Guided Wrestling
Guided Wrestling is a live performance that invites us into the tangled space between feeling and expression. In an era marked by relentless violence — genocide, displacement, silencing — this work offers no neat answers. Instead, it opens a charged space to wrestle with our collective overwhelm.
Created by Riana Head-Toussaint, an interdisciplinary disabled/crip artist and choreographer, the work reflects their boundary-crossing, site-responsive practice — one that interrogates deep-rooted systems and opens more expansive ways of experiencing the world. Using choreography, sound, performance and audience activation, Head-Toussaint creates work that is both political and deeply embodied.
In Guided Wrestling, performers move physically through emotional terrain — grappling, reaching, expanding. Through action, offering, ritual and play, audiences are invited to unlock and access the depths of their interior worlds. This is a shared act of embodied listening.
Performed by: Kiara White, Sarah Healy, Kimberley Parkin, Zendra Giraudo, Stella Hastie, Mackenzie Brown, Jen Datu.
Date and Time
thurs 20, fri 21 &
Sat 22 Nov, 6.30pm
Location
Woolstores Car Park
Entry
Free
Audio-described & Assistive listening performance | Fri 21 Nov, 6:30pm
Image Credit
Photo ONE: BY Mary-Clifton; PHOTOS TWO, THREE & FOUR: BY DUNCAN Wright; PHOTO FIVE: BY TJ Garvie
Riana Head-Toussaint is an interdisciplinary crip/disabled artist, DJ and curator/community organiser of Afro-Caribbean heritage. Her practice sits at the intersection of creative expression, activism, cultural exchange and disability justice.
Riana creates across choreography, performance, sound, film, writing, and installation. Her work is aimed at challenging deep-rooted systems and ways of thinking, driving social change, and creating spaces that invite deeper embodiment and expansive ways of experiencing the world.
Her work is site-specific, and has taken place in carparks, post-industrial ruins, raves, clubs, galleries, theatres, and online/digital spaces.
Riana’s projects have been commissioned and presented by a range of institutions and organisations including Human Rights Watch, the Art Gallery of NSW, the Opera House, Buxton Contemporary, Carriageworks, The Keir Foundation, Arts House, the British Council, Perth Festival, the Institute of Modern Art, Utp, Fremantle Biennale, Frame Biennial, Casula Powerhouse, Pari Ari and more.
Riana is the founder and curator of CRIP RAVE THEORY, a sound and club culture project that draws on intersectional disabled/crip knowledge to create more accessible music, rave and party spaces. She also has a broader curatorial practice, and has curated for the Art Gallery of NSW, Runway Journal and Firstdraft.
In recognition of her contributions to the national arts and cultural landscape, in 2024 Riana was awarded Creative Australia’s prestigious national ‘Arts & Disability Award’ for early career artists. In 2022 she was also shortlisted for ‘Best Artist’ at the fbi SMAC AWARDS.
She currently resides on sacred, unceded Kulin lands.
Woolstores Carpark
Adelaide St,
Fremantle
Duration: 45 minutes.
Event Information: Audience viewing and livestream from the Boardwalk Viewpoint.
This event takes place at the Woolstores Car Park, 22 Cantonment Street, Fremantle.
Latecomers may not be admitted. We recommend arriving early to ensure you don’t miss out.
This event will be outdoors. We recommend bringing warm clothing and any water you might need. In the event of inclement weather the show may be delayed or cancelled.
Food & Drink: No food or drinks are permitted in this performance. We recommend arriving early, or staying afterwards for a drink and food across the road at Clancy’s Fish Pub, Fremantle.
Parking: Please note you will not be able to park at the Woolstores Car Park. Street parking is available nearby, as is the Westgate Car Park
Public Transport: The event area is a 6-minute walk from the Fremantle Train Station, which is the final destination for the Fremantle Train Line, as well as several bus routes.
The event area is wheelchair accessible and includes ramp access into the car park. The event area is large featuring flat concrete flooring.
The nearest accessible public toilets are located at Clancy’s Fish Pub, Fremantle.
ACROD parking spaces can be found along Cantonment Street and will be kept available within the Woolstore Car Park. Event Staff will be on site to offer directions to these bays.
