August 2023

Laura and Liz say their goodbyes Laura and Liz say farewell to Gary. We will now work to bring the production to the UK.  We welcome your support and comments.

Sellout crowd for the last performance of the run As with the previous four performances, the final performance received a standing ovation.  Most people then stayed another half hour eager to engage with the post-show Q&A. Production Manager Liz Rogers wrote on the Show Report: “The Q+A could have gone on for an hour, there was such an appetite in the room”.

Australian Sign Language interpretation provided Sign Language interpretation was provided for the performance on Friday 11th August enabling members of the D/deaf community to access the production. 

Glowing Review from Stage Whisphers It is rare for dance performances in the Northern Territory to be reviewed and even more unusual for them to receive national press coverage. Geoffrey Williams describes the production as: “The miraculous, unforgettable achievement that is The Other Side of Me…”. His review says: “Mr Lang’s choreography, from the first unexpected moment, denies and demolishes stereotype, archetype, convention, and expectation in a mesmerising work that is performed with dazzling virtuosity by Alexander Abbot and ‘Cheeky’ Chandler Connell. “ Click HERE to read the review from Stage Whispers Fabulous review from Arts Hub   Gina Machado’s review for Arts Hub says: “The NT Dance Company’s world premiere is truth-telling powerfully expressed by two dancers representing one First Nations man.” Arts Hub describes itself as: “the home of the Australian Art Industry”. Click HERE to read the review from Arts Hub 

Live Interview with Laura on NR Breakfast Listen to the broadcast here: ‘The Other Side of Me’ premieres at Darwin Festival‘ On Monday 7th August Laura was interviewed about the project live on Australia’s ABC national radio breakfast show.  The interview focused on the background to the dance production and the wider research project including themes of young people within the criminal justice system, ways of storytelling, and the importance of dance within First Nations cultures.  Laura spoke about how important it is for the story to be told through dance. She said that “working with NT Dance Company and the Artistic Director Gary Lang has just been an incredible experience because he has taken the story to [another] place and is delivering it in a way that I could never have done… Indigenous knowledge is bringing so much richness to this story.” The broadcast included a sample of the music Arian Ganambarr-Pearson’s has composed for the production.   RN Breakfast continues to be hugely influential, reaching just over 300,000 listeners in the five capital cities across each week. Once you factor in its total national broadcast audience, that figure rises to around 430,000 people This is taken from a press release the ABC put out about their programs. Once you factor in the audience who listen online/streams the RN figure reaches around 860,000 people

Stage lighting adds another production layer Sunday 6th of August was all about realising Joe Mercurio’s lighting design.  In the morning, final rigging, focusing and patching of the stage lights took place. The afternoon was then spent plotting the sequence of lighting states. The design provides a number of distinctive lighting environments enhancing the storytelling and affective nature of the choreography.  These images are from the cue-to-cue run-through which followed in the evening.  Image: Lighting Designer Joe Mercurio, Project & Production Manager Elizabeth Rogers, Rehearsal Director Noelle Shader and the dancers in discussion following the cue-to-cue. 

Production elements coming together By Monday 31st July, the costumes had arrived in the post and the dancers were able to begin rehearsing in costume and incorporating the use of white ochre into the performance.  “Through ochre runs a tactile imprint of all that is sacred, of all that connects people to their Culture – the past, present and future.” Bangarra Knowledge Ground Layering the choreography with animations by Chloe Rodham projected onto the back wall adds depth and detail.  By Tuesday 1st August, lighting designer Joe Mercurio had flown in to join the creative team in the theatre. The mail had brought gobos chosen by Joe to create specific lighting effects.  Over the next few days, many run-throughs of the performance enabled Joe and Gary to finalise decisions about the lighting plan and cues.  With the theatre in use for another production, rehearsals on Friday and Saturday, moved to Tracks Dance Studio.  Below we see Gary coaching details of body shape, action and use of weight in specific Indigenous dance movements. Chandler is using a mop under his arms to demonstrate the correct use of the upper body.