Here are the dance shows touring regional Australia in 2014. Watch their short promotional videos, check out the tour dates, and plan your own road trip to a regional venue near you.
Lisa Wilson Projects
Lake
About
This work reflects on the journey of a relationship, evoking its path from sparkling reflection to murky depths; from intense beauty to chilling isolation, to utter wilderness and our deepest sense of our selves within the world. Lake beautifully plays with the light and depth of water, its innate movement and total stillness, to explore the primal undercurrents in human relationships in this visually stunning work.
Set on a stage in flood, Lake merges contemporary dance, video and sound to create an immersive experience with startling visual impact. Bruce McKinven’s stark and broody design and Wilson’s skillful and intimate choreography draw attention to the inherent qualities and contradictions of water.
Tour dates and venues
- 14–15 March, Theatre Royal, Hobart
- 19 March, Burnie Arts & Cultural Centre
- 22 March, Gasworks Art Park, Melbourne
- 26 March, Clocktower Centre, Moonee Ponds
- 29 March, Riverlinks, Sheparton
- 2 April, The Capitol Theatre, Bendigo
- 5 April, Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre, Mount Gambier
- 10 April, Chaffey Theatre, Renmark
- 16 April, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre
- 24 April, Karalyka Centre
- 30 April, Wagga Wagga Civic Centre
- 3 May, Orange Civic Theatre
- 7 May, Civic Theatre, Newcastle
- 9–10 May, Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong
- 13 May, The Arts Centre, Gold Coast
- 15–17 May, Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
- 20–21 May, Northern Rivers Performing Arts
Sydney Dance Company
2 One Another
About
This multi award-winning work weaves a vivid, exultant and sensual study of human interaction—charting the myriad actions and reactions, gestures and relationships, and connections and disconnections that make up a life. 2 One Another is set against a pulsing, pixelated backdrop and thrums with a driving, baroque-meets-electronica soundtrack, penned by the able hand of composer Nick Wales. Shot through with the exquisite poetry fragments of Samuel Webster, this is dance at its most engaging and multi-dimensional.
Winner of three 2013 Australian Dance Awards
- Rafael Bonachela for Most Outstanding Choreography
- Charmene Yap for Most Outstanding Female Dancer
- Sydney Dance Company for Most Outstanding Performance by a Company
Tour dates and venues
Western Australia
- 18–21 June, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth
- 25 June, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre
- 28 June, Albany Entertainment Centre
- 2 July, Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre
- 5 July, Queens Park Theatre, Geraldton
Queensland
- 11–12 July, Cairns Civic Theatre
- 16 July, Mackay Entertainment & Convention Centre
- 19 July, Pilbeam Theatre, Rockhampton
- 23 July, Townsville Civic Theatre
- 26 July, The Arts Centre, Gold Coast
New South Wales
- 31 July & 1 August, Glasshouse, Port Macquarie
- 6 August, Dubbo Regional Theatre Convention Centre
- 8 August, Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre
- 9 August, Orange Civic Theatre
Force Majeure
Food
By Steve Rodgers. Directed by Kate Champion and Steve Rodgers
About
On a stretch of Australian highway, two sisters run a takeaway joint—their days heavy with Chiko Rolls and memories. While they quietly wage war with their past and wrangle with each other about how to map out their future, a young traveller arrives bringing with him a charm and sensuality that turns their world around.
Audience members become restaurant guests as the sisters’ dreams become reality and they serve up Elma’s hearty minestrone soup, bread and local wines. Steve Rodgers’s beautiful play is perfectly balanced with Kate Champion’s signature movement style in this play about family, intimacy, and food.
Weaving together text, music, image and movement, Food is a physical, poetic production that will surprise and stir in equal parts.
Tour dates and venues
New South Wales
- 1–5 July, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta
- 17–19 July, Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith
- 25–26 July, Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre
- 23 July, Orange Civic Theatre
- 31 July–6 August, Glen Street Theatre
- 9 August, Wagga Wagga Civic Centre
- 12–16 August, Hothouse Theatre
- 20–23 August, Merrigong Theatre Company, Illawarra Performing Arts Centre
- 27–30 August, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre
Victoria
- 3 September, Riverlinks, Westside Performing Arts Centre Mooroopna
- 10 September, Clocktower Centre, Moonee Pond
- 13 September, The Capital, Bendigo
- 19–20 September, Gasworks Arts Park, Albert Park
Tasmania
- 25–26 September, Theatre Royal, Hobart
Dancenorth and Tasdance
Threefold
Trisha Dunn, Tanya Voges and Floeur Alder in Raewyn Hill’s A Dance for the Forgotten. Photo: Paul ScamblerThreefold is a collaboration between Australia’s two regional contemporary dance companies and showcases the immense talents of the combined ensemble of six dancers from Tasdance and Dancenorth.
In an evening of inspirational contemporary dance, three short dance works will articulate the gutsy physicality of Gavin Webber, emotional power of Raewyn Hill, and the technical precision of Huang Yi.
Tour dates and venues
Queensland
7–10 August, Townsville School of Arts Theatre, Townsville
13 August, Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre, Mackay
15–16 August, Centre of Contemporary Arts, Cairns
Tasmania
21–23 August, Earl Art Centre, Launceston
28–29 August, Theatre Royal, Hobart
Queensland Ballet
Cinderella
Tour dates and venues
Queensland
- 13 September, Empire Theatre, Toowoomba
- 20 September, The Arts Centre, Gold Coast
- 26–27 September, Cairns Civic Theatre, Cairns
- 1 October, Townsville Civic Theatre, Townsville
- 4 October, Mackay Entertainment & Convention Centre, Mackay
- 8 October, The Brolga Theatre, Maryborough
- 11 October, Pilbeam Theatre, Rockhampton
- 15 October, Gladstone Entertainment Centre, Gladstone
The Australian Ballet
The Dancers Company
The Dancers Company is the regional touring arm of The Australian Ballet, made up of graduating students from The Australian Ballet School and guest artists from The Australian Ballet. In 2014 it will tour Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia with a thrilling classical triple bill that includes Paquita and Swan Lake.
Tour dates and venues
Check The Australian Ballet's regional touring calendar for tour dates and venues.
Expressions Dance Company
Carmen Sweet
About
Opera’s most famous femme fatale is stripped bare in Natalie Weir’s sumptuous dance interpretation of the legendary Carmen story, performed to Shchedrin’s gripping Carmen Suite by six EDC dancers. Natalie Weir’s Carmen is a free spirit; dangerous, volatile and vulnerable, brought to vivid life by three dancers playing her different states of mind and alter egos.
Queensland tour
- 2 October, Ipswich Civic Centre
- 7 & 8 October, Centre of Contemporary Arts Cairns
- 10 October, The Empire Theatre, Toowoomba
Bangarra Dance Theatre
Kinship
About
Kinship opens with Brolga, a creation story inspired by the totemic systems in Australian Aboriginal culture, where every person is assigned a totem related to their clan. The performance continues with ID, which investigates what it means to be Aboriginal in the 21st century and asking important questions of identity. In a series of dramatic and humorous observations, Stephen Page contemplates human nature in modern society where skin colour can drive perceptions rather than embracing differences. This bold dance theatre work celebrates the resilience of Australian Aboriginal culture in both its traditional and contemporary forms.
Tour dates and venues
Bangarra Dance Theatre will tour Kinship to regional Northern Territory and Northern Queensland in 2014. For venue details view their performance calendar.
Shaun Parker & Company
The Yard
About
This self devised work has been a collaboration between one of Australia’s leading dance theatre practitioners, Shaun Parker and teenage performers from Captivate in Western Sydney. Drawing inspiration from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and its analysis of human behaviour, The Yard extrapolates these themes and breathes new life into them by way of the Australian school yard. Ultimately finding unity in the diversity of culture, gender and ethnicity that pulsate in 'the school yard', The Yard is taught with the tension and humour of conflicts played out every day even as it celebrates the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Captivate is the performing arts unit of the Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta.
Winner 2012 Australian Dance Award
-
Outstanding Achievement In Youth And Community Dance
Tour dates and venues
- 2 September 2014, Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre
- See Shaun Parker and Co website for their other tour dates.