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11 - 27 October 2007
The 2007 Melbourne International Arts
Festival program features some of the world's finest contemporary
artists from countries such as Austria, Canada, France, Israel,
Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, USA,
UK and Australia. For 17 days and nights, over 700 international
and local artists will converge in Melbourne to perform, exhibit
and screen their work in 19 venues throughout the city. Audiences
can expect groundbreaking and engaging theatre, dance, music, visual
arts and more.
"This year's program presents artists
who have, by definition, changed the possibilities of their artform
for all time, and whose individual legacies continue to expand,
astound and inspire. Audiences will have direct experience with
artists who have attained mastery, and those whose fresh contribution
is emerging on the international scene. The Festival is a swirling
convergence of creativity. The main stage theatres, galleries and
concert halls, the Famous Spiegeltent, Arts House Meat Market, Federation
Square and an electric charge of energy in the air everywhere in
between, to which Melbourne will play host." Kristy Edmunds,
Festival Artistic Director.
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| Shaun
Parker, This Show Is About People Photo: Stephen Oxenbury |
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the world premiere of his brand new work This Show Is About
People, an intricate, compelling and arresting music and
dance-theatre performance that explores the innate human drive
to belong to something and connect with others.
Internationally acclaimed Australian
dance company Chunky Move will present their illuminating
and highly regarded dance work Glow, an intimate interactive
solo performance in which the motion of the human body is
used to trigger and control music, lighting and animation.
French choreographer Jérôme
Bel returns to Melbourne with the groundbreaking piece The
Show Must Go On, a humorous 90-minute celebration of music
and movement exploring the clash between fine art and entertainment.
The second week will bring recent
graduates of the National Institute of Circus Arts for their
festival debut in DiVino. In an extravagant circus
performance based on the films by Frederico Fellini, DiVino
combines circus, music, theatre and dance in a magical show
for the whole family.
During this week, October 18th
to 20th, The Arts Centre will be home to Japan's acclaimed
dance company Sankai Juku. Sankai Juku has presented its enigmatic
all-male Butoh stylings to more than 700 cities in 41 countries
and makes its Melbourne debut with the visually stunning Kagemi:
Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors. Kagemi is a visually
stunning work that gradually unfolds in seven scenes to the
musical synthesis of Western and Eastern instruments.
The highlight of this year's Melbourne
International Arts Festival is a tribute to the world's greatest
living choreographer, USA's Merce Cunningham. Celebrating
more than 50 years of remarkable innovation and revolutionary
achievements in dance, Merce Cunningham: The Melbourne
Residency will showcase the expansiveness of Cunningham's
genius and pioneering vision through a series of projects
including live dance and music performances, visual arts exhibitions,
a film
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retrospective, discussions and more.
Honouring a truly phenomenal career, these projects will culminate
in the largest Merce Cunningham residency ever presented. Merce
Cunningham: The Melbourne Residency is one of the most important
dance programs to hit Australian shores.
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Merce Cunningham Photo:
Mark Seliger
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Sankai
Juku,
Kagemi: Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors
Photo: Jacques Denarnaud
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During the final week of the Festival,
Merce Cunningham Dance Company will perform six dance works:
a site-specific free outdoor piece, The Melbourne Event,
choreographed exclusively by Cunningham for the Federation
Square Plaza space (which will never again be staged anywhere
in the world); Suite for Five (1956), BIPED
(1999), Split Sides (2003), Views on Stage (2004)
and their latest work eyeSpace (2006).
Also included in The Residency
is Collaborations, a retrospective from the Merce Cunningham
Dance Company film archives
Festival goers can also join the
man himself, Merce Cunningham and Lee Christofis, Curator
of Dance at the National Library of Australia, with David
Vaughan, Archivist for Merce Cunningham Dance Company since
1976, on stage for a discussion of Cunningham's life and work,
influences and legacies..
To find out more about The Melbourne
International Arts Festival and book tickets visit www.melbournefestival.com.au
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The 2007 Melbourne International
Arts Festival kicks off with a tremendous line-up of Opening
Night events. There is literally something for everyone: from
an irresistible sing-along for all in Federation Square to
a diverse selection of first night performances and exhibitions.
It will start with a fantastic free event in the heart of
Melbourne. Grammy Award winners Dan Zanes and Friends, whose
wild and woolly concert, House Party, was a huge hit
at last year's Festival, return to Melbourne with an Opening
Night performance that sets the tone for the incredible 17
days and nights to come.
So what about Dance?
In just the first week of the festival
audiences will be treated to performances by choreographer
Shaun Parker, renowned Melbourne based dance company Chunky
Move and French choreographer Jérôme Bel.
Shaun Parker is one of Australia's
freshest talents to emerge on the international dance scene.
He
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