Photo Credit: C. Duggan, 2015
Douglas Dunn + Dancers in Perth, Australia at the Canning World Arts Exchange 2016!
Web link here.
Come explore the village phenomenon of the special UNESCO Vietnamese Ede Gong Culture, collaborating with Douglas Dunn and Dancers from New York, Taikoz drummers from Sydney, Link Dancers from Perth and Canning's own Community Choir!
Date: Saturday 6 February 2016
Time: Food available from 5pm | Performance 7pm (approximate running time 60 - 80 minutes)
Location: Shelley Beach Foreshore Park, Riverton Drive, Shelley
Cost: Free to attend
Other information:
- Free parking
- ACROD parking available
- Toilets available
Riverton Drive will be closed for the evening except for Food Vendor/Performer access. Parking area is located on the corner of Riverton Drive and Corbel Street.
Food and drink available for purchase from 5pm - specialising in Vietnamese and Japanese cuisine.
- BYO low chairs and picnic blankets
- Arrive early for a good spot!
- Footpaths for disabled access
Event contact: John Mclaughlin or Kelsie Koontz - 1300 422 664 orcustomer@canning.wa.gov.au
Performer Biographies
Douglas Dunn and Dancers - New York Click here to read more!
Taikoz Drummers - Sydney Click here to read more!
Link Dancers - Perth
Link Dancer's are recent graduates from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). As emerging independent artists, Alexander Perrozzi, Robert Tinning and Scott Elstermann have combined their creative talents to choreograph an explosive contemporary dance performance in collaboration with Australia's internationally acclaimed taiko drumming ensemble from Sydney known as Taikoz.
The Cultural home of the gongs in the Central Highlands of Vietnam covers several provinces and seventeen Austro-Asian and Austronesian ethno-linguistic communities. Closely linked to daily life and the cycle of the season, their belief systems form a mystical world where the gongs produce a privileged language between men, divinities and the supernatural world. Behind every gong hides a god or goddess who is all the more powerful when the gong is older. Every family possesses at least one gong, which indicates their wealth, authority and prestige, and also assures the families protection. Different arrangements and rhythms are composed to celebrate the traditional ceremonies such as the Killing of the Buffalo, the Rice Harvest or Mourning Rites. This unique Cultural practice was severely disrupted during the decades of war during the last century and is aggravated today by the loss of old craftsmen and a younger generation more interested in a Western lifestyle. Stripped of their sacred and historical significance, the gongs are sometimes sold for recycling or exchanged for other products. On November 25, 2005 in Paris, France, the Space of Gong Culture in Central Highlands was recognized by UNESCO as an oral-transmitted masterpiece and intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Joining the Canning World Arts Exchange Festival this year will be 10 members from the Ede Ethnic Group who make their home in the Dak Lak region in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. These revered elders are the last remaining keepers of the Myths and Sacred Songs of the Gong culture and have generously committed to sharing and collaborating with modern artists to share their Animist beliefs. The festival will allow the viewer to witness these Universal Myths that help guide us all through the passages of life from Birth to Death.
The Canning World Art Exchange welcomes the superb Taikoz drumming ensemble from Sydney for performances that couple explosive energy and extreme dynamism with refinement and grace. Combining the visceral power of the Taiko with the ethereal sound of the bamboo shakuhachi, Taikoz is exploring a synthesis of East and West, old and new. These incredible musicians will summon the Gods through their tightly choreographed movements and high speed rhythmic drumming.
Modern Dance Pioneer and legend Douglas Dunn brings his 50 years of brilliant choreographic invention to the Canning World Arts Exchange to team up with the Ede Gong Culture and the Taikoz drummers to offer an evening of ritual exploration and mythical movements! A dance maker of extreme integrity and witty kinetic insights, Dunn has been delighting audiences since his involvement with the early priests of the Post Modern Movement from Yvonne Rainer to Merce Cunningham.
Perth’s own Link Dancers have joined the Festival to create new works to the rhythms of the Taiko drums that will push the boundaries of youth and physicality. These fine young performers place the arts in Western Australia in great shape for the future of dancing in our great town.
The City of Canning continues its philosophy of ensuring close contact and collaboration with our guest artists from as many of our residents as possible. The Canning Community Choir has been assembled to learn to sing in Vietnamese and Japanese languages and will perform ancient and sacred songs with the Ede Gong Group and Taikoz Drummers as part of the “Myth of Gong and Drum” concert.
Dr Richard Walley and his Middar Dance Company will bring 50,000 years of Aboriginal culture on stage alongside our UNESCO Ede Gong Culture Artists in a joint work that will see these two most ancient of art forms explore the rituals that have held their communities together for so long.