Catherine Magill is a Naarm /Melbourne-based dance artist with thirty years performance experience. Creating in the emerging moment, Catherine interweaves spontaneous, responsive movement and spoken word, with set choreography and scripted text. The work is political and poetic, addressing issues from the personal to the global. Content ranges from the (in)visibility of women in public space, in particular older women, to the impacts of consumer rubbish on the environment. Catherine’s work is site responsive, seeking connection beyond the site being merely a stage. Recent projects in urban and natural settings encompass solo presentations, cross discipline collaboration and community engagement. Expanding beyond the confines of a theatre, public space allows the work to be viewed and challenged by a more diverse audience. The transience of live performance is further challenged by the fleeting engagement and unknown response of the passer by. The safety of the fourth wall is removed.
VOW (Visible Older Woman) is a series of performative public space interventions which explore the (in)visibility of the ageing, female body in patriarchal society. In VOW: The Pedestal Project, a group of older women stand atop milk crates, creating colonnades of ‘statues’. Marking entranceways, inhabiting pathways, and encircling patriarchal monuments, the ‘statues’ highlight the under-representation of women in the public domain. The project was inspired by Testing Grounds’ Queen Victoria Market site and Professor Claire Wright’s Monument of One’s Own report, which revealed that of Melbourne’s 563 statues only nine represent actual Australian women. The Pedestal Project was also presented in 2024 on International Womens Day 2024, and as a theatrical work Crate Women, as part of the Dancehouse Fringe Festival season.
Catherine Magill has extensive performance experience. She has presented work in the Melbourne Fringe Festival (2012, 2019), the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (2013), Dancehouse Fringe Season (2012) and numerous independent group and solo shows. International performances include Varia Festival (2018), Atlanta Theatre (2023, Sweden), Vitlycke Theatre (2023, Sweden), ImproXchange (2014, Berlin), the Australian Contact Improvisation Festival (2010-2019), Precipice (2012-2023, annual Australian Improvisation Festival, Canberra) and the NOW Pieces (2014-2021, Dancehouse Melbourne). Alongside her performance practice Catherine has taught dance and improvisation in community and tertiary settings.