Perceive Us. I Dare You.

Presented by CoExist Collective, Perceive us. I dare you., is a site-specific collaborative production of contemporary dance and performance art, featuring three installation works. We invite audiences to experience our thoughts, views and preconceptions around perception and being perceived.

The first work, A Timeline of Shedding, by Misch Kurzeme and Ebi Coniglio, establishes the world by reflecting upon societal expectations and the subsequent influence in one’s presentation of self. Through a journal towards acceptance, we let go of the weight of what ‘should be’ and reclaim self-expression.

The audience continues into Constant, by Byron Lewis and Phoebe Allen, which hones in on the effects of information being continuously and unavoidably presented to us. How does the rate of constant and ever-evolving information manipulate the way we experience ourselves and others?

Concluding with Am I Them?, by Darcie Eckersley and Kristen Cafari, the work attempts to decipher the larger-than-life questions resulting from a preconceived landscape that imposes an ‘us’ and a ‘them’. Surrounded and encased by wire models crafted by Joseph Newton-Keogh, the two embody this otherness and explore what it is to function as one part of a collective self.

Presented By: CoExist Collective
Produced By: Tenae Smith

Created & Performed By: Byron Lewis, Darcie Eckersley, Ebi Coniglio, Kristen Cafari, Misch Kurzeme & Phoebe Allen

In Collaboration With: Joseph Newton-Keogh

Image Credits - Ebi Coniglio, Connor MacDonald
Video Credits - Nick Rendell & Ewan Jinks
Video Editing Credits - Tenae Smith & Darcie Eckersley