Author name: Gillian Rhodes

Colonization and the Politics of Suffering

There’s something I’ve noticed throughout the past couple years of the COVID pandemic. It’s not a researched or scholarly position, it’s an observation and an intuition. Really, it boils down to something very simple: colonized countries have a very different relationship with suffering than the colonizing countries. In case you’re new to my journey, I’ve …

Colonization and the Politics of Suffering Read More »

thumbnail mary oliver wild geese dance cover

Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese Dance Cover: 2021 year in review

There are many layers to this video. On the first layer, it’s a recitation of Mary Oliver’s beloved poem, Wild Geese, which is one of my favorite poems ever. It’s inspired by some videos I saw recently which were an audiovisual representation of some Charles Bukowski’s poems. But instead of taking footage from existing movies …

Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese Dance Cover: 2021 year in review Read More »

boss saying hey kid i got an offer for you for special offer

A very festive special offer on Patreon: a creative Advent Calendar!

Sign up at any tier on my Patreon by November 30th to receive a daily dose of festive content in December! The Performer Creative Advent Calendar could include videos, poetry, essays, reflections, photos, and more. Higher tiers can expect to receive an extra special surprise every week in advent. 2021 has not been the catastrophe …

A very festive special offer on Patreon: a creative Advent Calendar! Read More »

Catching Light International Collaboration

Catching Light is a collaboration between Croatian sculptor Milivoj Šegan and American performer Gillian Rhodes. Milivoj’s digital light paintings of ‘lumino mobile’ are created by putting light in hand-created terracotta sculptures and then photographed with long exposures. Gillian then projected the results onto a white screen and danced in and out of the projections. Finally, …

Catching Light International Collaboration Read More »

Breathe: Dance For Climate Change

Between chaos and climate change, pollution and pandemics, it’s getting harder and harder to breathe. I made this video as a little reminder of blue skies and calm minds – because to breathe easy, we also have to be easy. Shot on my rooftop in Lahore, Pakistan with my J2 Osmo Pocket and edited myself.

one of the projected images for the collaboration

First Contact: A Collaboration with Milivoj Šegan

First Contact is a multimedia performance, blending digital light paintings projected onto the body. It is an experiment more than anything, but the story behind it is full of odd connections and good timing. Unexpected Collaborations One of the things that happened during the lockdown was that I found myself hosting a live show on …

First Contact: A Collaboration with Milivoj Šegan Read More »

Sign up on my Patreon for amazing benefits!

Super stoked to announce that I’ve just launched my Patreon page. There are tons of exclusive benefits across the different tiers. You’ll find things like early access to video content, all the way to private tailored classes. You’ll have the opportunity to join an exclusive community and special patron-only workshops. Some tiers have peeks into …

Sign up on my Patreon for amazing benefits! Read More »

cultural shifts are similar to passing a wormhole

The Wormhole: Reflections on Deep Cultural Shifts

The body moves quickly, but the soul is slow, catching up only after time.  There is obviously more to say about cultural shifts. Today, I’m just talking about the wormhole. In astronomy, a wormhole is a theoretical structure that connects different places of the universe through a shorter “tunnel” of spacetime. Most astrophysicists agree that …

The Wormhole: Reflections on Deep Cultural Shifts Read More »

Vida and The Void – Gallery

Vida and The Void was performed for a special edition of Sway With Us at Olomopolo. The occasion was Remembering Jahanara, in memory of a young dancer who was killed. The piece was about someone coming to terms with their own death. All photo credits to Omar Rehman. Excerpts from the live performance: