THIS IS WHAT'S HAPPENING Set for Northcote Town Hall

This is What's Happening is about what is happening now. From the mundanity of 9 to 5 corporate jobs, to the ignored spluttering of an ailing planet, the multiplicity of life will come together in this new contemporary dance work from Tuesday 29 September - Saturday 3 October, 2015 at Northcote Town Hall as part of the 2015 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

A collaboration between dancer-choreographers Alice Dixon and Caroline Meaden alongside performance maker and writer William McBride under the humorous pseudonym Slown, Smallened & Son, This is What's Happening will create a layer-cake of imagery, rhythm and meaning that speaks to what it is to be alive today.

Giving a voice to our bodies, Dixon and Meaden's choreography will explore the toll of living in our modern, work-a-day world, with a poetic sense of injustice and more than a smattering of humour. Commenting on the ridiculous maze of bureaucratic boxes, categories and systems that permeate our lives, the work will explore how often our bodies must fight to 'keep up' with the world around us.

The work will also include text collected from interviews with Meaden's father recalling his experience of 'corporate burnout syndrome'. Adding a further choreographic layer to the work, the text will contrast and complement the more subtle and strange reflections on life.

Dixon and Meaden have been making an impact on Melbourne's contemporary dance scene for many years, and are renowned for a detailed movement sensibility and captivating, original sense of humour. Coming together with McBride through shared sensibilities of humour and aesthetics, This is What's Happening is a product of this configuration of creatives.

Recently, Dixon and Meaden were involved in the creation and development of Nat Cursio's Blizzard, which received several Green Room Award and Australian Dance Award. McBride presented a major live art work called Deliverance in Berlin in 2012 and performed alongside Dixon in the 2014 Melbourne Festival's Since I Suppose by One Step at a Time.

This is What's Happening is presented by Darebin Arts' Speakeasy program of independent theatre, the home of cutting-edge performing arts north of the Yarra. Presenting a year-round program of new, exciting and dangerous theatre productions from around Australia, Speakeasy seeks to enliven the greater Melbourne area with world-class art and performances.

This is What's Happening
Presented by Darebin Arts' Speakeasy as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival
Tuesday 29 September - Saturday 3 October, 2015
8:15pm Tuesday to Saturday; 3:15pm matinee Saturday
Opening Night: Wednesday 30 September, 2015
Northcote Town Hall, Studio One
189 High St, Northcote
Tickets from $20

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