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Dominique Sweeney
PhD Student
T: (02) 6125 9875
F: (02) 6125 2438
E: dominique.sweeney@anu.edu.au
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Dominique trained and works as a performer.
His education included two years in Paris at L'ecole de Theatré,
Jacques Lecoq, while his work has seen him on stages, screen and
other locations throughout Australia. Dominique is a core member
of Theatre Kantanka, a company that specialize in site specific
performance (www.kantanka.com.au). He has a B.Ed in drama/dance/philosophy
from Deakin University (Rusden) and in 2001 received 1st class honours
for his thesis entitled "’Beyond the confines of the
body...’ Are Waranggi masks or are masks part of what Waranggi
are?" Working with masks, (directing, devising and performing)
has led to Dominique’s current PhD research.
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Research projects |
| Masked Corroborees and the Wurnan exchange system
of northwest Australia. In northwest Australia
a range of corroborees incorporate the use of masks. These
and other performance objects connect bodies to country,
cultural knowledge and ancestors. Dominique's project is
in two parts: making a digital video (DV) about the way
these masks come into being and how they are used; and a
written thesis analysing the process involved in making
the DV.
The Ngarinyin, Narinyman and Worla people of northwest Australia
are peoples with whom Dominique has been concentrating his
groundwork research and video documentation concerning the
animation of Ungud (rainbow serpent) and Ngarrangkarni (dreamings)
through performance. Masking in these corroborees is a process
of manifestation, rather than transformation. When the boundary
between the body of a performer and the landscape/cosmos/ancestor
become one, what is happening? Performances elicit just
such questions about relationships to country, cultural
knowledge, and with the dead. Do performances then mean
the same when performed away from their country of origin
at national and international festivals? Are the conceptual
categories 'performance' and 'mask' sufficient to describe
what is happening in these circumstances?
It is the relationships, the creation, the people involved
in the creation, the preparation for performance and the
potential for trading corroborees which have framed Dominique's
research. The people in the film and thesis have been involved
in the discussions about the way in which they are presented.
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Teaching and Supervision |
| Dominique has directed for and was a teacher
in theatre studies at Griffith University and in masked performance
at the Institute for Cinematography and Dramatic Art, St.
Petersburg, Russia. He was the artistic director of The Anvil
Theatre, Melbourne, producing a number of masked productions
performed nationally and internationally. |
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Media Attention and
Consultancies
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Stage:
Anvil Theatre and Playbox Theatre (Victoria), Queensland
Theatre Company, Grin and Tonic Theatre Troupe and Twelfth Night
Theatre (Queensland), Companie 108 (France, Russia)
Film and Television:
Ch 9 production of "A Fortunate Life" played
Albert Facey
Ch 10 production of "The First Kangaroos" played Daly
Messenger
ABC production series "Phoenix" played Wheels
Jim Henson production series "Farscape" in 3 episodes
as masked aliens. |
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