After a hiatus that many might have presumed marked the end of his performing career, David Atkins has returned to the stage. He is especially excited to be returning to Hot Shoe Shuffle. “I always loved the project. The amount of fun and real joy I experienced. The collaboration with the performers, the technical team and the rehearsal experience - was the best of any show!”
And David Atkins OAM has done a lot of shows, including the biggest ever staged, all over the world, from the Sydney Olympics Opening and Closing ceremonies, the ceremonies of the Doha 2006 Asian Games, the 2010 Winter Olympics Opening and Closing ceremonies, the Expo 2010 outdoor Opening Ceremony in Shanghai, which was the largest multimedia display in world history and the largest World Expo since its 1851 inception and, most recently, the 2011 Moscow City Day Anniversary Celebrations, the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 New Zealand Rugby World Cup and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 12th Arab Games in Doha, Qatar.
But he says there is a special joy “in (realising) your own material”. He created Hot Shoe Shuffle with Max Lambert in 1992 – from a one page synopsis which was submitted to The Hills Centre, in Sydney and then realised as a new production just 10 weeks later. He does admit, though, that when discussions first surfaced about restaging Hot Shoe Shuffle to celebrate the show’s 20-year anniversary, it hadn’t been his intention to be in it. He explains, with a wry smile, “We had done some market research investigating the viability of the show and - I came up respectfully in the survey! Then the idea developed more traction when the tour came down to just the three cities.” (Atkins will still fulfill obligations in his role as executive producer on DAE productions while in the show.) . . .
See our full article on David Atkins and Hot Shoe Shuffle in the current issue of Dance Australia. OUT NOW!
Hot Shoe Shuffle opened in Sydney on Friday night and runs for four weeks before moving to Melbourne.