Raewyn Hill Making Dance Accessible to All

Chances are if you visited the Art Gallery of Western Australia recently you would have seen New Zealand-born Raewyn Hill and the Co3 dancers rehearsing for The Cry. The contemporary performance, that sees each dancer portray a particular emotion, is the creation of Hill who is choreographing the new work for the upcoming MoveMe Festival on from 15-18 September in Perth.

“My biggest thing was that I’m new to the State so as its [Co3] artistic director it was important that the community got to know me and my work. There’s no better way to get to know that than actually engaging with it,” Hill says.

Hill grew up on a farm in Oamaru, which she says instilled in her a sense of community.

The “strong sense of identity and passion here [in WA] for dance”, encouraged her a year and a half ago to take the role with Co3 and is the reason she believes a dance festival is viable in Perth.

“The community aspect of WA is special so it makes sense we’re all presenting work,” Hill explains. “Co3 as a philosophy; partnerships and collaborations are really part of our core, so for us it was a no-brainer. Why would we keep working in isolation or in these sorts of silos when actually we’re all presenting work, all extraordinary works?

“Every piece of work contributes in a different way to making a vibrant and extraordinary community.”

Hill was appointed the first artistic director of Co3, the new contemporary dance company of Western Australia in 2014. She is a graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance.

Original article by Annelies Gartner, The West Australian, September 7, 2016.