The art of dance a celebration of movement
Published on 19 February 2025
Two extraordinary photographic exhibitions grace the foyer of the Frankston Arts Centre through April 26. While both are unique and completely different to the other. Their intersection is the expression of emotion and connection through dance.
“It’s such an honour to be a host venue for Dancer, a touring exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery. It’s an inspiring and inclusive selection of photographs and audio/visual works beautifully representing a broad range of people across time who engage with dance.
The National Portrait Gallery invites a local artist to share the exhibition space. We were lucky in Frankston to have the perfect candidate, international fashion and portrait photographer Bronwyn Kidd who collaborated with choreographer Carol Brown to combine image-making, performance, and costume design to produce a series of photographs called Sea Lion Sisters,” says Milla Dakovic, Visual Arts Officer, Frankston Arts Centre.
Brooke Lockett, Heidi Martin, Karen Nanasca and Halaina Hills, NYC 2012 by Lisa Tomasetti.
Sea Lion Sisters articulates women’s strength and connection through dance. The origin story is two-fold. It’s about two sisters of Maori heritage who personify their emotional and spiritual bond through the shared physical expression of dance. It’s also inspired by a colony of sea lions that Carol had been researching that had disappeared from New Zealand then reappeared many years later. The story struck a chord with Bronwyn and they started brainstorming.
As a choreographer, Carol was interested in the twisting fluid movement of sea lions, but also in the strong bond between the mother and her pups and what she has to do to protect them. Carol knew two dancers who were sisters of Maori heritage. They were a perfect match for the project. Carol choreographed about 15 hours of dance for this piece.
To bring the images to life, Bronwyn imagined an ethereal cove shaped set to look as if the dancers were inside a shell. She contacted paper artist, Amanda May to create the shell set made of layers of cream coloured paper of different textures. Bronwyn used her lighting magic to create the final set piece.
The dancers started improvising their dance by talking about their lives as sisters and as women. Then Bronwyn brought in costume designer Virginia Dowzer. They talked about colours to represent women’s strength. Bronwyn thought of puce, a purplish brown. Virginia designed a dark coloured jumpsuit with light multi-coloured ribbons of fabric attached to represent the many strands of womanhood.
Sea Lion Sisters by Bronwyn Kidd, Frankston Arts Centre.
The dancers explored how they could move in the costumes. Bronwyn then thought of putting the dancers on a revolving set inside the cove like an animated diorama. The dancers moved fluidly like two sea lions in rippling sea kelp. Blending digital and analogue photography techniques, Bronwyn came up with a series of twelve dynamic, striking images celebrating the female spirit through dance.
Dancer, the travelling exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, also tells its story through the joyous expression of dance. Whether sashaying in the kitchen while cooking dinner, cutting it up in the lounge room in pyjamas or exploring the elaborate productions of professional dance theatre, this exhibition is a celebration of what dance brings to the human spirit. The 52 works draw from a who’s who of contemporary dance legends photographed by some of Australia’s greatest photographers.
These two exhibitions might just inspire viewers to dance right there in the foyer.
ANDREA LOUISE THOMAS