SARAH AIKEN
Tools for Personal Expansion

SARAH AIKEN (tools for personal expansion) is a study into social, digital & physical means of expanding the self. Existing simultaneously between digital & physical formats; I augment & expand my self, engaging the performers and audience to do my bidding, extending my ability to act on the world through every platform and making sure everyone remembers my name.
It is about personal power, about attempts to be heard and seen, to take up space and allow identity to expand beyond physical limitation but also, considering finite resources, the compromises that facilitate these expansions.
SARAH AIKEN looks at how we live in the world, the versions of ourselves we curate, our output, achievements and the versions that others hold of us; how much we control these variants, and how much they shape us. The work critiques the gendered occupation of space and the worship of progress, development and continual growth, observing what retracts as we reach further.
Considering environmental, social and emotional repercussions of a culture driven by reach, progress & personal branding, the work holds within it the tension between ambition, empowerment and sustainability.What is reduced in these attempts at expansion?
SARAH AIKEN (tools for personal expansion) is touring to Metro Arts Brisbane in December 2017
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Commissioned by Keir Choreographic Awards and Dancehouse
Sarah Aiken: Concept, performance and choreography
Claire Leske: Performer/collaborator
Emily Robinson: Performer/collaborator
Daniel Arnott: Creative collaborator, sound design, AV
Amelia Lever-Davidson: Lighting design
Robert Jordan: AV design
Cary Aiken: Costume consultation
Image: Gregory Lorenzutti
This project was generously supported by the Keir Foundation and Dancehouse through the Keir Choreographic Awards 2016 and Maximised by Chunky Move. Our Metro Arts season is supported by Creative Partnerships Australia through MatchLab and the incredible supporters who donated to the campaign.





Image_ Gregory Lorenzutti

Image_ Gregory Lorenzutti

Sarah Aiken (tools for personal expansion) Image: from video, Cobie Orger Keir Choreographic Awards

Sarah Aiken (tools for personal expansion) Image: from video, Cobie Orger Keir Choreographic Awards

Sarah Aiken (tools for personal expansion) Image: Gregory Lorenzutti Keir Choreographic Awards

Sarah Aiken (tools for personal expansion) Image: from video, Cobie Orger Keir Choreographic Awards

Sarah Aiken (tools for personal expansion) Image: from video, Cobie Orger Keir Choreographic Awards

Sarah Aiken (tools for personal expansion) Image: Gregory Lorenzutti Keir Choreographic Awards

Sarah Aiken (tools for personal expansion) Image: from video, Cobie Orger Keir Choreographic Awards