Dancing in public – Weekly ticket footscray

Abstract

This article describes a durational dance performance at Footscray Train Station, Melbourne, Australia, and the methods used to research and understand the relations created between performer and audience in this context. As performance dramaturg and researcher I participate in each weekly performance, remaining open and mindful of the myriad disturbances and effects of a dance performance in a public space. I have become more and more interested in how audience and performer negotiate physical space and how this effects understandings and a sense of participation. I outline my background as artist and researcher in order to give a context to my understandings and describe the performance, research methodology, and my analysis of two different proxemic zones between performer and audience.