Make/Shift is a programme of movement research responding to a growing desire amongst the artistic community to engage with the international refugee situation in ways that support and promotes cross-cultural understanding and community cohesion. The research is not attempting to reflect the refugee experience but to examine the broader role of movement research to contribute to social change and social justice issues.

Led by choreographers Claire Pencak and Tim Rubidge, the workshop will combine a sharing of narratives and experiences through short live improvisational performance, an opportunity for participants to experience movement responses in which ever way they wish to engage and open space conversation.

In the context and safety of contemporary choreographic practice and improvisation we are creatively nourished through encounters with displacement, uncertainty, and the loss of the familiar. While we acknowledge that this is a totally different encounter within the refugee context we wonder if an exploration of these conditions through improvised practice can offer any insights or shift our understanding so that we might suggest alternative strategies and narratives for living with change?

Anyone interested in the scope of this workshop is welcome to join. No dance experience is required although people that wish to participate through movement will be encouraged to do so.