About to make her Australian debut with Sydney Dance Company, the dancer-turned-choreographer Marina Mascarell collaborates with artists across the fields of visual art, film, theatre and music.

Mascarell’s new work, The Shell, A Ghost, The Host & The Lyrebird, will be performed in a triple bill with SDC Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela‘s new work I Am-Ness and Antony Hamilton’s Helpmann Award-winning Forever & Ever in a program collectively titled Ascent.

Marina Mascarell. Photo © Pedro Greig/Sydney Dance Co

Her work is deeply connected to ideas of political and social action. “I am interested in the dancing body as a form of resistance,” Mascarell says. “I truly believe that dance can influence the world. When an audience comes to our theatre, they dance to our bodies.”

As a choreographer, Mascarell is accustomed to having others do the moving for her. But what, asks Limelight, are the pieces of music that move her?

Violeta Parra: Gracias a la vida 

“This song has been played by friends in all of the life celebrations and rituals we made in my family,” says Mascarell. “Violeta is the best-known female poet from Chile, a country...