This August Sydney’s DirtyFeet will debut a collaborative contemporary season titled Under the Weather featuring 3 contemporary dance works.

A lively and diverse evening of contemporary dance, delving into the dynamic minds of choreographers Sarah-Vyne Vassallo (see interview), Kay Armstrong and Eva Fernandez Adan, Under the Weather will be held over three nights at the ACTT Theatre, Cleveland St, Sydney. Kay Armstrong will rework her piece Full Cup, Steady Hand alongside a new work called Did I do It by Sarah-Vyne Vassallo and Eva Fernandez Adan’s  Pieces of Mind, winner of two awards at last year’s Short, Sweet and Dance festival.

With past performances at the Sydney Opera House for the 2006 Australian Dance Awards, and Darling Harbour for the 2006 Australia Day celebrations, amongst others, DirtyFeet Ltd. is a Not For Profit Organisation, which runs a vital service for the Sydney dance community. A fresh new venture for contemporary dance in Sydney, DirtyFeet provides a nourishing playground for independent artists to come together to test new ideas, take risks, and develop their practice.

DirtyFeet is driven by four independent professional female dancers, Anthea Doropoulos, Eva Fernandez Adan, Sarah Fiddaman, and Calista Sinclair, who met
each another at dance class and decided to put their

feet together to create an initiative that would give dancers and choreographers access to workspace, provide opportunities to showcase up and coming talent and promote the role of dance in the wider community. The organisation’s experienced dancers have worked with companies and renowned artists such as; Legs on the Wall, Sue Healey, Vicki Van Hout, Theater Krefeld/ Moenchengladbach (Germany), Les etoiles de Mer (Paris), Urban Theatre Projects, Stompin’, Tanya Liedtke, DanceTANK, Opera Australia, TASdance and De Quincey Co.

Materialised out of a need to close a gap in the independent Sydney dance scene, DirtyFeet’s infrastructure provides an accessible, creative haven for dancers and choreographers who might be between jobs, in need of a bridging year after completing tertiary education, are crossing over from other disciplines, or simply want to develop work using DirtyFeet's space, and dance at no cost. Dancers have the unique opportunity to access a network of other dancers and choreographers, engage in a creative process, improve their skills, perform to a wide audience, gain exposure to the industry and potentially gain employment. Choreographers are provided with free rehearsal space and a pool of dancers to work with, as well as the opportunity to showcase their work at DirtyFeet performances.

There are two main strands of DirtyFeet: The Community Lab and the Community Workshops Program. Under the Weather is part of Dirtyfeet’s Community Lab program; the strand of the DirtyFeet service which provides both dancers and choreographers a unique opportunity to come together to work in a creative environment. To date DirtyFeet has engaged over 40 dancers on a voluntary basis.  DirtyFeet invites emerging and mid-career choreographers to work with dancers at the Community Lab to test new choreographic ideas in a safe environment where experimentation, cross cultural exploration and risk taking are encouraged.

Work developed in the Community Lab forms the basis for regular performances produced by DirtyFeet. In 2007, DirtyFeet successfully presented 28 Feet Deep and STOP.watch – both small scale showings of new works over two nights. DirtyFeet attracted the support of Sydney Dance Company who hosted both events at their studio in Walsh Bay.

DirtyFeet has expanded on the success of its past program of showings to divide development of new work into two stages: informal studio sharings and public performance seasons. The informal studio sharings become an important platform for choreographers to test ideas, and seek valuable peer feedback. The performance seasons answer a real need for choreographers to see their work develop from a studio sharing context into the realm of public performance. These performances represent opportunities for work from the Community Lab to be produced in collaboration with other artists such as set, lighting and costume designers.

The Community Workshop Program, on the other hand, provides a service to the wider Australian community through the facilitation of community dance classes.DirtyFeet strives to find ways in which skilled dancers can integrate and contribute their skills to the community and are currently presenting free dance workshops for children at Redfern Community Centre as part of the Community Workshop Program.

Whether through the Community Lab and subsequent performances, or the Community Workshop Program, DirtyFeet is providing an important service to the dance industry and wider community.

Support DirtyFeet and enjoy a night of fresh and creative choreography at Under the Weather.

For further information about DirtyFeet and their upcoming production Under the Weather contact rsvp@dirtyfeet.com.au

Under the Weather
Date: Thursday August 21st – Saturday August 23rd, 8:00 pm
Saturday August 23rd, 2:00pm Matinee
Venue: ACTT Theatre, 199 Cleveland Street, Sydney (opposite Prince Alfred Park)
Tickets: $20 adult, $15 concession, $10 DirtyFeeters
Contact: To reserve tickets email info@dirtyfeet.com.au by 11/08/08, tickets also available at the door

WIN TWO TICKETS to Saturdays 2:00pm Matinee! Click Here!

DirtyFeet is proudly supported by the City of Sydney.