In 2023 the Perth Festival will be celebrating its 70th anniversary, with a broad program that plays on the wonder of the stars and the cosmos.
Among the dance highlights is the specially commissioned Tracker, a production by Australian Dance Theatre in collaboration with Melbourne's Ilbijerri Theatre Company. Choreographed by ADT's artistic director, Daniel Riley, it follows the story of his great-great-uncle, Alec “Tracker” Riley, who served the NSW police force for 40 years. Co-directed by Rachel Maza AM and co-written with Ursula Yovich, performers Tyrel Dulvarie, Rika Hamaguchi, Ari Maza Long and Kanie Sultan-Babij will show the path this Wiradjuri elder carved through colonial systems and Indigenous lore.
Also exploring the impact of colonialism is Bikutsi 3000 by Blick Bassy, the Cameroon-born singer/dancer/activist now based in France. Bikutsi is the name of traditional Cameroonian music and dance performed by Beti women and Bassy's work is an “Afro-futurist feminist tale in which dance is an act of resistance, deconstruction and reconnection to traditional values in a contemporary form. . .”.
From local independent artist Laura Boynes comes the world premiere of Equations of a Falling Body, another Perth Festival commission, which looks at the effects of “distant forces beyone our control”. The performers are James O'Hara, Ella-Rose Trew and Timothy Green. Also local, but of international repute, Perth's STRUT Dance Collective will take over the State Theatre Centre Courtyard to present a free program called 10 Duets on a Theme of Rescue, a series of intimate duets created by the renown Canadian choreographer, Crystal Pite.
The State Theatre will play host to Stephanie Lake's thrilling Manifesto, while the West Australian Ballet will perform its annual Ballet at the Quarry, the popular program of short contemporary works at the open-air venue.
Overarching the whole festival is the theme of Djinda (Stars), and particularly the Noongar story of Djoondal, the old spirit woman who collected children (stars) in her white hair before launching into the sky to create the Milky Way. A free opening event will be an outdoor immersive show of lights, lasers and drones led by Noongar man and Perth Festival artistic associate Ian Moopa Wilkes in which audiences will be invited to picnic at Lake Joondalup.
Other highlights include an exclusive appearance by the legendary Bjork, as well as the Kronos Quartet, an arena spectacular of the opera Carmen at the WACA, and many others. For the full program, go to https://www.perthfestival.com.au/.
The Perth Festival 2023 will run from Feb 10 to March 5.