Dance & Physical Theatre

Fertile Ground

Participatory performance manipulating space, sound and a brutalist pile of concrete bricks.

$30.00
Sessions & Tickets
The image shows a couple of people, unclothed, lying on the ground amongst concrete cinder blocks with their feet touching the ground. It appears to be an outdoor art piece.
The image shows people on the ground balancing concrete cinder blocks on their backs, located within a fully concrete space, such as a carpark.
A person rests within a nest of concrete cinder blocks. Another person holds a fluorescent light over them, watching them against a background of concrete walls.

Image Credit: P Eldridge

The image shows a couple of people, unclothed, lying on the ground amongst concrete cinder blocks with their feet touching the ground. It appears to be an outdoor art piece.
The image shows people on the ground balancing concrete cinder blocks on their backs, located within a fully concrete space, such as a carpark.
A person rests within a nest of concrete cinder blocks. Another person holds a fluorescent light over them, watching them against a background of concrete walls.

  • Choreographed by: Ashleigh Musk and Michael Smith

  • Presented by: Dancehouse

  • Performed by: Ashleigh Musk, Jenni Large and Anna Whitaker

We are here to witness our failing paradise.

Suspended in time, vulnerable bodies navigate a forest of cement, imprinting brick to body. In this manufactured oasis, we observe the fragility of the human body beating alongside our persistence to conquer, outlive and survive in the face of crisis.

Landscapes shift, micro cityscapes rise and crumble, as audience and performers move through avalanches of decay; gritty transformations that reveal spaces for hope and action.

Care and burden. Weight and weightlessness. How do we care for what we have inherited?

With vivid choreography, Fertile Ground manipulates space, sound and a brutalist pile of concrete bricks in this ground-breaking participatory performance.

Following sold-out seasons at Metro Arts (Meanjin/Brisbane), spring.loaded.dance (Mparntwe/Alice Springs) and Mona Foma (lutruwita/Tas), Fertile Ground makes its Victorian premiere in a special season presented by Dancehouse.

About Dancehouse

The work reimagines the potential for hope inside it’s apocalyptic-inspired subject matter, presenting alternative futures for survival to spark conversation around our co-existence with the more-than-human world and our responsibilities to the ecological crisis we have created.

The work is often interactive, asking audiences to participate and engage in the construction / deconstruction of its landscapes. By laying architectural concepts and philosophies into the body, it looks at the innate conflict of our existence in natural and built environments - and how the body is situated in this conflict.

Often using industrial materials which are activated in experimental ways, complex relationships are revealed through the handling of these junk-like objects with radical care and tenderness.

Ashleigh has worked with artists and companies including Marrugeku, GUTS Dance, Jenni Large, Liesel Zink, Daniele Constance, STOMPIN, Jamaal Burkmaar, Denada Dance Theatre and Tami Dance Company. She toured with GUTS Dance (Mparntwe) for the regional Australia tour of ‘The Perception Experiment’ in 2020 and ‘Value For Money’ in 2023, and with Marrugeku for the Western Australian tour of ‘Jurrungu Ngan-ga (Straight Talk)’ in 2021.

dancehouse.com.au

  • Duration: 60 minutes

  • Event Accessibility: Deaf or Hard of Hearing Rating: Partially Accessible, English no barrier

  • Age suitability: PG

  • Event warnings: Sustained Loud Noises, High Level Of Audience Participation.

  • Content warnings: Sexual References.

Sensory Walk Through – Fri 4 Oct at 5.10pm
This Walk Through will provide audiences of this session to touch/engage with the objects and costumes.
We will also demonstrate loudest sounds and offer a tour of the space for people to understand the layout and obstacles.
Please meet at St Ambrose’s Community Centre for this session.

Please see Access Pack here: https://fertileground.live/accessibility

  • Full: $30.00

  • Concession: $25.00

  • Extra Applause: $40.00

  • Blak Tix: $10.00

Sessions: In Person Events

A single $5.50 transaction fee applies to your booking.

Date Time Venue

Thursday, 03 October 2024

5:30pm

St Ambrose’s Community Centre

 Get Tickets

Friday, 04 October 2024

5:30pm

St Ambrose’s Community Centre

 Get Tickets

Note: Sensory Walk Through 5:10pm

Saturday, 05 October 2024

2:00pm

St Ambrose’s Community Centre

 Get Tickets

Saturday, 05 October 2024

5:00pm

St Ambrose’s Community Centre

 Get Tickets

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