ENCOUNTER SYDNEY

UnWrapped

PRESENTED BY SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
EMMA SAUNDERS and the WE ARE HERE Company
PRODUCED BY FORM DANCE PROJECTS

“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.”

Felicity Castagna, ENCOUNTER, 2020.

After a rippin’ world premiere of ENCOUNTER in 2020, in Parramatta, Western Sydney, FORM Dance Projects, Emma Saunders and a new dance ensemble, the WE ARE HERE Company, are back with ENCOUNTER SYDNEY.

Spread out on the forecourt of Sydney Opera House, directed by the “formidable” Emma Saunders, ENCOUNTER SYDNEY explores the everyday extraordinariness and energy behind our next generation.

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), a cast of 10 dancers and words spoken by Warren Foster, ENCOUNTER SYDNEY explores the indomitable spirit of youth and the world they find themselves in.

The riveting soundtrack to ENCOUNTER SYDNEY, is the original ENCOUNTER score performed and recorded by the musicians of the Western Sydney Youth Orchestra, conducted by James Pensini.

The season runs from Wednesday 18 May to Saturday 21 May, 2022 at 4:30pm each day and it is a FREE event.

DIRECTOR: EMMA SAUNDERS
CHOREOGRAPHY: EMMA SAUNDERS IN COLLABORATION WITH THE DANCERS
WRITER: FELICITY CASTAGNA
COMPOSERS: AMANDA BROWN AND JODI PHILLIS
ORCHESTRATOR: JESSICA WELLS
CONDUCTOR: JAMES PENSINI
VISUAL ARTIST: DAVID CAPRA
SPOKEN WORD: WARREN FOSTER
DANCE CAPTAINS: JOSHUA O’CONNOR AND NAOMI REICHARDT
DANCERS: JULIAN CHAN, SARAH GOROCH, GABRIELA GREEN OLEA, CLAYTON JEAN, SARAH KALULE, LAWRENCEA MATEARIKI, SABRINA MUSZYNSKI, JOSHUA O’CONNOR, NAOMI REICHARDT, EMILY YALI
MUSICIANS: WESTERN SYDNEY YOUTH ORCHESTRA
COSTUME KEEPER: QUIRINE VAN NISPEN
PRODUCTION ASST: JEREMY AINSWORTH
PRODUCER: ANNETTE McLERNON


FORM DANCE PROJECTS
COMMISSIONING EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: ANNETTE McLERNON
BUSINESS MANAGER: SALLY EBERT
MARKETING CO-ORDINATOR: NAOMI HIBBERD
ENCOUNTER PHOTOGRAPHER: HEIDRUN LOHR
ENCOUNTER TRAILER: DOMINIC O’DONNELL

SYDNEY YOUTH ORCHESTRAS
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: MIA PATOULIOS

“ENCOUNTER demonstrated the best of humanity. The whole experience was a huge achievement and added to the notion that art can change the world, lift us up and give us a positive view of the community we inhabit. We need more moments of ENCOUNTER.

Wesley Enoch, Sydney Festival, Artistic Director, (2017-2021)

“ENCOUNTER spreads out, into, over and around the audience. It envelopes our senses, amazes visually and aurally and leaves us buoyed and ready to encounter the world once more. The original music score powers the dance in a myriad of moves and moods and Felicity Castagna’s text rings true and authentically out of a contemporary increasingly urbanised world. Do experience ENCOUNTER up close and soon.

Robert Love AM, Riverside Theatres (2001-2021)

ENCOUNTER is proudly funded by the NSW Government through the Culture Up Late initiative.

ENCOUNTER and ENCOUNTER SOUTH were originally Commissioned and Produced by FORM Dance Projects, supported by Sydney Youth Orchestras and FLING Physical Theatre, for presentation in Four Winds SPRING Festival 2019 and Sydney Festival 2020.

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