Dancenorth stars shine in latest show, Tomorrow Makers

Townsville’s Tomorrow Makers series features Dancenorth Australia dancers presenting imaginative new works, showcasing creativity and pushing artistic boundaries.

Aleeya McFadyen-Rew will perform in Tomorrow Makers at Dancenorth on May 22-24 Image by Amber Haines

Dance aficionados, rejoice.

Townsville’s professional dancers have set their imaginations loose, creating six

brand new works for the latest instalment of the city’s long-loved Tomorrow Makers series.

Locally-based, globally-celebrated Dancenorth Australia has been running its annual Tomorrow Makers program since 2018 as part of its commitment to strengthening the future of contemporary dance across the country.

The program hands creative control to Dancenorth’s Ensemble dancers, challenging them to make and present their own short works with full production support.

It’s an opportunity that very few dancers are ever afforded and, each year, the result is a vivid collage of dance works that run the gamut of creativity and push the boundaries of Australian dance.

NQ Weekend caught up with two of this year’s Makers, Tiana Lung and Damian Meredith, to learn more about the work they’ve been developing.

Tiana Lung says the Tomorrow Makers program has been a catalyst for her personal and professional growth PHOTO Amber Haines

Tiana Lung

It’s just dancing.

It’s just dancing. will be Lung’s third contribution to Tomorrow Makers and encourages people to remember the inherent joy, freedom, and magic that dance can bring. 

“Dance doesn’t have to be too serious all of the time,” Lung says.

“This work is a reminder to lose your inhibitions in that moment before you go on the dance floor.

“Before you even dance, there’s that element of self-talk: ‘put down all the shame, let down all the barriers or the things holding you back, and have the courage to just move.’

“The work started with that thought and throughout development has evolved into a celebration of the joy and freedom of movement.”

The work comes at a timely juncture for Lung, who is feeling inspired by the opportunities to work on several new dance works at Dancenorth this year.

“With the national tour of Wayfinder last year, I was constantly feeling like I was giving a lot out, but maybe not nourishing myself artistically,” Lung says.

“The prospect of being here in Townsville for most of the year and being involved in the development of a lot of new work has ignited a spark again.

“It’s been a reminder that dancing is awesome, and how great it is that this is my career and I get to do it every day.”

Lung says the Tomorrow Makers program has been a catalyst for her personal and professional growth over the past four years, as she’s expanded her comfort zone with each outing.

“My whole career, I’ve struggled with believing in myself, but I think I’m slowly becoming braver with my courage,” she says.

“When I first arrived at Dancenorth, I thought ‘Oh my God, I’m not making. No way!’”

Lung’s first Tomorrow Makers work, built on a duo she and friend Issy Estrella had already been developing.

For her second, Dancenorth’s co-Artistic Director Amber Haines convinced her to make a solo.

“This year, I’m making a group work,” says Lung.

“When I told my best friend she said ‘Tiana, I know how scary that is for you.

“I’m so proud of you.’ It didn’t clock until then and I thought ‘Oh my God, what the hell have I done?’

“My main goal has been to make it fun. Fun for myself, because otherwise I can get really anxious; fun for the dancers; and fun for the audience.”

Damian Meredith is inviting the community to help him build the TRASHWORLD set through a series of Trash Craft Workshops over the coming weeks PHOTO Amber Haines

Damian Meredith

TRASHWORLD

Meredith’s third Tomorrow Makers work will see him revisit Trashworld, an imagined world of salvaged waste, which he also explored in his previous two works.

In the making of his work, Meredith has drawn equally on three creative skills – dance, sound composition and design, and a visual art process he lovingly dubs ‘trash craft’.

“I am curious about this form of visual craft, so I really like to revisit it,” Meredith says.

“I’m not a fine art student in any way, shape or form, it’s something that I just enjoy doing.

“I like crafting and using my hands, and I’m interested to see how the deep dive into this assembling and crafting of trash and different kinds of waste materials unfolds.

“Sometimes I’m making stuff and I don’t know if it’s any “good”, but I like doing it.”

As part of his creative process, Meredith is inviting the community to help him build the TRASHWORLD set through a series of Trash Craft Workshops over the coming weeks.

“I really like the idea that I don’t have control over what the participants of the workshops will make.

That’s a beautiful thing,” Meredith says.

“They may not have that much control either, because they’re working with these very rigid materials and then assembling everything together without much time for refinement before the shows.

“I like that it can be a big, colourful blob of mess.

“That’s kind of how I see the world – a big, chaotic blob of beautiful, ugly stuff.”

While this will be Meredith’s third jaunt through Trashworld, he says audiences who are new to his work, or Tomorrow Makers more broadly, will not be lost.

“It’s all part of one world. There are references that people will get if they’ve seen other things, but they can also enter the world for the first time here without feeling alienated.

“This year’s work will draw on similar themes from the past, but embodies an alien kind of play on the concepts I’ve explored before. It’s exploring what the real world might look like through the lens of someone who doesn’t quite get what the quote/unquote, “real world” is, maybe that’s an alien, or maybe that’s a child.”

Meredith and Lung will be joined by fellow Makers Sabine Crompton-Ward, Aleeya McFadyen-Rew, Jag Popham and Michael Smith.

Catch Tomorrow Makers at Dancenorth on May 22-24.

For full details and tickets for Tomorrow Makers, and information about the Trash Craft Workshops, visit Dancenorth.com.au/calendar.

Originally published as Dancenorth stars shine in latest show, Tomorrow Makers