We chatted to dance artist Penny Chivas, the winner of the first Sustainability Prize at RCS.

This new prize seeks to highlight excellent practices, process and outputs that have sustainability as a key concern. Penny’s submission included the dance-theatre work Burnt Out, centred upon her experience of the deadly Australian Black Summer fires of 2019-2020.

It also featured the abstract of her Master’s dissertation which looks, and then proposes ways in which ecopedagogy could be applied to dance improvisation. These projects together consider how an environmental messages can be disseminated and engaged with.

Penny, who is studying on the Master of Education (MEd) in Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts programme, is performing Burnt Out during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Originally from Australia, Penny moved to Glasgow in 2010. A co-founding director of @TheGlasgowJam with Tom Pritchard, Penny has provided platforms for the growth of Contact Improvisation in Scotland, alongside her teaching of the form both in the UK and overseas.

Visit Penny’s Website