ENCOUNTER

PRESENTED BY SYDNEY FESTIVAL
COMMISSIONED AND PRODUCED BY FORM DANCE PROJECTS
SUPPORTING PARTNERS: SYDNEY YOUTH ORCHESTRAS & FLING PHYSICAL THEATRE

PRINCE ALFRED SQUARE, PARRAMATTA
10-12 JANUARY 2020
FREE
Wheelchair access

“…the cars spin out on the roads, losing their grip somewhere between all the crooked driveways and those backyards that stretch out forever between all that fibro and brick.”

You are here in this place where the eels lay down and the cars light up and the McDonald’s M is the biggest moon in the sky. Parramatta. Summertime. Early in the evening. ENCOUNTER is your invitation to the neighbourhood.

In this en masse, site-specific work of joy, directed by the “formidable” Emma Saunders, ENCOUNTER explores the everyday extraordinariness of being young and being in this place, from Parramatta, Western Sydney to the Bega valley, on the NSW South Coast.

In collaboration with a group of award-winning Australian artists, including writer, Felicity Castagna, composers, Amanda Brown (The Go-Betweens) and Jodi Phillis (The Clouds), and associate artist Rob McCredie and conductor James Pensini, ENCOUNTER celebrates young people growing up in urban and regional communities.

Creatively developed with a cast of 16 young dancers and 48 young musicians of the Western Sydney Youth Orchestra, ENCOUNTER explores the indomitable spirit of youth and the world they find themselves in.

“Someone puts a boombox down on the concrete … I don’t get it, I don’t know how to be here …and I enter the space they’ve opened up and I dance.”

Read full Parramatta script by Felicity Castagna HERE

COMMISSIONING EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: ANNETTE McLERNON
PRODUCER: ANNETTE McLERNON
DIRECTOR: EMMA SAUNDERS
CHOREOGRAPHY: In collaboration with the DANCERS
ASSOCIATE ARTIST: ROB McCREDIE
COMPOSERS:  AMANDA BROWN & JODI PHILLIS
ORCHESTRATOR: JESSICA WELLS
CONDUCTOR: JAMES PENSINI
WRITER: FELICITY CASTAGNA
VISUAL ARTIST: DAVID CAPRA
WESTERN SYDNEY DANCERS: SARAH KALULE, LAWRENCEA MATEARIKI, SABRINA MUSZYNSKI, JOSHUA O’CONNOR, NAOMI REICHARDT, FERAS SHAHEEN, CAYLAN SPENDLOVE, XARA ZAINEDDINE
THE FLING COMPANY: ESME BARKER, EBONY CONSTABLE, GABRIELA GREEN OLEA, EBONY RYAN-MINERS, LARA SCRIVENS, BODHI TURNER, RORY WARNE, LUCA YI
ORCHESTRA: WESTERN SYDNEY YOUTH ORCHESTRA
SPOKEN WORD: POLA FANOUS
SPOKEN WORD (TRAILER): BILAL HAFDA
PHOTOGRAPHY: HEIDRUN LOHR
VIDEO & TRAILER:
DOMINIC O’DONNELL
PRODUCTION MANAGER: BEC POULTER


PRELUDE

Arrive early at Prince Alfred Square and bring your picnic blankets to enjoy PRELUDE, a warm-up to ENCOUNTER, featuring a rotating showcase of short performances by local dance revolutionaries and community dance leaders.

Artists include flamenco diva Pepa Molina; Bharatanatyam dancer Aruna Gandhi; Polynesian Cook Islanders Pacific Dreams; Feras Shaheen and his Dabke dancing mother, Diane Busuttil’s Feisty Femmes; Forge Tap Quartet; the rocking contemporary Dance Makers Collective; and international Sharp Short Dance alumnus Billy Keohavong. More to come…. watch this space!

SCHEDULE

Parramatta’s Prince Alfred Square opens at 5pm
Welcome to Country: 6pm
PRELUDE:  6.10pm to 7.10pm
ENCOUNTER: 7.10PM to 8.10PM


FORM DANCE PROJECTS

DIRECTOR: ANNETTE McLERNON
PROGRAM MANAGER: AGNES MICHELET
BUSINESS MANAGER: SALLY EBERT
ADMIN & MARKETING: MAYA GAVISH
PRODUCTION MANAGER: REBECCA POULTER

FLING PHYSICAL THEATRE CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
ROB McCREDIE & GABRIELLE ROSE

SYDNEY YOUTH ORCHESTRAS
SYO GENERAL MANAGER: MIA PATOULIOS
SYO ARTISTIC PROGRAM MANAGER: KATIE GARMAN


Thanks to the audiences that gave us overwhelmingly positive feedback!
“LOVED IT”,  “excellent”, ‘Still buzzing”, “epic”, “going back to see it again tonight”, “real time golden moments”, “stunning”, “the people love it”, “You can’t beat that!”, “it certainly was the right antidote to the current mood”, “so uplifting!”, “ENCOUNTER is the perfect festival piece for bringing together communities, both through the artistic process and through the audiences who get to experience the incredibly striking end result”, “site specific works really do help us to see the familiar in new and unexpected ways, and those images remain with us”, “One of the highlights of a show that celebrated Parramatta, young people, identity and diversity”, “Brilliant! First class piece of work!”.

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