All-woman collective of 11 artists create Wisdom of Waters _{by Madelaine Empson}

Having danced professionally with Footnote New Zealand Dance for three years, Georgia Beechey felt it was time to venture into the role of choreographer and create her own work. Uncannily, almost every story that found its way into her hands and mind during lockdown was written by women about the experience of women. Flooded with powerful, evocative imagery of the feminine world, she created Wisdom of Waters.

On from the 2^nd to the 6^th of March at BATS Theatre this New Zealand Fringe Festival, this dance between worlds is a movement meditation on what weaves women together, performed in a new choreographic language inspired by visual art, rituals, the texture of clay, mythology, and snakes.

“My goal with this show is to bring these stories and images out of my head and into the world”, Beechey says. “And of course, in the post-COVID world, all performance was on hold. So I saw there was a fantastic opportunity to bring together many of the incredibly talented women I know, in all their different artistic mediums, to help me bring these images onto the stage.”

Created collaboratively by Speaking Spines, an all-woman collective of 11 artists, Beechey hopes Wisdom of Waters will leave audiences feeling “serene and calm, joyful, contemplative, empowered, connected, and positive towards qualities viewed as feminine.”

“I would like people to have a greater sense of respect and reverence for the feminine form, and a better appreciation of their own and women’s universal experiences.”