A heart specialist and brain scientist have collaborated on an unusual project at UNSW: a performance work by renowned choregrapher Sue Healey.

The resulting work The Curiosities is being performed this week at the Io Myers Studio.

"I've drawn stimulation from people who wouldn't normally be involved in creating dance," says Sue Healey who is a UNSW visiting fellow with the School of English Media and Performing Arts.

"Professor Kate Stevens, a cognition expert and Professor Richard Harvey, a heart developmental biologist, have been involved in several stages of the choreographic process, inspiring a new approach to generating images and movement."

The architecture of the body and the mind are the focus of the work, which incorporates methods such as dance, composition and film.

The work involves the projection of images into the space and on to the performers' bodies, including scientific images of foetal hearts.

"The heart historically has been regarded as an organ of emotion - a physical and symbolic space where experiences and feelings are localised," says Sue. "In contemporary thinking it is superceded by the brain - the site for cognition, memories and emotions - the organ that determines death or life. The Curiosities explores these anatomical and symbolic territories of the body."

The Curiosities features three of Sydney's finest dance artists, composer Darrin Verhagen, a recent graduate of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences' Media Program, digital animator Adnan Lalani and film artist Louise Curham.

What: The CuriositiesWhen: Wednesday 13 - Saturday 16 August at 7.30pm. Saturday matinee is at 5pm. The opening night is sold out.Where: Io Myers Studio, UNSW, Kensington - entry via Gate 2, High Street

Tickets are $15 or $8 for UNSW students. Booking is essential on 9385 5684 or Creative Practice Research Unit

Media contact: | Susi Hamilton | 9385 1583 | susi.hamilton@unsw.edu.au |