Noosa alive! festival brings style and substance to Queensland’s glamorous beachside town
The Noosa alive! festival has grown into an ambitious, must-see 10-day event spanning literature and ballet, opera, classical, jazz, rock and folk music.
It’s a mild night in Noosa, and at The J Theatre, there are more kilts on stage than anywhere this side of the Edinburgh Tattoo. A dancer from Queensland Ballet’s young artist program shows off his athleticism – and ridiculously toned thighs – as he springs, high steps and pirouettes, while other dancers look on with an implied, collective wink.
We are watching the world premiere of Tartan, Queensland Ballet’s infectious blend of Scottish highland and contemporary dance choreographed by Paul Boyd. The work was staged in Noosa this year before transferring to Brisbane, and it depicts an elderly man recalling the spirited highland dances of his youth. The lonely gent summons to life the friendly ghosts of those heady days, and poignantly, they remain beyond his reach.
Performed with unforced grace and a sense of fun, Tartan is a hit with locals and tourists at The J, which is more low-tech heritage hall than modern glass and concrete performing arts palace. Doused in nostalgia, this short ballet was a centrepiece of this year’s Noosa alive! festival, an annual event that underlines how Australia’s bougie-est beach destination is more than just sand, sun and oyster happy hours.
Queensland Ballet has been a fixture at Noosa alive! for 10 years and the festival’s artistic director, Ian Mackellar, says, “Tartan really touched my heart. I got all misty.’’
An interval address by QB’s outgoing artistic director, Li Cunxin (Mao’s Last Dancer) was equally moving. This charmingly understated man who survived childhood famine in China to become an international dance star is leaving the company due to ill health.
Formerly known as the Noosa Long Weekend, Noosa alive! was founded by two high-profile Sydney escapees, playwright David Williamson and his wife, Kristin, in 2002. The arts bash has proved its staying power in the beach retreat that wears its up-market credentials on its bespoke sleeve.
Noosa alive! has grown into an ambitious, 10-day event spanning literature and ballet, opera, classical, jazz, rock and folk music.
Headlining acts this year included QB, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Meg Washington, Paul Grabowsky and Kate Ceberano. There were author talks by Nick McKenzie and Anna Funder, and many events sold out. This attests to the growing profile of regional cultural tourism in the Sunshine State: Opera Queensland’s Festival of Outback Opera was staged earlier this year in spectacular locations near Winton and Longreach. Pop-up arias, boisterous pub singalongs and evening concerts featuring big voices under big, star-splashed skies vied with a beer-drinking bullock for tourists’ attention.
This far-flung opera extravaganza will be back in 2024 and Opera Queensland artistic director Patrick Nolan says “we are focusing our marketing on the drive market, the caravaners’’. One retired couple from northern NSW who attended this year’s festival drove for three days to get there.
On the Friday afternoon of my Noosa alive! stay, the cafes and bars on bustling Hastings St are heaving. To play or to pose? That is the question, as boys newly liberated from school and with footballs tucked under their arms, and influencers dressed to the nines, annex their piece of sand which is as fine as caster sugar. Young parents with toddlers and fit retirees take to the water to paddle, swim laps, venture out on paddleboards or simply stand knee deep and give in to the sheer physical glamour of the place.
Can a coastal boardwalk be a style statement? In Noosa, it can. The undulating boardwalk rises like an architectural wonder from the southern end of Noosa’s main beach. Built around eucalypt tree trunks, it offers several panoramic lookouts and detours down to small, child-friendly beaches. The boardwalk takes you to the coast-hugging Noosa National Park, home to 15km of walking tracks, rainforest groves, koalas and flocks of black cockatoos.
Back on Hastings St, there is a near-permanent relay of slow moving cars: at peak times, parking in the centre of town requires military-style planning or insider knowledge. Yet the mood on the main beach, just metres away, remains chilled.
Subtlety is the overriding aesthetic in Noosa, from low-rise apartments nestled among preening trees and bursts of carefully-tended greenery, to the single storey shops and beachfront restaurants. Reflecting how good food is central to Noosa’s identity, 2023 festival events that quickly sold out included a hinterland producers’ long lunch and Tenori, a performance and dinner on Noosa’s main beach.
What can festivalgoers at the luxe holiday spot look forward to in 2024? Mackellar reveals next year’s line-up will include another QB outing and Italian-American pianist Julian Gargiulo, “a concert pianist with rock-star hair’’ who greets audience members at the door.
I spend the weekend at Seahaven, in a roomy, two-bedroom apartment, with interiors in earthy tones of beige and cream. The location is so close to the beach, you can hear people chatting on the boardwalk. As the rhythmical hiss of waves is overlaid with the steady beat of music from a beachfront concert, it’s clear Noosa comes alive in new and surprising ways at festival time.
Stay: Seahaven offers a walk-to-anywhere beachfront location, sea views from some apartments and three heated pools. seahavennoosa.com.au
Eat: Try Sails Noosa for seafood on the beach and a vast wine collection; Lanai Noosa at Noosaville for innovative share plates.
Must do: Noosa alive! arts festival returns July 19-28, 2024; Opera Queensland’s Festival of Outback Opera is on May 14-20, 2024. noosaalive.com.au; oq.com.au
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