Taking place between October 17 and November 3, the 2019 OzAsia Festival dance line-up boasts some of contemporary dance’s biggest international stars.
Akram Khan Company (UK) will be bringing Khan’s latest production, Outwitting the Devil. Inspired by the newly discovered fragment of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s earliest surviving great works of literature, Outwitting the Devil is a piece of dance-theatre that sees six characters seeking to make whole the fragments of ancient knowledge lost and forgotten over time.
Blurring the boundaries between movement and sculpture, and between what is human what is not, is Vessel, a collaboration between Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet and Japanese visual artist Kohei Nawa. Set on a glowing white moonscape, this work is primordial and otherworldly, an installation of writhing limbs and eerie figures amidst a reflective pool of water.
From French-Algerian choreographer Hervé Koubi comes What Day Owes to the Night (pictured top). A deeply personal exploration of human migration and different cultures, What Day Owes to the Night sees 12 male dancers form spirals in fluid patterns of Sufi whirling, breakdancing, ballet and gymnastics.
French-Vietnamese choreographer Anne Nguyen is known for bringing street dance culture to contemporary dance, and her work Kata sees eight dancers approach imaginary adversaries, and confront one another in complex battle scenarios, channelling the warlike energy of breakdance, against an original percussive backdrop.
OzAsia Festival will also offer masterclasses for professional and student dancers. Head here to read more:
For more information about OzAsia Festival go to https://www.ozasiafestival.com.au/
Pictured top: 'What the Day Owes to the Night'. Photo Olivier Soulie.