AUSTRALIAN
Premiere
Wendy Houstoun
Desert Island Dances
She is also well known for her collaboration with companies and artists
whose work challenges, enriches and extends the boundaries of dance and
spoken word theatre including DV8, Tim Etchells and Forced Entertainment
and filmmaker David Hinton.
Can we imagine or create a perfect place? If we can,
what would it look like? What would we throw away?
What would we keep?
A dancer moves inside a box. A boat sails by
The map is drawn and the territory staked out.
Messages in bottles and survival tactics.
All washed up and nowhere to go,
Wendy Houstoun wonders about home and where the heart is.
Jerwood Choreography Award winner, Houstoun brings her unique blend of
text, movement and physical theatre to Melbourne Festival with this wonderful
new work.
Both funny and melancholic, Desert Island Dances explores notions
of absence and presence in a piece inspired by the popular BBC Radio
program, Desert Island Discs.
Wendy Houstoun works with words and movements that have come from
many situations and people: a dialogue in Düsseldorf, a private dance in a
front room, a wedding, another reality show; these become the memories,
the treasures, that will get her through a spell on a desert island.
Words to take you back, moves to calm you down, dances to remind you
of home.
Happy Hour is also being presented as part of the Festival. See page 32
for details.
Devised by Wendy Houstoun
in collaboration with John Avery
Additional research by John
Rowley & Rachel Krische
Performer Wendy Houstoun
Original Music John Avery
Lighting Design Nigel Edwards
“Tripping the light fantastic down
memory lane.” The List
Wendy Houstoun is a UK-based movement/theatre artist who is committed
to finding new forms to address her themes. Over the years, her work has
developed a distinctive style that combines movement with text and meaning
with humour. Houstoun has worked extensively as a solo performer most
notably with Haunted, Daunted and Flaunted and Happy Hour.
the Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio
Thu 9 – Mon 13 Oct at 9pm
1hr no interval
Desert Island Dances has been
co-commissioned by Southbank
Centre and Danceworks UK and
co-produced by Sheffield Theatres
Trust with support from Arts Council
England, Yorkshire and the Esmée
Fairbairn Foundation.
18
Full
Groups (8+)
Conc
Student / MF-Y
$35
$31.50
$26.25
$25
Discounts apply. Save up to 20%.
Double Up Discount also applies.
See page 2 for details.
Ticketmaster 1300 136 166
www.melbournefestival.com.au
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