For Adelaide-based independent dancer Zoë Dunwoodie, a dialogue like this runs subconsciously; a mind-body connection enhanced by her craft.
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dialogue → base → craft
"It's a physical practice," she said.
"
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she → say → ?
If I've ever got anything going on, I funnel it through the dance.
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I → get → dance
"The body's just a fascinating place, and I think the older I get, the more I'm fascinated with it."
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I → think → it
These reflections from the trained contemporary dancer and up-and-coming choreographer are apt, given the themes of her performance in development, LLAMA.
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reflections → train → development
It's about a pregnant woman who finds out she carries a gene which could turn her into a llama — yes, a llama — and her journey into motherhood may trigger that transformation.
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journey → find → transformation
The protagonist, played by Dunwoodie, finds her world infiltrated by llamas; shadow puppetry, masks and llama-like embodiments illustrate this rift in reality.
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puppetry → play → reality
The conception
The piece was conceived in 2023 with the fusion of three key ideas: motherhood, her grandmother's postpartum mental health, and her mother's love of llamas.
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piece → conceive → llamas
Dunwoodie was grappling with her "biological clock ticking".
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Dunwoodie → grapple → ticking
"I was asking friends about babies and engaging with babies a lot more … maybe subconsciously or on purpose I was consuming a lot of content about motherhood," she said.
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she → ask → motherhood
The performing artist was also pondering her family history, namely that of her maternal grandmother.
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artist → perform → grandmother
"I never met her … but I know she struggled a lot with some mental instabilities …
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she → meet → instabilities
my mum thinks it could have been a postnatal depression that might have gone into a psychosis," she said.
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she → think → psychosis
"The 1930s to 50s … it would have been a 'brush it under the carpet' sort of thing.
"
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it → brush → thing
She was diagnosed with some other mental illnesses … and the connection to motherhood might not have been so recognised."
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connection → diagnose → motherhood
Dunwoodie does not intend for this work to be taken as the gospel of perinatal mental health, but she does draw inspiration from it.
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she → intend → it
One of the llamas from the shadow world, a wizened matriarch named Grizabella, crochets the wool that dangles from her.
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that → name → her
"My mum's mum used to crochet these really amazing tapestries and quilts, and then she'd unravel them," Dunwoodie said.
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Dunwoodie → use → them
"So there's this theme I want to get into … that juxtaposition of the protagonist's world unravelling as well.
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world → be → ?
"Grizabella embraces the protagonist and is like, 'It's okay to be a llama, it's actually great, you don't need to fight it.'
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you → embrace → it
"Which is a question I had about this postnatal depression psychosis world … where is this place that these mothers go to cope with what their realities are?
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realities → have → that
"Sorry mum … it's not an obsession, I think it's just she really likes them," she said.
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she → think → them
The gestation
In 2023, Dunwoodie received funds through Adelaide Festival Centre's inSPACE Program for LLAMA's first development for the stage.
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Dunwoodie → receive → stage
This deepened her connection to the text and themes of matrescence, a term coined in the 70s exploring the radical physiological, psychological and social changes during pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood.
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This → deepen → pregnancy
After another inSPACE development in January this year, Dunwoodie embarked on an EXPOUND residency in March, a joint initiative between Australian Dance Theatre and CreateSA.
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Dunwoodie → embark → Theatre
She received a $30,000 grant and up to six weeks of studio space at the Lion Arts Centre to further develop LLAMA.
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She → receive → LLAMA
It was a huge honour to get that amount of money," she said.
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she → get → money
"A bit overwhelming because I was like, 'Okay, what am I going to do?', but pay your creatives, that's where the money goes."
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money → go → creatives
The artist invested in performers, a composer, costume, props, and a screen for the shadow puppetry.
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artist → invest → puppetry
One of those performers, Jazzy Williamson-Gray, has portrayed a llama in the developments.
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One → portray → developments
"It's very unique and very specific in its embodiment, and its physicality," she said.
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she → say → embodiment
"It's allowed me to explore really serious themes in a way that contains lightness as well."
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that → allow → lightness
The independent dancer said the llamas create hooves by planting their index and middle fingers on the ground while on all fours.
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llamas → say → fours
"We do come up into quite awkward, non-human positions to explore the qualities of being a human and being a llama and where they meld together," she said.
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she → come → qualities
She uses dance to facilitate trauma-informed, psychotherapeutic sessions for various groups, including mothers seeking perinatal mental health support.
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She → use → support
After assisting Dunwoodie with grant writing, Voges offered to help navigate these themes.
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Voges → assist → themes
Saying, 'Actually, would you like my support? Because you're currently a mum of a really young baby, and dealing with subject matter that is influenced by this time of life, when it doesn't go well,'" she said.
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she → say → life
For Dunwoodie, exploring motherhood and mental health allows her to better understand it.
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her → explore → it
"Knowledge is power," she said.
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she → say → ?
"I've had amazing support from the people I've been working with … a beautiful bubble of people.
"
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I → have → people
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia