curator and writer
Lucy Guerin: NEWRETRO
21 works / 21 dancers / 21 years in the making
Drawing on 21 existing dance works from the past 21 years, NEWRETRO is a major durational performance installation by leading contemporary choreographer Lucy Guerin. It takes the form of a site-responsive choreographic work and installation occupying ACCA’s galleries.
NEWRETRO reconstructs fragments retrieved from Lucy Guerin Inc’s back-catalogue and relearnt by an ensemble of 21 dancers. The work’s score is both retrospective and speculative, condensing choreography from different time periods into the same temporal space, creating a living archive of new, corporeal gestures.
Capturing the physical imprint of several generations of dancers, NEWRETRO frames the material of the body within an embodied relationship to architecture and the subject. The performance unfolds over an extended three-hour duration, inviting audiences into a space at once intimate and spectacular.
CREATIVE TEAM
Choreographer & Director: Lucy Guerin
Dancers: Alice Dixon, Amber McCartney, Antony Hamilton, Benjamin Hancock, Caitlin Mewett, Claire Leske, Cora Hughes, Deanne Butterworth, Geoffrey Watson, Georgia Rudd, Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Lee Serle, Lilian Steiner, Melanie Lane, Michelle Heaven, Ngioka Bunda-Heath, Raina Peterson, Rebecca Jensen, Samantha Hines, Stephanie Halyburton, Tra Mi Dinh
Guest Artists: Stephanie Lake and Alisdair Macindoe (select performances)
Lighting Designer: Paul Lim
Sound Designer & Composer: Jethro Woodward
Costume Designer: Kate Davis
Curator, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art: Elyse Goldfinch
Costume Construction: Janice Chalmers
Production Manager: Genevieve Cizevskis
Lighting Design Associate & Technical Operator: Nick Moloney
Stage Manager: Zsuzsa Gaynor Mihaly
Deputy Stage Manager: Giovanna Yate Gonzalez
Producer: Estelle Conley
Executive Producer: Brendan O’Connell
MEDIA & AWARDS
ABC Arts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVlerPDLEzY
Review: Arts Hub
https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/performance-installation-review-newretro-acca-2623905/
Review: Dance Magazine
Dance Life Australia
https://www.dancelife.com.au/review-newretro/
NEWRETRO Awarded 2024 Green Room Award for Outstanding Creation
CREDITS
(top) Lucy Guerin: NEWRETRO, live performance, 2023, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Dancers (left to right): Stephanie Halyburton, Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Lilian Steiner, Lee Serle, Amber McCartney, Deanne Butterworth, Ngioka Bunda-Heath, Claire Leske, Geoffrey Watson, Rebecca Jensen, Alice Dixon, Caitlin Mewett, Cora Hughes, Michelle Heaven, Georgia Rudd, Benjamin Hancock, Raina Peterson, Melanie Lane. Courtesy the artists. Photo: Gregory Lorenzutti.
Lucy Guerin: NEWRETRO, live performance, 2023, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Courtesy the artists. Photos: Gregory Lorenzutti.
A Lucy Guerin Inc production, presented in partnership with the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA). This project is supported by the Besen Family Foundation and the Playking Foundation. This presentation would not have been possible without the generous support of the late Chloe Munro AO.