The Perth Festival 2018 program was revealed last night by Artistic Director Wendy Martin at the Perth Concert Hall, followed by a lovely party on the forecourt to celebrate.
The program, which runs between 9 February and 4 March 2018 looks fantastic and there's a ton of works I want to see - especially those that weave in the recurring theme of ritual. I've picked out my favourites:
SIREN SONG
I first heard about this one at Dark Mofo 2017. It's a sound work by Melbourne's Byron J Scullin and curatorial team Supple Fox, where at dawn and dusk, female voices descend from the sky signalling the arrival and departure of light each day. Looks eerie and dreamy. Free event.
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BEYOND TIME
This visual spectacle of twirling bodies, projections of natural phenomena and live music by Tao Buddhist performers at Taiwan's U-Theatre was created out of meditation, and the result is a poetic performance combining martial arts, dance and ritual to explore our relationship to the universe.
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ATTRACTOR
A trance-noise odyssey featuring Indonesian music duo Senyawa and Melbourne choreographers Lucy Guerin and Gideon Obarzanek. Senyawa reinterprets the Javanese tradition of entering trance through dance and music and at each performance, 20 participants join the performers on stage to dissolve the distinction between audience and performer in a cross-cultural, shared ritual.
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WHITE SPIRIT
The sacred and profane collide when Sufi music and mysticism meet street art. Ensemble Al Nabolsy & the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus bring their ritual music and movement directly from Syria's Umayyad Mosque. Trance, music and visual art come together in a spiritual spectacle.
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MOGWAI
Scottish doom rockers of cinematic intensity return to Perth to transport us into a gripping cacophony of drums, bass and guitars in a post-rock wall of sound.
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