Three leading Sydney based performing arts companies have combined forces with some of Australia’s most renowned dance and theatre makers, to explore the rituals of courtship and young love in Puncture at Riverside Theatres from 21 to 25 January in a world premiere performance at Sydney Festival 2015.
Under the direction of Patrick Nolan, this large-scale production combines an ensemble of 42 young performers, with some of the nation’s best physical theatre artists and contemporary dancers working alongside the extraordinary voices of VOX, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs young person’s choir.
For centuries we have used dance to connect, seduce and play; from the masked ball to the mosh pit. Puncture invites the audience to embrace the risk of intimacy in a crowded room, from the restraint and formality of classical dance through to the sensuality of the tango and the rebellion of youth.
Using the rituals of dance, Puncture explores the nuances of play between a group of young people discovering each other through dance; the preening, the groupings, the fighting and the flirting.
Stefan Gregory’s score is inspired by the some of the great composers from Monteverdi to Madonna, and sung live by the 30 voice choir accompanied by percussionist Bree Van Reyk. They take to the dance floor with 12 young dancers choreographed by Kathryn Puie and led by two of Australia’s finest dance artists, Kristina Chan and Joshua Thomson.
“Audiences stepping into the world of Puncture are invited to imagine how dance has allowed people to connect through time,” says Director, Patrick Nolan. “We are completely rethinking the audience’s relationship to the performers, they will be free to move around the space, rather than watching the performance they will be immersed in it as it unfolds around them.”
Puncture is the result of a collaboration initiated by FORM Dance Projects in Western Sydney in 2012. As Director of FORM Annette McLernon says, “Puncture combines diverse creative energies into a highly physical yet finely nuanced performance. There’s an element of surprise, the unexpected, in the presentation which I think will delight audiences young and old.”
Puncture
Riverside Theatres, Corner Church and Market Streets, Parramatta
Season: 21 – 25 January 2015
Bookings: (02) 8839 3399 or online at: www.riversideparramatta.com.au
For more information, visit: www.sydneyfestival.org.au/puncture for details.
Image: Puncture – photo by Prudence Upton