A drift between urban and contemporary dance, visionary young choreographer Efren Pamilacan Jr.’s contemporary dance work 9 Dimes: You and the Universe will be presented at Arts Centre Melbourne from 18 – 19 May.
As vast as the universe and as intimate as the audience’s inner souls, the work fuses urban and contemporary dance performed by a cast of multicultural dancers, holographic 3D overlays by HYPER REELIST and a mind-expanding soundtrack by Jason Ng. Putting relationships, identity and mortality under the microscope, 9 Dimes: You and the Universe aims to refract the poetry of everyday living through the lens of space-time theory.
Co-director, dance maker and producer Efren Pamilacan Jr. is an accomplished hip-hop dancer, born in Melbourne with Filipino cultural heritage. His works include City Sessions – a Melbourne based dance competition; Nice Fest – an international performing arts festival, and Factory Reset – a collaborative multimedia performance art piece performed at Big West Festival. In 2015, Pamilacan was honoured with the Peter McPhee Student Award for his work for MIXMIX Asia – a creative arts programme that supports youth organisations in the Philippines.
Co-director, musician and producer Jason Ng is a Melbourne-based musician and Monash University academic. His contemporary musical works featured in Factory Reset and at events including Planet Rock, City Cessions, Cypher Culture and Nice Fest. In his research, Ng, a PhD candidate focuses closely on identity, culture and communications in hip-hop as a mode of cultural exchange and entrepreneurship across the Asia-Pacific region.
Jobe Williams, otherwise known by his intermedia moniker HYPER REELIST, is an audio visionary, multimedia creative and technologist, based in Melbourne. His interdisciplinary practice is focussed on new-media explorations with light & sound, in the form of audio visual installations, sculptures & performances that mesmerise.
His recent work includes: LED sculpture HELIXIS, commissioned for the award-winning inaugural Sydney-based music festival Soft Centre; a LED animation display inside of the Arts Centre Melbourne’s Australian Music Vault; The Midnight Special – an audio-visual light show inside a bus at Strawberry Fields Festival and a custom stage design for the launch of renowned music blog Stoney Roads’ new festival, Formations.
“We all want to find our place in the universe. We’re connected in that way” – Efren Pamilacan Jr.
9 Dimes: You and the Universe
Playhouse – Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St. Kilda Road, melbourne
Performances: 18 & 19 May 2018
Information and Bookings: www.artscentremelbourne.com.au
Image: 9 Dimes: You and the Universe (supplied)