• Australian Government / Australia Council for the Arts
  • Brisbane Powerhouse Arts

Performance Space and Intimate Spectacle present Long Grass

20 February 4:00pm - 4:15pm Brisbane Powerhouse - The Hub Dance Pitch Adults (18+)

A dynamic new dance work unveiling a lighter side of a dark life in the margins for Aboriginal Australians

To live “Long Grass” is to live on the fringe, yet right in the middle of the city – a term used in Australia’s tropical Northern Territory (NT) to refer to Aboriginal people perceived as being homeless. But is living Long Grass a sign of disadvantage or a refusal? Can honour, courage, solidarity and belonging exist outside a formal postcode and the trappings of stable living?

The distinctive voice of Indigenous choreographer Vicki Van Hout probes life at the margins in this powerful new dance theatre work and finds warmth, humour and play in a situation so often seen as unremittingly bleak. Long Grass combines live weaving methods, shadowplay, text, sparse video footage and idiosyncratic NT-style dance. As layers of cloth are woven, a story unfolds.

Image: Lucy Parakhina

Meet the artist

Vicki Van Hout

A previous performer with Bangarra Dance Company, Vicki Van Hout is an independent dancer, choreographer and teacher. She creates contemporary dance layered with Indigenous cultural information and imagery. Her works to date have explored matrilineal kinship systems and welcome to country protocols.

Performance Space is a cultural agency that facilitates new artistic projects and connects them with audiences. The agency is interested in work that takes creative risks, experiments with artforms and creates transformative and captivating new experiences for audiences.

Intimate Spectacle is an independent performing arts producing company led by Harley Stumm. The company works across genres and is interested in performances that are engaging, surprising, perhaps playful, but with substance, and full of heart.

www.performancespace.com.au

intimatespectacle.com.au