A Residency Wrap Up

Awarded a Northern Territory Arts Residency with thanks to the Northern Territory Government and Arts NT

In 2022 I undertook a residency with Tracks Dance.

Here’s what I said I would do (ripped right from my application):

Description

Provide a short summary of your project

Kyle Walmsley will undergo a 7 month residency with Tracks in order to explore cross-disciplinary practise, processes involving works of scale that involve the community, and visual dramaturgy as applied to theatre.

What do you want to do? Describe your project

I will undergo a 7 month residency with Tracks Dance in order to explore cross-disciplinary practise, processes involving works of scale that involve the community, and visual dramaturgy as applied to theatre. As a theatre artist, my goal is to be a national leader in theatre, based in Darwin. The formative parts of my career development have taken place in the NT over the past 10 years, and it is with great commitment that I maintain a fierce loyalty to Darwin, the performing arts community here, and to continue to sharpen my skills to reinvest into the arts sector. Having built my career to date in processes involving text based theatre, circus (as Associate Artist at The Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Australia’s National Youth Circus and as Artistic Program Manager at Corrugated Iron Youth Arts), and trained in physical theatre (Frank Theatre - Brisbane, Ecole Philippe Gaulier - Paris) - this residency will allow me the opportunity to refine my process around approaching new work and apply stronger movement and dance principles in order to sharpen my skills in physical and visual theatre. Tracks is national leader in dance, and a pillar of the arts community in Darwin, specialising in works of scale, community engagement and the development of dancers. The intention of this residency is that where my skills as a theatre artist weaken, there are transferable and complementary skill development opportunities in dance as an artform as well as specific processes and techniques utilised at Tracks that can offer me the next step up in the development of my career. These overlapping areas of enquiry and Tracks specific knowledge include - visual dramaturgy, the actor as dancer, creating large scale community projects, practical reflective cycles of making and learning: Visual dramaturgy: Theatre training is grounded in literary and text-based dramaturgical skills. Dance demands a different approach and the same analytical language of dramaturgy can be applied to both dance and theatre. The actor as dancer: What are the overlapping skills of the actor and dancer? What is gained by giving dancers dialogue and actors more embodied movement? Creating large scale community projects:Dance in Darwin has a lot more experience and frequency in large scale community involved works - how can theatre learn and borrow from these models and processes? practical reflective cycles of making and learning: The benefit of this residency is the ability to seamlessly flow from the learning and development I’m receiving from shadowing and observing and apply this to experiment with in the studio, and then back again, an investigating, learning, applying and reflecting cycle going on for the duration of the project

How do you want to do it?

Following the timeline set out in the project plan, I will use the 7 months of part time engagement in order to interrogate my own practise as a director and theatre-maker, while sharing the learnings with Tracks, and seeking opportunities to add value to the Tracks program through my theatre expertise. The residency will take place from 1 February - 15 September, during which the bulk of Tracks creative projects take place for the year. For clarity, this is approximately 1 day per week spent at Tracks over 30 weeks. This will fluctuate depending on the activities at Tracks. For example, around Darwin Festival time, Tracks will work on a major work to which more than 1 day per week may be required. This would support my independent artist schedule in which my busy periods of other creative work may make me unavailable for short intensive periods. The residency has been designed between Kyle and Tracks Dance to be shaped by 4 parts: The residency will consist of 4 parts: Artist’s Studio: -Time and space to explore, experiment in an embodied way with the the learnings and lines of inquiry as part of the interviews and observation at Tracks -Experimenting with text and performer -Experimenting with existing work in order to test visual dramaturgy skills on it -Experimenting with devising new work Mentoring: -Receive feedback and artistic support on Artist’s Studio from Artistic Directors of Tracks -Receive feedback and support around facilitation skills in Choreographic Lab as guest facilitator -Receive feedback and support from Company Director on independent arts practise career trajectory in relation to NT Arts Landscape Observation & Skill- Sharing: -Shadowing the major performance outcome in August 2022 typically as part of Darwin Festival -Be included in meetings and planning around 2022 existing Tracks program: Choreographic Lab -Assist in the facilitation of 2022 existing Tracks program: Choreographic Lab -Shadowing small scale dance works and performance process e.g. Dance Doctors. Providing feedback and support for any clown, comedy or character based work -Guest Facilitating on 2022 Choreographic Lab Exploration and distilling of Tracks’ Knowledge Base: -Observing, interviewing staff at Tracks -Generate a blog and series of published interviews with key artistic figures within the company - publish these at Darwin Arts Blog It is also important to note that alongside these planned activities, undoubtedly incident creative possibilities for collaboration and skill sharing will arrive by being around Tracks throughout the year and this residency will also allow space for that.

How will this project support your professional development?

COVID-19 has uncovered more than ever the importance of investing in our own backyard here in the NT. Programming, touring and creation of local work has meant that NT audiences have continued to be engaged, entertained and challenged by theatre practise. In order to continue to reinvest in my own community I require further career development, specialist training, and space and time in order to experiment and test my craft away from public performance outcomes, and time pressured work.

COVID risk in travelling interstate means I don’t want to travel interstate at the moment or undergo career development, so this feels timely in order to capitalise on the rich knowledge and experience of a leading company right here in Darwin. As a theatre practitioner I have been working in the Northern Territory for 10 years, from performance workshop work in remote communities in the Top End and Central Desert, mainstage works in Darwin, as well as maintaining national connections and collaborative relationships over that time. I have an established relationship with Tracks theatre having been selected as a participant of the 2019 Choreographic Lab, a Time and Space Resident in 2020, member of Dead Singers’ Dance Society, and performer/choreographer in HomeBodies Digital Dance Films in 2021. The bulk of my theatre practise requires outcomes. To create and experiment in a space without this pressure will assist in deep diving into my own artistic voice, and assist me in creating work that can push my craft to the limits. Outcomes include - increased opportunity to engage with Tracks in future, as a potential facilitator, collaborator and director - Establish Kyle as a multi-disciplinary artist with collaborative skills - As an arts leader, I am keen to learn about leadership in the arts in Darwin and to be as strong a leader as an independent artist, as those in organisations - Provide employment as an artist for myself, and 3 other artists as part of this process

Who are the key participants involved in your project?

The Key Participants include all of the Tracks core staff, of whom will be involved by the very nature of the Residency. A full list of Tracks staff and their biographies can be found at: https://tracksdance.com.au/contact- us#staff The reason I cannot identify further participants for the Artists Studio/Laboratory part of this project yet, is that I will work with Tracks over the first 2 months of the residency in order to identify suitable artists known to Tracks and with strong physical movement skills for the facet of the studio laboratory that I am hoping to explore. And Kyle Walmsley: Kyle is a director, performer and theatre maker. For Brownsmart Theatre, Darwin, Kyle has directed Away by Michael Gow for the 2020 Education Season, a playreading in the 2019 Evening Reads series and creative development for new children’s work, TENT in 2015. As performer Kyle has appeared in

Collide by Tania Lieman (2021), Stephen Carleton’s New Babylon (2021),

P

Cosi (2019), A Smoke Social (2018), The Sound of Waiting (2017), The Glass Menagerie (2015) and numerous play readings and developments. His solo work has won awards at Darwin Fringe Festival, and Newcastle Fringe Festival, and his show Oyster Boy has toured to Qld, and throughout the NT. For Corrugated Iron, Kyle has directed many short works and devised work with young people in his role as Artistic Program Manager. Kyle created ‘The Weirdest Kid in the World’ for The Flying Fruit Fly Circus which toured to primary schools in regional Victoria and New South Wales. Kyle has also worked for HotHouse Theatre, The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Shopfront, ArtsLink Queensland, Polyglot and Griffin Theatre. Kyle was a national finalist for MICF's Raw Comedy Competition, and a state finalist for Green Faces Comedy Competition. He is a member of Arafura Music Collective having performed violin works in Darwin Festival 2020, and 2021. He is currently in development for a new immersive theatre work with Ciella Williams and Sarah Reuben titled New

Year’s Eve 1999. Kyle was the 2020 Recipient of an NT Performing Arts Award for his contribution to the NT Arts Sector.

Which grant subcategory are you applying for?

Arts Residency

Which grant objective(s) does your project meet?:

Profile Northern Territory arts and culture, Recognise Northern Territory artists outstanding achievement in the arts and creative industries, Strengthen professional practice and employment opportunities for Northern Territory artists or arts workers, Employ Northern Territory artists and arts workers

How will this project: Profile Northern Territory arts and culture?

Sharing and publishing of my collected interviews with Tracks staff and artists as part of Darwin Arts Blog The solidity of a residency will make it a nationally recognised notch on my CV, and be more translatable to national project applications The announcement of the residency and any shareable milestones along the way will be shared on Tracks social media and website Other media outlets will be contacted including: Ars Hub, Off the Leash

How will this project: Recognise Northern Territory artists outstanding achievement in the arts and creative industries?
Kyle Walmsley has been a contributing member of the Northern Territory arts sector for 10 years - as performer, as theatre maker, and as facilitator and mentor to emerging artists It will also produce an interesting case study for Tracks Dance to examine the possibility of further cross-disciplinary residencies and collaborations Tracks will also be able to facilitate networking opportunities through national industry connections for further professional development and collaborative opportunities

How will this project: Strengthen professional practice and employment opportunities for Northern Territory artists or arts workers?
Broadening my skill set making me more employable Working with Tracks to create stronger dance-theatre relationships in the NT Arts Sector. Takes my existing knowledge and skills and applies them in a challenging setting across disciplines. Broadens my ability to work with interstate and international companies when the borders open such as: Australian Dance Theatre, Circus Oz, NICA and Gravity & Other Myths

How will this project: Employ Northern Territory artists and arts workers?
It will employ approximately 5 NT Artists for a cumulative total of 39 days of employment (myself 30, 3 other artists for 9 days) For me, to have regular on going part time self-employment creates the ideal circumstance in order to be able to create work. Full time employment leaves a scarce scrap of energy remaining to be used for any art-making, and trying to make art while struggling to earn anything results in panicked, unfocussed practise. So the idea of a consistent long term pattern of employment is creatively very stimulating.