Supercell Dance Festival Returns To Brisbane For Second Year To Entertain, Educate And Delight

Queensland's premier festival of contemporary dance returns to Brisbane for its second year with a boundary-pushing and thought-provoking program. A cultural celebration held across eight days, Supercell; a contemporary dance festival spans workshops, talks and performances for professional dancers and dance-lovers.

Running February 10 - 18, Supercell is a congregation of local, national and International Artists, audiences and broader communities, inviting everyone to participate, explore and collaborate.

"Supercell is at the forefront of Brisbane's contemporary dance scene, embracing multiple perspectives and championing works that put a spotlight on globalisation, identity and First Nations heritage," Supercell Dance Festival Curator Kate Usher said.

The vast program of 32 genre-defying performances, masterclasses, workshops and discussions includes four main stage dance theatre productions at Brisbane Powerhouse, welcoming visiting artists from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Singapore alongside Queensland's top talents.

"Continuing our commitment towards making Brisbane a national and international hub for contemporary dance, we are proud to present the exclusive Australian premiere of Juli Apponen and Jon R. Skulberg's award-winning piece Everything Remains; a choreography for a tired body," Usher said.

"The piece is a reflection on weakness and an investigation of the potential in fatigue and limitations, eventually posing the question, 'What do we do when these conditions dominate?' And, 'Is a tired body a more interesting body?'.

"We're also thrilled to welcome to Brisbane Singapore's acclaimed T.H.E Dance Company and independent artist Daniel Kok, who will both present original works as part of our one-night-only Forecast event, which also features Queensland sensations The Farm and Expressions Dance Company."

Rounding out the performance program is Prying Eye Productions' dance-theatre comedy The Inquisition of the Big Bad Wolf; and [MIS]CONCEIVE by trailblazing Indigenous dance artist Thomas E.S. Kelly. Kelly's work is presented with the generous support of Brisbane Powerhouse and the Australian Performing Arts Market.

Supercell's PARTICIPATE program highlights include The Farm's acclaimed Bare Bones workshop festival, which brings together high-profile teachers and International Artists alongside professional and emerging Australian dancers for a three-day convergence.

Held at The Farm's Gold Coast headquarters, co-artistic directors Gavin Webber and Grayson Millwood built the workshops around a unique non-hierarchical structure encouraging two-way learning.

"The workshops are built on a free exchange of practice and ideas where what you know and what you don't know become equally important to learning," Millwood said.

Supercell's INDEX program pulls back the curtain and gives audiences a behind the scenes look at the making of dance. By opening doors before the works are finished, the public are able to see the creative development of their soon-to-be favourite performances.

This year's INDEX program features Surge Dance Collective as they question contemporary consumerism and womanhood in @_WHY, while Charles Ball and Scott Sneddon's Farthest Distance... looks at the complexity of long distance relationships.

Supercell 2018 also welcomes Australian dance industry stalwarts Glen Murray and Wendy McPhee with the debut of their proactive new concept Truth or Dare.

Interlacing the three themes of Supercell 2018, the THINK program provides a series of panel discussions that delves into the relationship between the performance work and its audiences; how dramaturgs and choreographers work together to make dance; and how differently identity is portrayed.

Usher said the curated program in 2018 continued Supercell's vision to allow dancers, choreographers, industry professionals and the general public to experience, engage, learn and collaborate with contemporary dance artists of the highest calibre.

"There's a common misconception at a local level that the dance community in Queensland is just dance graduates," Usher said.

"Instead, we're a very complex, robust and dynamic dance community. Supercell allows us to come together and entangle in each other's work. It's a lovely way to start what is promising to be an amazing year for dance in Queensland."

Supercell runs across Brisbane from February 10 - 18. For full program details, visit www.supercelldancefestival.com

Supercell is supported by the Queensland Government through the Arts Queensland and by Brisbane City Council, Brisbane Powerhouse and the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts.

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