Performing Place

~ TOUR DATES ~

Gulargambone Central School - Tues 9 June

Walgett High School - Wed 10 / Thurs 11 June

Lightning Ridge Central School - Fri 12 / Mon 15 / Tues 16 June

Brewarrina Central School - Wed 17 June

Goodooga Central School - Thurs 18^/Fri 19 June

Bourke High School - Mon 22 June

Cobar High School - Tues 23 / Wed 24 / Thurs 25 June

Warren Central School - Fri 26 / Mon 29 / Tues 30 June

Coonamble High School - Wed 1 / Thurs 2 / Fri 3 July

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Goodooga Central School

Goodooga Central School
Goodooga Central School is in a tiny town. I had two fantastic days with some wonderful performers. First day was with a great group of year 8-12, once we got over the initial hesitation and nerves there were some great stories about their town, events that highlight their year and their thoughts about culture. The second day was a different group of lively year 7 and 8. We also started with an overly energetic group from primary but half way through we started to concentrate on their thoughts and stories of their town.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Coonamble High School

Coonamble High School
My last town was Coonamble, a really talented group who could really do with the same opportunities that Warren and Cobar has, if these guys trained regularly they could be incredible. As is, they still showed me some awesome dances that they put together over the three days. A really lively group of girls who had some great moves and who, I hope will continue dancing and go onto creating some great performances. I really hope that they continue to develop a practice that helps them develop their skills and we see some great things come out of this group.

Walgett High School

Walgett High School
The workshop at Walgett High School was over two days. It started off being a little difficult on the first day, it was really hard to get them to do anything creative or expressive. However on the second day a smaller group of girls was really great, I videoed them telling some great stories about themselves and their thoughts on Walgett and their school. They were a great group of lively characters and I had a lot of fun listening to these girls tell me about their lives.

Cobar High School

Cobar High School
Was in Cobar for three amazing days of dance, stories and song. Amazing group who had some developed skills in dance and some of the best potential in theatre. They were really outgoing in their attitude to performing thanks to their dance teachers and their ongoing dance training. Would be really interesting to see a dance/theatre performance develop with this group. I was also impressed by the supportive attitude that the kids at the school had and their support of each other.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Final Note- “Don’t be shame, Be game!”

Sorry for the delay in putting your videos online, it will happen very soon! Hopfully in the next week. Please leave comments.

As a girl in Brewarrina said “ Don’t be shame, be game”.

I was really interested in hearing your stories about your place, your town. I am really proud of those of you that had the courage to stand up and speak your mind. It is a really important skill and one that I would be happy to come back and help you develop further in the future. I witnessed a lot of pride out there from all of you, pride in your towns and the people who inhabit them. There was also some criticism and participants identified what they did not like about their town or school, without be completely negative and that is an important skill to have and is part of having a voice in a democracy.

You all are the leaders of the future and its important to stand up and start to be heard, in clear and loud voices. I would like to come back and to train further and work on ways to develop your voices and stories in dynamic and vibrant ways that represents the wonderful people you are and the great towns that you come from.

I’m really happy to have met you all and really hope to come back and do some more training in dance and drama with you all. Maybe even work together to create a show? Keep training in dance and drama, in classes. If you don’t have classes ask your school to have classes in dance and drama. If that is not possible keep dancing yourselves, keep singing, keep writing and telling stories, keep performing and being creative and expressive in whatever form you like.

It’s really important to give things a go, even if you think its not possible, try new things, broaden your out-look. Don’t be worried about looking silly and people laughing at you, laugh back and say “you try doing it better!”. Don’t look down on anyone giving it a go, work together with your classmates to make stuff up and make it happen. “Don’t be shame be game!”

Monday, June 29, 2009

pink gallahs in a pink sky

Gallahs in Warren

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Bourke_River_ Birds

The Project

Contemporary dance/theatre artist Jeff Stein will work with young people in this series of performance workshops. Through voice and movement young people will be able to extend and develop their skills in performing, either through dance or story telling, they will explore their own forms of expression and so give voice to their own vision of their place.

Participants will be given workshops in skills development and a set of performance tasks in dance, song, and story which will be documented on video by Jeff. Questions like "What is unique about your town?"

DOCUMENTED BY VIDEO young people’s STORIES and dances will be replayed to them as a means of assessing their own process - and also to share stories with their peers and possibly families - and finally, the other communities on the tour.

Young people will be able to access their work on video via this blog site and also look at other community’s video performances and messages. The videos will feature edited clips in the form of a collage of stories, dances and songs.

Jeff Stein’s Biography

ARTISTIC WORK
2009:
• In April this year he worked at Pact Theatre, Sydney, devising and directing a new work in collaboration with 17 children (10-12yrs) called Ariadne’s Thread;
• In July he is participating in Legs on the Wall's residency creating a new work with emerging artists;
• In August/September he starts a development of a new work through Urban Theatre Projects with Paul Gazzola and Rosie Denis.

2007-08 he was awarded the Australia Council Inter-Arts Fellowship. As part of the Fellowship he researched and developed three new works:
• A new dance/theatre work Loving Captive collaboration with Dean Walsh based on the life and work of Jean Genet. In Jan 2008 they presented the 1st stage development at Carriageworks, Sydney.
• A performance in collaboration with new media/ performance artist Paul Gazzola (Berlin). It was developed in residency at University of Wollongong in Aug 2008.
• In 2010 he hopes to work with Chiara Guidi (Italy) on a new Children’s Theatre work.

As a Performer, he worked with Italian Company Raffaello Sanzio in their last show Inferno at the Avignon Festival, France 08;

He worked with Gravity Feed Performance Ensemble for twelve years as a core member of the ensemble in all their major productions. www.gravityfeed.org

He also worked with Post Arrivalists, Erth Theatre and Gekidan Kaitaisha, Tokyo.

He has done numerous solo works; has been a yoga teacher for 12 years;

For 4yrs he has taught Performance craft and directed three shows at Pact Youth Theatre.

PRODUCTION WORK
Entertainment Programmer and Coordinator
Australia Day Celebrations. 09, Wollongong
Viva La Gong Festival, 08, Wollongong
15th Birthday of the Bundanon Trust
NYE Bondi Beach, 05/06.
Great Escape Festival, 2006/07
Cockatoo Island Festival, 2005
Co-artistic director of LIVEBAIT Festival, Bondi Beach, 2004.
Stage-managed Keating The Musical, for Company B Belvoir St Theatre, 07-08

Weekly Updates

Weekly Updates

Week 1
After a long drive (700km) from my home in Wombarra, I arrived in Gulargambone. North East NSW. I stayed with Outback Arts’ Sam Newstead’s farm, really beautiful spot not far from town.

The first workshop was in Gulargambone’s Central school to an enthusiastic group of 15 kids (12-16rs) for just one day, I videoed one of the kids telling a great ghost story.

The next workshop was over two days in Walgett High School. It started off being a little difficult on the 1st day, it was really hard to get them to do anything creative or expressive. However on the 2nd day a smaller group of girls really was great, we videoed them telling some great stories about themselves and their thoughts on Walgett.

I started my 1st day of a three-day workshop at Lightning Ridge Central School, A really expressive group, who are excited about drama.

It is a HUGE country, flat and I have never seen the sky so BIG, you can almost feel the roundness of the earth. There has been some rain, so the land seems more alive, more green and yellow than brown. The area is farming cattle, sheep and wheat, in a huge, barren landscape.

Now I am sitting in a Motel in Lightning Ridge, had a great weekend, visited the local hot spring baths and seen the sights thanks to my local guide- writer and theatre worker Clytie Smith.

Week 2
Two more days In Lightning Ridge were filled with fun and many great stories, songs and dances. Onto Brewarrina or “Bre” as they call it for a great day of dance and some great personalities and finally the week finished at Goodooga, a tiny town, for two fantastic days with some wonderful performers. Thanks for the stories.

Week 3
The week started in the heart of the Outback- Bourke. A short one-day workshop with a committed group; Some great talent who constructed a court scene and told me great stories about Bourke. Then onto Cobar for three amazing days of dance, stories and song. Amazing group who had some well developed skills in dance and were really outgoing in their attitude to performing. Finished the week at Warren and looking forward to the next two days with the group.

I hope to finally post the short videos of each group this week. Sorry for the delay but I am waiting for permission from all the schools before they go online. Please post your comments and let me know what you all think. Cheers Jeff

Week 4
Had another two fun filled days in Warren, the group came up with some really special dances. One in particular was very funny. The group really responded to direction and we open to new ideas and really gave it a go, which was great to see. Much credit to the Warren participants and also to their dedication to studying dance, also I have to give credit to their dance teacher for providing opportunity for them to explore and have experience in dance and performing on a regular basis.

My last town was Coonamble, a really talented group who could really do with the same opportunities as Warren has, if these guys trained regularly they could be incredible. As is, they still showed me some awesome dances that they put together over the 3 days. A really lively group of girls who had some great moves and who, I hope will continue dancing and go onto creating some great performances.

Performing Place