ARCHIVES OF HUMANITY

ARCHIVES OF HUMANITY

AVAILABLE AGAIN SOON ON CO3DIGITAL 

Rental income goes to support royalties for Western Australian dancers and for Co3 to continue to create new development and employment opportunities for dancers.

A World Premiere Perth Festival Commission
Supported by Wesfarmers Arts

A compassionate and empowering new dance work devised and directed by Raewyn Hill, exploring humanity and the tension between grace and truth.

Presented by Co3 Contemporary Dance Australia
A Perth Festival Commission

A compassionate and empowering dance work devised and directed by Raewyn Hill, exploring humanity and the tension between grace and truth.

ARCHIVES OF HUMANITY is a living and emotive meditation on human existence. A celebration of community, exploring the ways individuals respond and care for each other in a crisis.

The work features a remarkable set – a flock of birds, created by and carrying the stories of members of the Western Australian community in isolation. The birds united, soar as a collective symbol of endurance and hope. The sweeping narratives in the performance embrace the memories, desires, and aspirations of an affected community.

Eden Mulholland's stunning score opens the performance, echoing the movements of an ensemble of dancers in a gradual and persistent climbing arc of cyclical patterns. Some of the art world’s most striking scenes are reimagined in humanity’s tumultuous bid to transcend. To rise, to fall, but to always try to rise again – together.

Duration

60 min

Age Suitability

12+

The World Premiere season from Co3 Contemporary Dance Australia was presented in the Studio Underground at the State Theatre Centre of WA from 19-27 February 2021 with an online broadcast on Tuesday 23 February at 7pm (AWST).
For the official program click HERE.
Music Acknowledgement
Audio samples of Vivaldi’s Gloria are used with the generous permission of the University of North Texas. The recording is performed by The Collegium Singers & Baroque Orchestra, Richard Sparks, conductor. Cello performed by acclaimed cellist Helen Mountfort, who has worked with Paul Kelly, Archie Roach, Midnight Oil, and is a founding member of My Friend the Chocolate Cake.  

 

Play Video

WATCH

ARCHIVES OF HUMANITY
Official Trailer

ARTISTIC CREDITS

RAEWYN HILL

Design, Devised & Directed

ALICE KELL

Artistic Associate

Naoko Yoshimoto

Sculptural Artist

Co3 Company

Bird Makers

Mark Haslam

Production Manager + Lighting Designer

Bruce McKinven

Design Associate

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Archives of Humanity is a cathartic celebration of resilience. It brims with an unheard melancholy and exuberance that reaches for, and embraces, the ecstatic, the divine and the holy. An absolute must-see."

OutInPerth

★ ★ ★ ★ ★  
“An all-encompassing, explosive, emotional experience that mines the pain and glory of human existence.” 

LimeLight 

★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
“Composer Eden Mulholland, working in collaboration with choreographer Raewyn Hill, has created an incredible, almost operatic aural experience by combining reverberating electronic beats and echoing choral vocals.”  

ArtsHub 

★ ★ ★ ★ 
“Archives of Humanity is unpredictable and intriguing, reminding us that after a fall there is always an opportunity to transcend.” 

The West Australian  

“Archives is riveting to watch and delivers a brilliant if physically punishing finish. The intergenerational cast — ages range from teens to 50s — encapsulates the rich archive of experience that resides in the bodies of us all ...CO3 has probably been given its signature masterpiece with this show!” 

The Australian  

"The entire performance is extraordinarily artistic, with the final moment of the piece serving as art in its finest form...visually striking, but undeniably moving...This work is emotive, powerful and original; a creation Raewyn Hill and Co3 can be very proud of."

Dance Australia
 

“Restless, relentless and intensely rewarding.” 

Seesaw Magazine