Older dance artists allow intergenerational stories to blossom

Hobart’s elder ensemble brings the weight of long lives to a physical theatre work on remembering those lost.
two mature dancers with floral headdresses

Annie Greenhill is 69 and doesn’t care who knows it. ‘And I can still do the splits!’ she said.

Created and choreographed by Grace Pundyk, Heirloom is a multifaceted work. On one level it is a celebration of Eastern European culture and its age-old tradition of elaborate floral wreaths worn as symbols of purity by young women.

Those letters would inspire Pundyk to a PhD thesis on responses to intergenerational trauma and, eventually to Heirloom, which began not as a physical theatre work but as a visual art project.

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Acting Performing Arts Editor Jason Blake is a career arts writer, critic and editor. He studied theatre directing at the VCA and NIDA, served as arts editor for the Sydney City Hub, edited subscription TV guides and reviewed theatre for the Sydney Morning Herald from 2009-2017. He was co-founder of audreyjoural.com.au and recently publications manager for the Sydney Film Festival. He shares his home office with a possum.