Art is... dance extravaganza
Wimmera dancers and performers will come together to collaborate on an item for Horsham’s 2018 Art is… festival.
Horsham dance teacher and project liaison Amy Anselmi said the Inaugural Annual Dance Affair was part theatre performance, part participatory dance event.
“It will showcase the history of the types of dance in the region, such as rock ’n’ roll, old-time dancing and even indigenous dancing,” she said.
“It is a big, fun communitydriven project that will be presented in Horsham Town Hall during the 2018 festival.”
Director Ian Pidd travelled from Melbourne to meet with dancers and dance groups in Horsham last week.
Pidd, Kate Mcdonald and Bec Reid created the concept and have developed the show within several communities.
Each show is tailored to a community to include stories and people of specific places.
Pidd said the project was inspired by the rise and fall of the social dance scene, from the 1920s to today, and to show dance was still alive and well.
“The show will be an old-time dance that would have happened here deep into the ’60s – maybe into the ’70s – where everyone comes together to dance a whole variety of dances and to see people dancing,” he said.
“At the moment we are just dancing with everyone in town we can find – the dance clubs, the rock ’n’ rollers, there’s people who dance Diwali, there’s old timers… all sorts of stuff.”
Pidd said the show would embrace diversity and cater for people of all ages. “The audience gets to dance a lot as well,” he said.
“It’s a bit like a piece of theatre, a bit like a party and a bit like an old dance, with live music, supper, raffles – it’s pretty great. It’ll be a lot of fun.”
People can email artis@artiswimmera.com.au for more information or to inquire about becoming involved.