High-quality, diverse NZ performing arts to tour Australia

High-quality, diverse New Zealand performing arts to tour Australia in 2015

Next year two leading New Zealand performing arts companies will travel 6,850 kilometres to give 29 performances in seven Australian cities across four states, thanks to an initiative supporting our artists to tour their work across the ditch.

Jumpboard Productions presenting Live Live Cinema and The New Zealand Dance Company (NZDC) are being supported by Creative New Zealand’s Touring Australia pilot to present their works, which respectively bring cult classic films back to life on stage and mark the First World War Centenary.

In 2012 Creative New Zealand contracted experienced producers, Arts Projects Australia (APA), to work with New Zealand companies on building the tours. This year APA has worked with the NZDC and Jumpboard Productions to pitch their work to Australian presenters and develop individual touring schedules for 2015.

“We are delighted to be able to offer these opportunities for New Zealand performers and artists to tour in Australia, and value highly our partnership with APA and the experience they bring,” says Creative New Zealand Senior Manager Cath Cardiff.

“We are particularly thrilled that the tours for 2015 present such different and eclectic works, from Jumpboard Productions’ recreation of a truly live music and cinema experience to The New Zealand Dance Company’s moving dance eulogy to the spirit of the ANZACs in Rotunda,” says Arts Projects Australia Director Ian Scobie.

“We are confident Australian audiences will be well and truly wowed by these exciting productions.”

The NZDC’s Rotunda features ‘the beautiful collision of a live brass band with the raw power of contemporary dance’ and is timed to commemorate the Gallipoli landings in 1915. Created by Arts Laureate Shona McCullagh (Artistic Director), Rotunda presents life stories of the First World War through turbulent choreography and live music of the era (composed by Don McGlashan). The company will join forces with local Australian brass bands in each centre specifically for the Australian tour. Travelling to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Geelong, the Australian Rotunda Tour 2015 will coincide with the ANZAC centenary, with an ANZAC Day performance in Auckland before heading to Australia.

Created and composed by Leon Radojkovic and directed by Oliver Driver, Live Live Cinema will tour Herk Harvey’s black and white cult classic Carnival of Souls and Francis Ford Coppola’s Dementia 13 to Adelaide, Sydney, Geelong, Melbourne, Launceston and Hobart. Live Live Cinema takes the concept of ‘live’ cinema to another level – a film is screened and all audio is produced live by a foley (sound effects) artist, actors and musicians together with an original sound score. As a result audiences experience a fusion of cinema, theatre, music and sound design a unique and vibrant ‘live live’ cinematic experience.

Creative New Zealand supports the companies’ international airfares and freight, and provides a contribution towards landed costs for the tours in Australia including ground transport, accommodation and per diems.

This year the Touring Australia pilot supported Theatre Beating’s acclaimed slapstick comedy The Magic Chicken to tour Adelaide, Sydney, Parramatta and Perth, and Kila Kokonut Krew’s Pacific musical The Factory to Adelaide, Parramatta, Canberra, Wollongong and the Gold Coast.

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