I’m thrilled to share my chat with Liesel Zink. If you listened to Episode 11 (Making Space, Staying Sane…) then you’ll know that I’m a participating as one of 89 performers in a large public-space work mid May (2025). Liesel is the choreographer of that piece, Us And All Of This, and is a delightful human being. I’ve had so much fun reinvestigating a bit of my past creative life through her lens and appreciated her willingness to be my guest.
Here are some of the things we covered in our convo:
🎙️ Episode Takeaways:
Ever wondered what a dramaturge does? Liesel shares how she’s leaned on dramaturges to help clarify her voice and explains how the role connects the dance, the arts field, and the world we live in.
Trained in contemporary dance, Liesel shifted toward expanding audiences and increasing community connection by bringing dance out of exclusive spaces and into shared public spaces.
Public-space choreography allows audiences to engage with contemporary dance on their own terms keeping it relaxed, open, and accessible.
In an increasingly busy world, Liesel realises the foundations of her creative process - deep listening and radical slowness - area a chance to invite people to re-ground and deepen their humanity.
Being an independent artist means wearing many hats - but all those skills weave and thread back into life, community, and even cultural activism.
Liesel’s engagement with her Ukrainian heritage is influenced by her creative practice and shows up through organising community celebrations and her “craftivism”, raising money for Ukraine through a crafters group.
Her large-scale participatory work Us And All Of This builds true community through deep curiosity, care, and collaboration. While the positive impacts may be ephemeral and hard to measure they are deeply real and transformative.
✅ Links & Resources:
🌅 Horizon Festival is who’s hosting the performance: horizonfestival.com.au
🎭 Performing Lines is the producer of Us And All of This: performinglines.org.au
✨ The Vibrancy Society how to find more of me: thevibrancysociety.com
🇺🇦 To Support Ukraine: Ukrainian Crisis Appeal is an Australian Organisation that has a long history of doing really important humanitarian work in Ukraine.
Or to help de-mine Ukraine: De-mine Ukraine this is a relatively new initiative.
Share this post