What words do you use to describe your occupation?
A jumbled assortment of the following is what I spend my days occupied with at work…
Attempting to understand, embody, and actualise ideas/textures/tensions through physical movements with an acute awareness to (performance) presence as an individual and among other creatives. As a dancer in the studio, I act as responder, a creative conduit, an empathetic movement copier, a movement generator… a player with shifting roles in agency/autonomy within collective and individual decision making, problem solving and strategizing. I focus and refocus my attention to physical sensation as I inhabit my body as a mode for transmission - ingesting and reproducing information with varied levels of manipulation.
What are you reading/ watching/ listening to?
I’ve recently finished Honeybee by Craig Silvey, it’s a stunning read.
Silence, In the Age of Noise by Erling Kagge is a short novel celebrating the importance of silence – reminding and inviting me to listen more deeply to my body, not just when I’m dancing.
I’m watching and loving Succession. Its characters are ridiculous, they interact in this weird Shakespearean-tragedy type way and are awkwardly funny. The filming/edit and comedic timing is slick and makes me laugh.
Also, Fantastic Fungi, a documentary on Netflix, is insane – mycelium is amazing.
I made this playlist to pump me up in the afternoon post-lunch pre-dinner slump, (it’s pretty silly).
And I love gawking at the design of homes featured on Architectural Digest’s Instagram.
Why does your selected image interest you?
It reminds me of the euphoric experience of indulging in an impulse without any predisposed intervention. Whenever I see this person, they are listening to music and jamming around the streets. It’s the best, it always makes me feel lighter and more optimistic.
Tra Mi is a dance artist based across Sydney and Melbourne. Studying at Victorian College of the Arts, she graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) and the Orloff Family Charitable Trust Scholarship for Most Outstanding Dancer.
Since graduating, Tra Mi has worked with incredible artists including Lucy Guerin, Victoria Chiu, Lee Serle, Michelle Heaven, Isabelle Beauvard and Monica Bill Barnes & Company in works presented at Dance Massive, AsiaTopa, MEL&NYC, Melbourne Fringe Festival, MPavillion, and Melbourne International Arts Festival. Her performance in Make Your Own World (2019) by Lucy Guerin Inc was nominated for a Green Room Award. Tra Mi’s choreographic practice has been supported through residencies undertaken through Tasdance’s On the Island program, Sydney Fringe Festival’s Art in Isolation, Critical Path, and Readymade Studios Constant Relay. HOLDING, Tra Mi’s debut solo work premiered at March Dance Sydney Festival 2021 to a sold-out season. Tra Mi will be sharing a short work not the piece at ReadyMade Works’ upcoming program Happy Hour #12. In September, her new work (UP)HOLDING will be presented at Sydney Fringe Festival.
Lead image courtesy of Tra Mi Dinh.