Untitled Pressure Project
A visceral interdisciplinary performance exploring how pressure is carried through bodies, relationships and systems within contemporary Australian life.
Untitled Pressure Project (UPP) is a major new work by Tagalaka artist Carly Sheppard, produced by BlakDance.
Developed through BlakDance's BlakForm program and supported by Arts House from its earliest stages, the work has evolved into an ambitious interdisciplinary performance combining dance, text, sound and sculptural installation.
Following the acclaimed premiere of The Shepherds at RISING 2026, Sheppard turns her attention from the myths that shape Australia to the pressures that define contemporary life. UPP emerges from a moment of profound social, political and environmental uncertainty. As humanity confronts intersecting crises of belonging, surveillance, inequality and ecological instability, the work asks how these forces are carried in the body and lived through everyday experience.
UPP explores how pressure accumulates across everyday life. Moving through experiences of isolation, surveillance, policing, class and belonging, the work examines how structural forces are carried within the body and lived through relationships to self, community and nation.
Through repetition, fragmentation and escalating emotional intensity, UPP builds a charged performance language where movement and text collide, narratives fracture and reform, and tension becomes physical. Drawing on dance, text, sound and sculptural installation, the work creates a shifting landscape where personal experience and collective conditions become inseparable.
Throughout 2026, UPP is being developed through a series of intensive creative residencies at Arts House, bringing together collaborators across choreography, dramaturgy, design and performance to test and refine the work's evolving form. The project is progressing toward future presentation and touring opportunities as a large-scale ensemble work.
UPP marks a significant expansion of Sheppard's artistic practice and reflects BlakDance's ongoing commitment to supporting ambitious First Nations-led contemporary performance.
““Artists have always held a mirror up to the world around them. Right now we’re living through a period of enormous uncertainty and pressure. I’m interested in how those forces become embodied — how they shape our relationships, our sense of self, and our ability to imagine different futures.””
Current Development
UPP is currently in creative development, with residencies taking place throughout 2026 at Arts House in Melbourne. The project continues to bring together artists from across performance, design and dramaturgy to develop the work's interdisciplinary form and future presentation pathways.
Creative Team
Lead Artist: Carly Sheppard
Creative Collaborator: Kamarra Bell-Wykes
Producer: BlakDance
Further creative collaborators and performers will join the project throughout the 2026 development process.
Image Credit: Jody Haines
Acknowledgements
Untitled Pressure Project is a new work by Carly Sheppard for A Daylight Connection, co-commissioned by Arts House, City of Melbourne, and BlakDance, and produced by BlakDance.
The 2026 creative development is supported by Arts House and BlakDance through Mangrove, an initiative of Arts Queensland.
Earlier concept development was supported through BlakForm, a BlakDance initiative funded by the Australian Government's Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund.
