New dance festival!

 

A new festival of dance has been announced for Melbourne. Called FRAME, a Biennial of Dance, it will run from March 1-31 with the full program to be announced early February. 

 

The festival will take in numerous venues in the city as well as regional centres and aims to represent “dance artists across all forms, practices, cultures, histories, disciplines, aesthetics and experimentation”.

 

FRAME has been three years in the making, and has emerged out of extensive consultation with the independent dance community and the small-to-medium sector. It is a response to the need “for a flagship festival to concentrate, connect and celebrate the work of dance and movement artists across the continent", according to the announcement. “The festival will be delivered through a new model, emerging after the pandemic and in response to the resultant challenges facing independent artists in the dance and live performance sectors.”

 

FRAME is jointly led and designed by an unprecedented number of independent artists and producers – a “curatorium”. Presenters taking part include Melbourne's Arts House, Bunjil Place, the Centre for Projection Art, Chunky Move, Dancehouse, Darebin Arts Speakeasy, Lucy Guerin Inc, Punctum, the Australian Ballet, The Substation and Temperance Hall. There will be shows, talks, labs, films, public programs and workshops.

 

Already engaged for the festival are such artists as the acclaimed Senegalese French dancer, Germaine Acogny, who was recently awarded the prestigious Golden Lion Award for lifetime achievement in dance at the Venice Biennale; Balletlab's Phillip Adams with his work, Tryptych; mixed media artist Jackie Shepherd, Jaycee Iman (from Aotearoa New Zealand), Luke George, Rebecca Jensen, First Nations Gamilaroi dance artist Amelia O’Leary and Chinese Malaysian dance artist Janelle Tan, Alison Currie and Alisdair Macindoe.

 

For more info, go here.