TOUCH — Deepa Mani & Sheena Chundee

Cross the seas of culture, community, and connection with Chandralaya and Rebel Stepz Arts through ‘TOUCH’.

‘TOUCH’ demonstrates the power of merging cultures and the beauty and peace that can be achieved through respect, regardless of race or ethnicity.

Exploring the world through the eyes of two South Asian dancers, the audience will be taken on a unique journey that aims to melt away the barriers of division.

The two artists hail from similar cultural backgrounds, but the difference in their chosen art forms is bold. Through Ballet and Bharathanatyam, ‘TOUCH’ is hoping to dance upon a plain that still feels off-limits. The juxtaposition of both forms is both gentle and grand – and the story will unfold to tell its tale.

This project received Cash for Equity through the Fringe Fund, as part of the Ralph Mclean Microgrants program.

Created & Performed by:
Deepa Mani – Chandralaya
Sheena Chundee – Rebel Stepz Arts

CRECHE — Oliver Savariego

‘Creche’ is an experimental contemporary dance work by Oliver Savariego exploring childhood, nostalgia, pop-culture and friendship. Two performers, Chloe Arnott and Luke Fryer, channel their inner child through mind and body and are seemingly stuck in a noughties time capsule universe, left to entertain themselves.

Despite having a lot yet to learn, children have much to teach us. This absurd, chaotic and light-hearted performance celebrates the imagination, impulsiveness and non-judgement of childhood, set to a soundtrack of trashy ’00s pop. Grown adults uncannily assume child-like coordination and personalities, proposing a new yet familiar dance aesthetic as they negotiate their surroundings and amuse each other. A caring motherly figure keeps watch from a distance, ready to clean their mess and guide their actions.

Choreographer: Oliver Savariego
Performers: Chloe Arnott and Luke Fryer
Sound Design: Finnian Langham and Evelyn Ida Morris
Production Design: El Schmiedte

LUSH — gemma+molly

The harsh sound of a fruitless blender fills the space fleetingly, pulling an array of animate and inanimate performers into its expansive and whirring cycle. Fruit poised for consumption, two femme figures complete the scene – each performing body finding itself as illustrator to what has already begun.

‘LUSH’ is a cyclical queering of time – a choreography performed by the animate bodies of gemma+molly and the inanimate bodies of a blender, fruit, fans and layered fabrics.

Informed by Audre Lorde’s text, Uses of the Erotic, ‘LUSH’ draws reference to Lorde’s understanding of the erotic as, “a resource within each of us…the power which comes from sharing deeply any pursuit with another person”. In an attempt to equalise the collaborative elements, each performing body indulges in Lorde’s words, allowing for an empowered shared awareness between the animate and inanimate.

Composed of an arrangement of performative metaphors and salient imagery, ‘LUSH’ works towards a queering of linear time, to exist within a space where time is cyclical – illustrating and indulging in the many cycles that occur within two femme bodies, their physical relationship, electrical object bodies, the ripening of fruit, an audience’s attention, and how these many cycles will inevitably fall in and out of sync repeatedly.

Created and performed by: gemma+molly
Lighting design: Giovanna Yate Gonzalez
Sound design: Jaxon Stickler

The Unlearning — Adrien Tucker

‘The Unlearning’ follows a performer through a journey of self-reflection, whilst traversing through societal structures of masculinity. Acknowledging the jarring rigidity of traditional masculine ideologies, he ponders the relationship he holds with himself, commences exploring intimacy and a memory for his body, constantly reassessing, and tending to his relationship with his physical body above all else.

Created & Performed by: Adrien Tucker
Sound Design by: Damian Meredith

Oh Sheila — Ashley Goh, Beverley Li & Tiffany Nung

As humans, we exist within space and time, and our experiences of these concepts shape our understanding of the world around us. Our perception of space and time is largely shaped by our physical senses and our ability to perceive the passage of time.

In terms of space, we perceive the world through our senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. We experience space in three dimensions, and our ability to move within and interact with this space is fundamental to our existence. Our experiences of space are influenced by cultural, social, and environmental factors, which can shape our perception of what is considered “normal” or “appropriate” within a given context.

In terms of time, we perceive the passage of time through our sense of duration and change. Our understanding of time is shaped by our experiences of events and processes, and our ability to anticipate future events is crucial for our survival and adaptation. Our experiences of time are also influenced by cultural and social factors, which can shape our perception of the past, present, and future. Overall, our existence in relation to space and time is complex and multifaceted, and our understanding of these concepts continues to evolve as we learn more about the nature of the universe and our place within it.

Our performance contests everything we understand of space and time and thus reality. When movement is captured on video or film, it can be slowed down, sped up or repeated, providing a more detailed and nuanced visual experience. How do we replicate these effects? Non-real-time movement such as time-lapse photography, stop-motion animation, and video montages, can we stage these in real time?

‘Oh Sheila’ is an all-female crew trained in styles ranging from Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary to Hip-hop, House and Popping. Collectively, they have experiences and achievements in musical and physical theatre, dance exhibitions and battles.

Created & Performed by: Ashley Goh, Beverley Li & Tiffany Nung

object-shun — Erin O’Rourke

object-shun challenges what is real and what is fake. Time is warped, objects are thrown. Teetering on the cusp of reality and potentiality, impossibility and faux, ‘object-shun’ examines the perception of a body on display, a body at work, traversing the nuance of body as object vs object as body.

The space is contaminated by a collection of dismembered female mannequin parts. Turn all eyes to the women. Don’t just look, actually see them. Allow them to be more than a body, more than an image, more than an object. In a society driven by consumerism and capitalism, and plagued by the persistent pledge of patriarchal ways, the conversation is surging.

Choreographer: Erin O’Rourke
Performers: Erin O’Rourke & Rachel Mackie
Costume Design: Jess Alchin

SERMON — Rhys Ryan

SERMON explores the choreographic codes of religion. Using Catholicism as its frame of reference, the work unlocks the performativity of divine ceremonies and the opportunities they present for physical expressions of the self.

For the baptised, the jurisdiction of the Church is far reaching; an authority that goes beyond the doctrinal to encompass the whole of the human condition. Through liturgical rites, we arrange our bodies in perpetual service to the ghostly and the mythic. ‘SERMON’ rewrites these ancient choreographies. Sacred rituals are isolated and fractured; repurposed for a new kind of communion. As movement becomes scripture and tradition collapses, a new altar rises on which we may dance.

Choreographer: Rhys Ryan
Performers: Jazmyn Carter, Anika De Ruyter and Momoko Nanri
Sound Design: Robert Downie
Costume Design: Jessamine Moffett
Lighting Design: John Collopy

Tits Out — Shelley O’Meara

Every tit is different, everyone feels differently about their tits. Do you have them? Have you had them? Are you just getting them? Do you wish they just weren’t there?

‘Tits Out’ blends contemporary dance, projection and installation in a high octane  exploration of the breasted experience. Sagging tits, trans tits, tits of colour, tits with cherry-sized cysts poking out. An exhibition of all the history and complexity carried within our bodies, in our tits, as they are controlled and celebrated, sexualised and shamed, censored and desired.

Blending dry comedy and earnest angst; dancing tits out and sweaty. For better or worse, ‘Tits Out’ brings you up close and personal to the tits at hand.

Created by: Shelley O’Meara
Performed by: Sadie Bloom, Chelsea Byrne, Margot Morales, Ebony Muller, Shelley O’Meara
Produced by: Chelsea Byrne

Why Runs The Abhisarika? — Priyanka Jain

What goes on in the mind of a woman running out to meet her lover? 

A sudden bolt of lightning flashes across the sky, sparking desire in a maiden’s heart and off she goes to meet her lover! Wait, playback and zoom in 1000x to exactly what happened within these milliseconds. This is a forensic investigation into why the Abhisarika runs. Audiences! Lets ask the witnesses- the trees of the forest, the snakes, the forest ghouls, the lightning itself!

Just like six blind men describe an elephant, each witness reveals a fragmented truth about its role in the Abhisarika’s iconography, elucidated in a song. The audience is invited to choose the sequence of motifs from the set design to hear their songs and string this performance of English spoken-word poetry and Indian dance together.

But why do their answers all talk about Dopamine? Come and enjoy a unique visual and oral storytelling performance with Indian dance and English spoken-word poetry about the simple neuroscience of passion.

Created and Performed by: Priyanka Jain