Building Mawson, 1955
[2007-12-24]

Mawson base is built on rock
scraped smooth by glaciers
once reaching its shores.

Through our bodies we can feel
the equal and opposite forces
between us and the ground.
We know through our bodies
connection with Earth.

drawing: Fred Elliott,
Mawson, 1955

dance: Jonathan Sinatra
Sydney 2007

sound: Jon Hizzard
Flinders Island 2007

animation: L.R.
Sydney 2007

In 1954 and 1955

Fred Elliott climbed the rocks

of unknown Antarctic lands:
the Masson and Casey Ranges.

In movement improvization

a body moves through known landscapes

as if entering the unknown.

Still photographs were taken of a dancer

negotiating an urban landscape.

Jonathan Sinatra improvised,

exploring the idea of grounding,

using the building bricks at hand.

He explored different spaces

testing the limits of his balance

before falling, or 'pouring,'

his weight into wind, or earth.

The movements of this dancer

offer insights into a relationship

we can have with the Antarctic landscape,

in that they can connect us vicariously

to the elements all landscapes share -

air, water, earth.

I aim to connect us kinesthetically

with Antarctic landscape,

moving through familiar

into unfamiliar places.

Scraping the earth

of an urban wasteland,

he is moved over Antarctic rock.

That he is naked

is unexpected for an icy landscape.

I was shocked when I first saw the naked man

running on ice in the film,

Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner),

set in the Canadian Arctic.

Jonathan and I joked

that he would need to sprout fur,

to survive the ice.