The Darwin Festival gets underway from August 9, and looks like it will be a good place to take in some absorbing dance.
On the program is Track’s Dance Theatre’s Eight to Eighty: The Architecture of Age, running from August 14 to 21. Tracing the progression from the physical intensity and vitality of youthful dance bodies through to the considered and controlled finesse of the older human form, Eight to Eighty reflects on how movement is shaped by our stages of life.
A cast of nearly 40 dancers will take over Mines House, one of Darwin's few heritage houses. The show will feature the work of well-loved local dancers including David McMicken, Gary Lang, Chandrika Munusinghe, Venaska Chelliah and Bryn Wackett.
Also on the program is Gurramatji, by Gary Lang Dance Company and Erth Visual & Physical Inc. Gurramatji (Little Goose) is a tale of love, magic and mysticism in this family event. Narrated by Lang and performed by dance students from Casuarina Senior College, it is a modern day Swan Lake story of a delicate young gosling caught between two worlds, and features puppetry, movement and a host of colourful puppet characters brought to life by Scott Wright from visual theatre company Erth.
Readers may remember Lang from his days as a dancer with Bangarra Dance Theatre. A Larrakia man from Darwin, he now directs NT Dance, mentoring young Indigenous people and changing their lives through dance.
Another Indigenous choreographer to feature in the festival program is Vicki van Hout with Briwyant (currently showing in Melbourne).
See here for more info on the Darwin Festival.
See here for info on Briwyant.