Studio 88 is introducing Jessie McCall, a choreographer, and Presley Ziogas, a dance artist, both from New Zealand, who will be joining us at the Relax and Create Garden Retreat in July – August 2024. Learn more about their work and plans for the residency here!
Jessie McCall is a queer female choreographer, mother, and performance practitioner. Her choreographic practice searches for unexpected and generative methods of reimagining human experience – and explores disruption as a source of renewal.
This underpins her proposed research for ‘Shred Event’, a new solo performance work that queries what needs to be destroyed to make room for the new. The idea of a corporate shred event (a coordinated day in which employees communally shred confidential documents) will be subverted as a site of choreographic inquiry – an experimental framework through which to explore the ritual destruction of old ways of being, both personal and communal.
This includes sociopolitical questions around the public ‘record’, and parallels this with personal processes of reconfiguration that have arrived for me through motherhood – pulling apart one’s known identity in order to re-configure in the role of parent. This exploration of the intersections of public and private change will take place through in-studio movement tasking, improvisational sessions, written reflections, observations and conversation.
Jessie’s work is informed by her connection to the land of Aotearoa New Zealand. The environment of the residency and the cultural landscape of Chiang Mai will be embraced as active influences on her research – directly inviting disruption and new perspectives into the usual relationship of her work to place/land/context.
Presley Ziogas is a dance artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau (BPSA Contemporary Dance, 2018). She was selected for the 2017 Indigenous Dance Forum with body artist Julia Mag’eau Gray. Presley performed the lead role in Atamira Dance Company’s work ‘Onepu’ (2018), and ‘Kotahi’ national tour (2019). Presley understudied Sarah Foster Sproull’s Orchids (2017-2019). Presley represented Māori/Pasifika of Aotearoa in the Macau International Youth Dance Festival in 2018. Presley’s choreographic work ‘HYDRATE’ & ‘TREAT’ have been exhibited at Tempo Dance Festival and Short + Sweet Dance Festival NZ (2018 & 2019) where she received the Break Through and Risky Business awards. Presley was the 2021 Basement Matariki Resident, where she developed ‘Moon in Cancer’, which then premiered at The Sauna studio in 2023. Presley was selected for The Basement Residency program in 2022, for her new solo work-in-development Softly Breaking.
Presley’s practice is deeply influenced by her identity and experience as wāhine Māori, and particularly the collisions of traditional indigenous knowledge systems with modern globalised realities that she, and many other Māori, face in Aotearoa today. As her work is deeply related to cultural identity, there is vast opportunity for meaningful artistic learning and development with other indigenous artists in different cultural settings.
Presley wishes to use this residency opportunity at Studio88 for the continued development of her current work in progress Softly Breaking. This solo dance work has already undergone research stages, supported by the Basement Matariki Residency in 2022. The work is physical, with a strong aesthetic design element – particularly, exploring the nostalgia of video and lighting effects to evoke the caustics of water.
The work brings Te Ao Māori conceptualisations of death and dying, including processes of tangihanga, into stark contrast with contemporary western notions of death. Imagery is interwoven from both of these realms in order to create a poignant exploration of the way that indigenous knowledge exists within colonized and globalized communities.
More of Jessie’s work here www.jessiemccall.co.nz
More of Presley’s work here https://www.idyllictissue.com/
Studio 88 is accepting applications on an on-going basis. Check out our residency program and apply now.
Studio 88 Artist Residency 