2017 Fresh Tracks
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Brown's Mart Theatre, Darwin City
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Darwin Fringe Festival
Following the success of Fresh Tracks in 2016, Tracks Dance Company presented a second series of short dance works in 2017 created and performed by local choreographers, artists and dancers. Fresh Tracks reaches new audiences for Tracks, and brings new audiences to dance, through the annual Darwin Fringe Festival program.
Through the support and presentation of these works, Tracks makes a commitment to the growth of new, independent dance in Darwin. Participating artists begin the creation of their works through the Tracks Development Program, before being offered additional studio space and artistic guidance to undertake further development towards presentation in the Fresh Tracks program.
Fresh Tracks is an opportunity for audiences to experience the physical and conceptual realms being explored within contemporary dance-making in our community and showcases the talent, potential and dedication of our local artists.
See here for participant comments and photographs from Fresh Tracks 2016.
Program 2017
Water Ballet
Choreography: David McMicken
Performed by: The Grey Panthers - Toni Vine-Bromley, Val Hristova, Marg Lee, Marge Duminski, Darryl Butler, MaryAnn Hinton, Patricia O'Neill, Jenni Sanderson, Janine Sutter, Ellen Hankin, Jo Parish, Filomena De Castro, David McMicken, Kelly Beneforti
Music: Holiday For Strings- The Voices of Walter Schumann; Whatever Lola Wants- Les Baxter; Prelude No.7 in A, Op.28- Chopin, The Magnificent Seven- Bernstein, Tito Rodriguez; Alika- Webley Edwards
Drawing on Esther Williams movies of the 1950s: As Esther once said, (and she could have been talking about the Grey Panthers): "The wisdom acquired with the passage of time is a useless gift unless you share it.”
In Hand
Concept: Kate Mornane
Choreographed and performed by: Kate Mornane, Jenelle Saunders, Tara Schmidt
Video: Kate Mornane and Dan Hartney
Music: Cascades- Goldmund; Sleeping Lotus- Joep Beving; Wallpaper- Woo
Beautiful, useful, sensory and strange; our hands connect us to the physical world. This piece is an exploration of emotion, memory, communication and cooperation through hands. It is partly improvised to reflect the hand’s instinctive responsiveness to its surroundings and choreographed together to transition from an immediate to an expansive world.
Landscapes of Intent
Concept and choreography: Kelly Beneforti in collaboration with the dancers
Performed by: Cathy Young, Anokai Lancaster, Hayley Kelly, Rochelle Chin, Julia Richardson, Merlene Hutt
Music: Against Archives - Felicia Atkinson; Pier VII - Gramatik & Luxas; Camel and Melt! - Flying Lotus; Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
This piece has been shaped in large brush strokes, starting with an idea about the geological processes that formed Uluru, and landing somewhere in a space of joy and surrender. Of the many ideas that we have explored together, I think that the formation, transformation and constant renewal of landscapes - those outside of us and the landscapes of our own bodies - is the concept that best defines the work.
Dreams & Echoes
Concept and choreography: Darryl Butler
Performed by: David McMicken, Darryl Butler
Music: A soundtrack compiled by Darryl Butler from the sounds of running water, the call of Bell Birds, original electronic music and spoken word by Darryl, together with excerpts from Echoes by Pink Floyd and Piano Concerto No 1 by Chopin
The intent of the work is to consider the influence of our younger lives on our current self. An exploration of connections and entanglements between past and present. The concept is derived from the aging process and our often clumsy capacity to reconcile our present with our past. “Who am I and how did I become who I am?”
In this duet, the dancers sometimes move using body-to-body contact and sometimes connected by a rope. Both connections are metaphors for levels of awareness and other less tangible influences. Echoes, dreams, emotions, actions and thoughts that reach in both directions across the time barriers of our advancing age.
Breaks
Choreography: Felicity Wardle, Nikki Jefferies, Catherine Hanson
Performed by: Felicity Wardle, Nikki Jefferies
Music: Man of No Ego - Blinkers Removed; Panic - Forest Swords; I'll drown- Soley; Tear strips off - Tipper
Breaks: verb
3rd person present: breaks
1. separate into pieces as a result of a blow, shock, or strain.
2. interrupt (a continuity, sequence, or course).
Sooner or later, we all break ... And then?
Thank You
Alan James and the Darwin Entertainment Centre, Darwin Fringe Festival volunteers, The Grey Panthers
Project Partner
Presented in the 2017 Darwin Fringe Festival
Sponsors
Darwin International Airport, Southern Cross TV
Government Partners
Tracks Inc is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; and is proudly sponsored by the Northern Territory Government.
Tracks 2017
Artistic Co-Directors: David McMicken and Tim Newth
General Manager: Agnès Michelet
Administrator: Jessica Mellor
Production Manager: Angus Robson/Mathew McHugh
Dance Animateur: Kelly Beneforti
Bookkeeper: Noya Chong Wah
Committee Members: Mary Durack (Chairperson), Glenn Bernardin (Treasurer), Michael Grant, David Taylor, Ken Conway, Stephanie Cvirn, Venaska Cheliah. David McMicken, Tim Newth, Agnès Michelet (Ex-Officio
Members)
Public Fund Trustees: Rev. Steve Orme, Dr Anita Toth, Ippei Okazaki
Patron: His Honour, The Honourable John Hardy OAM, Administrator of the Northern Territory
Photos
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Responses
“It’s great to see contemporary dance alive and well in the Territory! Fresh Tracks gave a strong sense of the work the company is doing across the year, and the positive effect it has on local dancers and makers – fostering talent and encouraging development.”
Felix Preval, Acting Artistic Director, Darwin Festival 2017
"What a great show! Every component of the Fresh Tracks production for the Darwin Fringe Festival 2017 was unique, as each piece presented was created by a number of incredibly diverse performers, choreographers and dancers, many of whom were participants in the Tracks Space Time Studio Residencies 2017. It was so enjoyable – I saw it twice!" Sue Mornane - Rum Jungle Bungalows
“There’s not a very strong independent contemporary dance sector in the Territory, let alone in Darwin; there are pockets of it and what [Fresh Tracks] did was allowed a focus on that…I would like to see that still being supported, but it is growing…to have more independent artists out there going ‘I want to make work’, and trying; it doesn’t always succeed but you have to go through those steps to get there.” – David McMicken on Fresh Tracks 2016
Congratulations to Kate Mornane and her collaborators Jenelle Saunders, Tara Schmidt and Dan Hartney for receiving the 'Darwin Festival Pomelo' award at the Darwin Fringe Festival closing night ceremony. Selected by the creative team at Darwin Festival as a 'fresh, juicy, difficult' new independent work, Kate's piece 'In Hand' demonstrates the talent and potential within Darwin's contemporary dance community!