we are all animals

Presented by the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

Choreography by Carol Brown in collaboration with Movement Director Kialea-Nadine Williams and graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) students
Music Coordination by Elliott Gyger with Conservatorium Music Composition and Music Performance students
Design by Dorita Hannah with VCA Design & Production students

"This tells you, desire is not the reconstitution of historical narratives in their time and place, but the summoning of spectres into the present from which we remember and remind of them." Evelyn Araluen. The Rot.

we are all animals is an invitation to move, listen and think – with the irrepressible force of music, dance and design in relation to place, environment and the interconnectedness of all life forms. Attuning to histories of the Southbank Arts Precinct through becoming animal, we invite perceiving place through the resonances of earth, feet, hooves, breaths and beats. Travel with the performers as they navigate encounters with the histories at stake in the places we make.

The performance begins and ends outside on the traditional lands of the Bunurong, Boonwurrung and Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. It journeys through the architecturally restored former stables and arena of the Victorian Mounted Police. Listening to hidden wetlands, foregrounding histories of control and discipline, bringing the past into the present, we acknowledge the role of attunement and care in place–responsive performance that calls for collective gestures of assembly and relationality. Brass and percussion instruments resonate literally and figuratively with the spaces, bringing their associations with military order and physical movement into dialogue with the fluid choreographies of contemporary dance. At a time of deep reckoning with Australia’s colonial past, the performance guides and corrals audience through a reimagining of place.

- Carol Brown, Artistic Director

Dedication
VCA Dance 2026 dedicates this performance to our dear friend, collaborator, and classmate Masha Adly. A singular human - to our cohort, Masha brought unapologetic expression, brave creativity, and joyous spirit. We feel privileged to have known Masha’s cleverness and curiosity through the intimacy of dance. Masha’s movement has inspired choreographic moments in this show, and she has been an undercurrent through the process of this entire work. We continue to dance with her every day.

Image: Photos by Rafe Scoones.

Complete Credits