Modern Dance

Permanent URI for this collection




Leap into the Modern archive

This collection documents the reconstruction of The Demon Machine, first created in Vienna in 1924 by Gertrud Bodenwieser. The recreation was performed as part of a public performance program Dancing Sculpture (10-13 August 2017) and one-day symposium Leap into the Modern (12 August 2017), held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.

Dancing Sculpture is a performance program that accompanied the National Gallery of Victoria’s exhibition A Brave New World: Australia 1930s, featuring Gertrud Bodenwieser’s The Demon Machine (1924) was performed by Victorian College of Arts dance students, recreated by Carol Brown a student of Bodenwieser dancer Shona Dunlop-McTavish. Acts of Becoming, a solo performance by Carol Brown, uses the archives of former Bodenwieser dancers to inspire dialogues and gestures with the embodied politics of women who risk everything. In the process she draws attention to the necessity of hospitality for strangers during turbulent times.

Leap into the Modern was a one-day symposium exploring modern dance in Australia from the 1930’s, curated by Professor Rachel Fensham and Dr Jordan Beth Vincent. Session topics included modern dance as cultural history, Australian moderns and radical bodies and re-performing the archive. Speakers included contemporary dance artists Meryl Tankard, Carol Brown and Shelley Lasica, as well as interdisciplinary researchers such as Suzanne Robinson and Maggie Tonkin.

This collection includes photographs, designs, programs, press clippings and film.

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Item
    No Preview Available
    Leap into the Modern Symposium - Session 4: Re-performing the Archive
    Roller, Jochen ; Brown, Carol ; Randall, Maria ; Tankard, Meryl (2017)
    Session 4 of Leap into the Modern: Dance Culture in Australia from the 1930's symposium at National Gallery Victoria. Session titled 'Reperforming the Archive'. Features speakers Carol Brown, Maria Randall, Rachel Fensham and Meryl Tankard. Chaired by Michelle Silbey.
  • Item
    No Preview Available
    Acts of Becoming performance
    Brown, Carol (2017)
    Recording of a performance of Acts of Becoming, choreographed and performed by Carol Brown. Sound designer Russell Scoones. Includes the voices of Magda Hoyos and Dory Stern. Recording made by Matt Richards and Eva Otsing. Recording edited by Daniel Strang. Performed at the Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria. Acts of Becoming was first performed in 1995 and redeveloped for the Dancing Sculpture programme curated by Rachel Fensham at the National Gallery, 11-13 August 2017.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Accompanying notes for Gertrud Bodenwieser's Demon Machine recreation
    Brown, Carol (2017)
    Accompanying notes written by Carol Brown for the reconstruction of Bodenwieser's The Demon Machine.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Materials relating to Gertrud Bodenwieser's Demon Machine
    Brown, Carol (2017)
    Dossier compiled by Carol Brown and provided to Victorian College of the Arts dance students as background for Brown's 2017 reconstruction of Gertrud Bodenwieser's The Demon Machine.