Headwater at Abbotsford Convent

Solo practice is exciting, but incredibly exposed. As a soloist and improviser, Helen Svoboda feels torn between the many options they have as a vocalist, bassist and the spaces in between. Simply put – it is impossible to action all of the ideas that occur to them during performance.

This performance seeks to explore these spaces in between and multiply a solo identity by adding extra bodies into the fold. What happens if the body is the water, and the self becomes a stream? Helen extends the self by creating a stream of activity – a blurred landscape where unfinished ideas become water. The creative brain is chaotic and often unresolved, and as such, the concept of fleeting earworms is a recurrent theme in this work. Miniature ideas surface or resurface and have a space to become visible, even for just a moment.