IT’S a fair bet that dancer/choreographer Liz Lea is the mastermind of “In-Sync”, a new dance-science initiative taking the stage as part of Ausdance ACT’s Australian Dance Week.

 

Lea joined together with Canberra dance artist Alison Plevey to stage a series of dance works inspired by scientific research such as ecology, psychology, robotics, and genetics. But Lea also has a long track record of exploring the art and science and science in art, running a festival at CSIRO Discovery called “DANscienCE” in August 2013 and a series of dance and science workshops with Inspiring Australia.

Lea will perform a series of solos in which she explores questions of DNA, mathematics, political science and a conversation between Nobel laureates, Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore.

She had been supported by the Canberra Theatre Centre, Ausdance ACT and QL2 Dance, and praises them for getting behind innovative work for emerging dance artists.

“Dance and science are two worlds which constantly interconnect, inform and fascinate,” Lee says.

Australian Dance Party artistic director Plevey will present a series of works including “Dancing with Drones”, an installation, film and performance work developed during a residency at Bundanon Trust, for Siteworks 2014 and Carriageworks, for Liveworks 2015.

She will also perform a solo from “Mine!” a full-length work currently in development to tackle the issues, ideals, and perspectives dominant in the mining industry and sees “In-Sync” as “an opportunity to expose some of our diverse work that has previously been presented in other non-theatre contexts or outside of Canberra to our community”.

The program will also feature a new work, “A Hellish Thing”, choreographed by Canberra-raised dancer/choreographer Jack Ziesing for QL2 Dance, Canberra. It’s an excerpt from the environmentally focused work “This Poisoned Sea”, to be performed at The Playhouse in July.

 “In-Sync”. At The Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre. 7pm, May 6 and 5pm, May 7. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.