That Which Was Once Familiar

That Which Was Once Familiar, by Zoë Bastin is a performance piece working across dance, choreography, sculpture and discursive forms presenting diverse perspectives, and exploring identity.

Presented by Dancehouse and Bus Projects, That Which Was Once Familiar draws upon the lived experiences of the dancers, who represent diverse ages, gender identity, disability and cultural backgrounds, placing inclusivity and embodied practice at its core. Traditional dance practices, such as ballet have historically privileged a certain kind of body - white, petite, feminine ideals - requiring the contortion of the body to fit these frames.

That Which Was Once Familiar seeks to challenge these limited, gendered expectations through representation and agency - uniting the performers through shared, lived experience of these rigid structures, as they have detrimental effects upon both physical and mental health. Through That Which Was Once Familiar, Bastin invites audiences into discussions about the bodies that are allowed to dance and why, asking what might the future of dance look like when queer, elder, POC and bodies with different abilities are championed. That Which Was Once Familiar seeks to destabilise historical legacies of traditional dance, toward more inclusive engagements with bodies in all forms. Further, in uniting the dancers, there is an attempt to challenge heteronormative and gendered ideals - toward the possibility of moving with joy, beyond such restrictions.