Vivienne Rogis

I am a dance artist, choreographer, teacher & social scientist. A mover, shaker and maker. I am inspired by landscape and its role in every aspect of our lives, personal, social and practical. Collaborative processes excite my creative mind and seeing, doing &/or making dance in unexpected places is a driving force of my artistic life. 

As a newish resident of The Dandenong Ranges,  located about an hour east of the CBD of Melbourne, I developed Circling the Brink in 2014 to be part of the local arts festival, called the PAVE (Performing And Visual Arts in Emerald) Festival. It was a way for me to find artists of like mind from within my local area, and further afield. I wanted to share my delight in my new home and in collaboration with others, hopefully, build community and  opportunities for developing the sustainability of arts practice for all. 



Circling the Brink is about supporting artists and bringing them together to celebrate this place through the pursuit of site-specific arts practice. It is structured as a site-specific arts workshop series & performance/exhibition platform located at the brink, on the edge, between Metro Melbourne and Regional Victoria.. 



The performances of Circling the Brink are about offering an experience of place. Inviting the audience to see the magnificent landscape of Telopea Gardens through the prism of in depth creative exploration.



In 2014 I put out a call for artists to join me in creating a site-specific performance to be part of the PAVE Festival. The response to my offering was amazing and if you watch the video in 'Some of my other work' below, you will see just a small part of the performances that came into being and the diversity of artists who made and shared beautiful work, voluntarily. 


I put the call out again for 2015, with enthusiasm and anticipation, and I have once again been overwhelmed with the responses I have received and excited by the widening circle of artists who are interested in participating with open and generous hearts.

Now I am putting out a call for action to you! Help US make Circling the Brink 2015 the best it can be by offering your support. The success of this campaign will help me to support the generosity of the artists participating in Circling the Brink 2015. It will assist 16 artists, from different stages in their careers and with very diverse modes of working, to develop new work and skills, network, collaborate and celebrate this place.  It will offer an audience and a community something new and unusual during their annual grass roots arts festival. It will facilitate the development of a new program for site-specific artists that comes from inside a community/place and reaches out. Come and join us at the Brink!!!!

We begin our journey into the gardens on 7&8th March with a weekend of workshops at Telopea gardens. All artists are welcome to attend these workshops (see www.pave.org.au) Participating artists will then work on-site to create a garden gallery of performances, which will be presented on the 18 &19th April, during the PAVE Festival. Funds raised through this pozible campaign will help to acknowledge and support the artists participating, with a small fee. 

The funds we raise through this pozible campaign will be used to pay the artists performing and creating work a small nominal fee of $200 each.
We have inkind support from our local community to help make this project happen. 
The PAVE Festival is offering some financial ($1000) support and marketing help. 
Telopea Gardens have generously donated the use of the gardens for all performances, rehearsals and the workshops. 
Fernglade on Menzies B&B & Wattle Tree Creek B&B have donated accommodation for interstate and International participating artists.
Artists are donating their time for creative development of the work for performance. 
I am donating my time to project manage, facilitate and lead the walking tours. 
There are 16 Artists participating in Circling the Brink 2015. 
They are;
Ashlee Bye
Alicia Min Harvey
Chun Liang Liu
Dani-Ela Kayler
Fiona Lewis
Gulsen Ozer
Karen Wilkie
Kathleen Renehan
Katy Woods
Kaci Hills
Mandy Pickett
Paul Hickman
Rachel Heller-Wagner
Robert Brassington
Robert Jackson
Silke Mehler

The biggest challenge to Circling the Brink is weather conditions and the capacity of artists to maintain their participation while having to give so much of their time and creative experience voluntarily.

The success of this pozible campaign will directly assist with the later of these challenges and we have a wet weather plan for the performances.