Why this year’s Vagina Conversations is extra meaningful for one local performer

TIANA Hemlock-Yensen remembers feeling a strong sense of pride when she saw her mum Moana Pearl, who facilitates women’s empowerment programs and workshops, perform in the Vagina Conversations in 2018.

“I only got to see it after on video and thought she was fabulous — funny, touching and smart,” she said.

Now, she is taking to the stage herself, performing in this year’s edition at Brunswick Picture House.

“I’m excited and also a bit nervous to perform for a home crowd at this tender, brutally honest, funny and powerful event with these other incredible people,” she said.

Inspired by Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues, director Zenith Virago recognised that the local community had their own stories to tell, with people aged from 17 to 83 stepping into the spotlight for the Vagina Conversations over the past decade.

 

The collaborative show features women and people with vaginas sharing stories about sex, bodies, trauma, joy, identity and everyday experiences, often for the first time on stage.

Hemlock-Yensen was born in Canada and lived in the US Virgin Islands and California before moving to Australia with her mum, eventually settling in the Northern Rivers. She attended Shearwater, the Mullumbimby Steiner School before leaving to travel and live in the United States.

She has been based in Amsterdam for more than a decade after moving there to study choreography at the School for New Dance Development, and now works as a dancer, choreographer, Klein Technique™ and movement teacher, producer, writer, sound maker and bodyworker.

Often in Australia visiting family when The Vagina Conversations was on, Hemlock-Yensen asked Virago to keep her in mind for a future performance.

 

“This year it worked out,” she said.

She said she loves the vulnerability, the sauciness, the humour and the depth of the performers.

“I like to see people who are not often on stage finding strength, courage, craftiness and recognition in sharing their stories,” she said. “I think it’s valuable to get together, talk and share so that we can understand that what is happening to us is also happening to others.

“There is a particular kind of pleasure, shared pain and cringe in identifying with particular stories and then learning things from others. And for me it’s important for these people, who sometimes have jobs that are private or not so visible, to be seen and spotlighted and honoured by the community with their knowledge.”

 

Hemlock-Yensen said Brunswick Picture House is one of her favourite venues in the area.

“It’s run by wacky, warm, talented people who create a welcoming atmosphere, have a huge appreciation for art and are always bringing world class acts with humour, sexiness, queerness, flair, meaning and things for the whole family,” she said.

The Vagina Conversations runs at Brunswick Picture House from February 12 to 15. The event is part of the One Billion Rising V-Day global revolution to end violence, with proceeds supporting the Women’s Resource Service Byron Escape Fund and the Tweed DVIRC Impact Fund, which assist local women escaping intimate partner and family violence.

For more information and tickets, visit brunswickpicturehouse.com