What Did She Think?

WHAT: Somewhere At The Beginning WHEN: 29 March - 1 April 2023 WHERE: Arts House (Main Hall) CONCEPT AND DIRECTION BY: Mikael Serre CHOREOGRAPHY BY: Germaine Acogny COMPOSITION BY: Fabrice Bouillon "LaForest" PERFORMED BY: Germaine Acogny and Fabrice Bouillon "LaForest" DESIGN BY: Maciej Fiszer LIGHTING BY: Sebastien Michaud VIDEOGRAPHY BY: Sebastien Depouey COSTUMES BY: Johanna Diakhate-Rittmeyer Germaine Acogny - photo supplied The new FRAME dance festival is coming to a close and it has been an exciting window into the literal world of dance. At Arts House the tour ends in West Africa with Germaine Acogny bringing her 2016 autobiographical work Somewhere At The Beginning to Melbourne audiences. Acogny, born of the Yonuba people, grew up in French colonised Senegal before living a life travelling between Europe and West Africa, along the way developing what we now call contemporary African Dance. As decorated and celebrated as she now is, the journey has not be

WHAT: Trash Pop Butterflies, Dance Dance Paradise WHEN: 22 May - 1 April 2023 WHERE: Theatre Works WRITTEN BY: Maki Morita DIRECTED BY: Amelia Burke DESIGN BY: Jessamine Moffett LIGHTING BY: Tessa Atkinson and Giovanna Yate Gonzales SOUND BY: Laura Strobech PERFORMED BY: Hayley Edwards, Myfanwy Hocking, Alana Louise, Margot Morales and Vivian Nguyen  CHOREOGRAPHY BY: Alec Katsourakis Myfanwy Hocking and Margot Morales - photo by Oscar Shaw Expressionist surrealism with a healthy dose of agitprop. Yes, let your mind expand and then explode as you watch Trash Pop Butterflies, Dance Dance Paradise at Theatre Works this week. It's pop, it's punk, it's a high energy onslaught looking for something better as the world decomposes around us. Trash Pop Butterflies, Dance Dance Paradise is a dystopian outcry written by Maki Morita as part of her VCA Masters (Writing) program in 2020. It was originally meant to be presented in 2022 by MKA but was cancelled. In 2023 it gets its mom

WHAT: Exposed WHEN: 22 - 25 March 2023 WHERE: Arts House (Main Hall) DIRECTED BY: Michelle Ryan SET & LIGHTING BY: Geoff Cobham COMPOSITION BY: Hilary Kleinig and Emily Tulloch COSTUMES BY: Renata Henschke PERFORMED BY: Darcy Carpenter, Jianna Georgiou, Bhodi Hudson, Alexis Luke, Madalene Macera, Michael Noble, and Charlie Wilkins Restless Dance Ensemble - Photo by Shane Reid So very rarely does high concept and high execution come together on stage to form true high art. I am talking Da Vinci level high art. This is because to achieve high art on stage you have to have a raft of people all working at their highest creative and craft peak towards a singular intention. They must each be at their absolute best and at the same time working and creating in a way which supports everyone around them to work at their absolute best. In every way, this is one of the core themes and achievements of Exposed , created by Restless Dance Theatre in 2022 and being presented at Arts House this

WHAT: The Saboteur WHEN: 20 - 25 March 2023 WHERE: The Butterfly Club (Upstairs) CREATED BY: Jim Fishwick PERFORMED BY: Kieran Boyd, Jason Geary, Melissa McGlensey, Amy Moule, and Jaklene Vukasinovic SOUND BY: Bryce Halliday Jim Fishwick - photo by Kirsty McGuire It's a lay down misere. Guaranteed fun. If you ever just want to kick your heels up and have a great night out go find an improv show. It can't go wrong. Jetpack Theatre though, have taken the concept and upskilled it in The Saboteur . It is not just improv - it is a whodunnit for the audience as well. Playing at The Butterfly Club this week, this show is Who's Line Is It Anyway with an Agatha Christie adrenaline kicker. It's a format we know and love. Jim Fishwick is our presenter for the evening and the show begins with him giving us a precis of the ' kitchen rules ' of improvisation, introduces the performers (suspects?), and then explains that the real purpose of the evening is for us to figure

 WHAT: When The Rain Stops Falling WHEN: 2 - 18 March 2023 WHERE: Theatre Works  WRITTEN BY: Andrew Bovell DIRECTED BY: Briony Dunn SET BY: Greg Clarke LIGHTING BY: Clare Springett SOUND BY: Darrin Verhagen PERFORMED BY: Heather Bolton, Lucy Chaix, Chris Connelly, Francis Greenslade, Darcy Kent, Margaret Mills, and Esther Van Doornum COSTUMES BY: Betty Auhl PROJECTIONS BY: Jason Gardham STAGE MANAGED BY: Kim Davies Francis Greenslade - photo by Lachlan Woods Few plays speak so directly to our current climate woes than the 2008 Andrew Bovell  contemporary epic When The Rain Stops Falling and it is ridiculously on point with the recent flooding of in Alice Springs. Whilst the Iron Lung production currently being presented at Theatre Works has been in the making since 2020, it couldn't have found a better moment in history to be performed than right now. Throughout the play we constantly hear the refrain "Still, there are people drowning in Bangladesh so we shouldn’t complain&q

 What: Two When: 1 - 4 March 2023 Where: Arts House (Main Hall) Choreography by: Raghav Handa Design by: Justine Shih Pearson Performed by: Raghav Handa and Maharshi Raval Lighting by: Karen Norris Raghav Handa and Maharshi Raval - photography by Joseph Mayers It's dance season in Melbourne and it kicks off with an incredible multi-cultural line up at Arts House this year. We all love the flavour and energy of Bollywood and the current show, Two , gives us a kind of behind the scenes sneak peak into some of the traditions and history of Indian dance and how welcoming and joyful the more popular forms of entertainment have come into being. Whilst not a deeply classical Kathak performer, Raghav Handa began his training in this style and has held on to those ideas in his development as a contemporary dancer and choreographer. Along the way he met and performed with tabla virtuoso Maharshi Raval and a bromance the scope of myth and legend came into being. Also, in what seems like t