Saunders sent me her $20 Commission I thought I’d do it in the spirit of her practice, which often takes dance to the masses and gets the public involved. So in an effort to bridge the divide between sport and the arts in Australia I took Emma’s work to the football and did a little outsourcing.
In the early days of this project it was suggested to me that I wear a lobster costume for the promotional material. You know, to get people’s attention and make them think the show was going to be interesting. So since I had the costume handy and I didn’t actually wear the thing in my performance I thought I’d wear it to a St George NRL game. It’s close enough to a dragon isn’t it?
Gabrielle Neuhaus
March 2022
Gabrielle likes to work with costumes as an integral part of her work, and her $20 Commission was just that, a costume. A costume I had to make myself no less. This week I sent her an email letting her know what I planned to do in the costume item she sent me instructions for. She agreed it was an approach that sat well with her. Phew!
Gaby Hernandez
March 2022
Gaby Henandez is the artistic director of Motores Danza in Mexico. For her $20 Commission she provided me with a video of a great little dance for me to learn. Whenever I’ve seen Gaby’s movement I’ve always felt it is uniquely her own, and I’m really keen to try and honour it as best as I can. https://www.instagram.com/motores.danza/?hl=en
Anna Akabali sent me some sound files with instructions and a few videos. One of this underground cave system in Cappadocia, Turkey where Anna currently lives. It was a place where people have historically escaped religious persecution. Anna’s work plays with appearing and disappearing as well as the forcing of outside influences on art and artists.
February 2022
August 2021
Helen Johnstone is an ex student of the Joanne Grace School of Dance full time dance course here on the South Coast of NSW. She is currently finishing her degree at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, UK. She was a student of mine. Whenever she performed her own movement I could have watched her for hours. There was something so interesting and unique to her way of moving that I just had to ask her to contribute a work for this project. I’m such a fan! Then of course she sent me a task. When I perform her task I think of her and the way she moves, and completely unsuccessfully attempt to embody that while satisfying her requirements.
Crystal Pite
May 2021
Actually, when on a quiet Friday evening at home with the family I received a text message from Crystal Pite asking for a different email address because the one she was trying to get me on wasn’t working, I thought it was an elaborate scam. How dare someone choose a little known choreographer from the south coast of New South Wales and send them a message supposedly from one of the most in-demand choreographers in the world in an effort to gain my personal information! OK, I had a couple of months earlier, invited Crystal and a handful of other high profile choreographers whose works I admired, to contribute to the project. But did I really expect that a busy, in demand choreographer who makes works for the likes of Netherlands Dance Theatre and The Paris Opera Ballet would actually reply? I’m not really sure, the asking was as interesting to me as any reply, or lack thereof. Truly, I wasn’t sure what to expect by cheekily asking, I just knew it was important for the project to seek out a range of choreographers with a variety of experiences when it comes to getting paid to make dance.
So now I get to dance a work by Crystal Pite, and I’m thrilled. I’m not going to tell you anything about it because I want you to come and see when it gets performed!
May 2021
WeiZen Ho’s performances aim to transform and extend mundane postures into poetic prayer. I’m trying WeiZen, I’m trying!
Actually WeiZen’s $20 offering came in the form of some (seemingly) simple movement instructions to experiment and play with. To take these instructions and then transform and extend them into poetic prayer actually takes quite an understanding of how bodies move. I have been enjoying taking these instructions and seeing how my body deals with them. Thanks WeiZen!!
The B Boys
April 2021
I’m not a B-boy or B-girl for that matter. But nevertheless here these guys are offering something up to this mother of three.
Nick Power
I was so interested to see what Nick Power would offer me. A task, it turns out. With his dancers he has explored the B-boy fundamental, Rocking. They have expanded, experimented and played with the Rock, and I too was invited to do the same in my very own way….
April 2021
Kay Armstrong
Kay is a prolific maker of things large and small. For her $20 Commission she offered a short video of a little thing she was playing with in her studio. I attempted to replicate it in a park in front of a cafe full of people who didn’t know they were about to witness a performance.
April 2021
Sue-Ellen Chester
Anyone who’s been dancing in Sydney for a good few years would be familiar with the legend of a dance artist that is Sue-Ellen Chester. Sue-Ellen has been doing what is now dubbed “commercial contemporary” long before it was even invented. Able to move easily between the commercial and contemporary dance worlds, Sue-Ellen has been a sorely missed member of the Australian dance community since she left for the green rolling hills of Ireland. I was so thrilled to receive my little video of Sue-Ellen looking every bit as gorgeous as she always did, swinging a leg from her bedroom in County Cork.
https://www.siamsatire.com/nft/post/sue-ellen-chester-maccarthy-choreographe
Lady Hart
A rising star in the Australian burlesque world, Lady Hart is the mastermind behind not only her routines, but her incredible costumes, accessories and props. A woman who knows how to work on a budget, Lady Hart has provided me with $20 worth of her routine Dressed to Kill, which was created for just $88 including fabulous costumes and a homemade confetti gun. This work won her the title of DIY Burleskoala 2019. I’m not going to say much else about the work as I’m still gathering the audacity to bring it to life.
April 2021
Sweet Music
News just in! Success in the guise of a small grant from Create NSW means I have been able to commission professional musicians from the South Coast of NSW to provide $20 worth of soundbites each to contribute towards the soundtrack for the work!! I won’t be dancing in silence after all!! Hooray!
March 2021. The $20 Commissions Project recently had a little outing disguised as a video project at the Flock Fest “Click and Connect” online festival presented by the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. Below are a couple of excerpts from the video. First up is a taster of some interviews conducted on the street, where passers by talked about the worth of a choreographer in terms of $$$$$. The second video is a tiny excerpt from the $20 Commission by Vivienne Rogis where for her payment she agreed to give an arm and a leg…….
March 2021
Annalouise Paul’s practice is unique within the Australian Dance landscape. It is rigorous and considered. It is interesting and exciting. It seeks to find ways in which cultures can converse and collaborate while remaining autonomous and authentic. It is research based with the occasional performance outcome.
I have really enjoyed attempting to bring her scores to life. It feels like I’m participating in important stuff here!
https://www.annalouisepaul.com
February 2021
OK, so I finally sat down at length with the $20 Commission provided by Julie-Anne Long, who sent a provocation which intentionally got me considering my own objectives as a choreographer. It also sought to find where Julie-Anne’s and my own practices may overlap. Fortunately for the project (but unfortunately for my bank balance) her $20 commission unintentionally led me to approaching a whole new range of choreographers to contribute $20 dances, and set in concrete an unofficial sub-theme for the project. Dedicated to Julie-Anne’s $20 Commission is a sub-section of the project titled Inappropriate Dances for a Woman of a Certain Age. Thanks Julie-Anne. I think.
Susan Van Pelt Petry
20 gestures @ $1 per gesture. Fee does not include lower body or sound.
Susan and I met via zoom (midnight Australia and 9am Ohio) for our minimal rehearsal that was included as part of Susan’s offering. I suddenly had a moment of nervousness as I realised how long it has been since I had to remember someone else’s choreography. Susan’s work has come in at just under one minute in length, but her time did include her own preparation (she came to rehearsal with the work already made) and a personal zoom rehearsal. It was special to spend some time with Susan, rehearsing over oceans. I could’ve gone on for ages, dancing and chatting, but time is money people!
February 2021
Henrietta Baird
I was really excited to have Henrietta offer to make a work for this project. Her play The Weekend had me in hysterics when I had seen it a couple of years earlier and as someone that works with text and movement, Henrietta had me intrigued as to what her choreographic offering would be. She didn’t disappoint with a message coming to me from her one afternoon simply saying Story, Country, Embody. “Was that it?” I thought, and breathed a sigh of relief when the little messenger text dots indicated there was more to come. Etta provided the story, though the retelling is to be in my own words. She also provided a map (Country), though I am to use a map of “my” country (hmmmm) to inspire the physical retelling of the story. Etta’s work is yet to be fleshed out by me, so I will take it, respond and return footage to Etta for her approval if she sees fit for her $20 to include the time it would take to review my video.
https://criticalpath.org.au/programs/critical-path-associate-artist/
Ryuichi Fujimura
Like a little birthday gift in my inbox, Ryuichi sends me a score from a section of a previous work of his. It was a work he made to commemorate his 50th birthday. Since I also turned 50 this year he saw it as appropriate to offer as his $20 commission. I’m thrilled!
December 2020
Lacina Coulibaly
This wee little video is a snippet of an offering by Lacina Coulibaly. I’m a big fan, and I’m kind of sorry that I’ll be eventually dancing his $20 choreography instead of him. Lacina, like many of the artists offering something here are busy working on other projects, so trying to come up with a work (even one worth $20) can be time consuming and difficult. Finding just the right amount of mental (and physical) space to consider what a $20 piece of choreography looks like may not be as easy as it sounds.
https://hakilisigi.com Another choreographer,
Phillip Connaughton,
shared his struggles with finding just the right amount of energy, effort and thought to put into his $20 work. His thoughts on this led to musings on a universal wage. He was not the first choreographer to bring this subject up.
http://www.philipconnaughton.com
Which leads me to -
Meagan O’Shea
Without giving too much away about Meagan’s $20 offering, I am just going to share this little edit of a longer video she sent me, as a prompt for what will be her work. Within her video she generously shared her thoughts on her current and previous personal circumstances in relation to money and art making, and how differing financial circumstances can affect the work we do and how we go about doing it.
October 2020
Ali Kenner Brodsky
has kindly sent video of herself performing the material for her @20 commission on her deck in Rhode Island. With the lovely ambience of the birds singing, the sun shining and the greenery in the background, the videos she sent are enough in themselves, though she has kindly given me permission to “tear apart and reorder” her work. She has also offered to be in dialogue with me during the process which I felt was very generous of her, given her minimal fee on this project, but also fairly typical of the extra work we as choreographers do to see our work realised.
http://www.alikennerbrodsky.com
Elizabeth Cameron Dalman
Elizabeth’s cheeky $20 choreography includes a score with lots of references to pulling out metaphorical weeds. According to Elizabeth though, planting and flowering references would’ve cost this commissioning project a fair bit more moolah! Given Elizabeth’s history and importance within the context of Australian dance, I reckon I should just be grateful I received anything at all! Thank you Elizabeth!