CATAPULT FLIPSIDE | What's On In August

August kicks off Our Catapult Choreographic Collaborative Arts Program

The program will see Professional Contemporary dance choreographers: Kristina Chan and Adam Blanch collaborate with local filmmaker Neil Mansfield and local emerging dance artist Raegan Ashley Williams. Adam Blanch returns to Newcastle for Catapult’s Propel residency program after establishing an impressive dance career in Australia and touring internationally with the Queensland Ballet and Sydney Dance Company, making his debut at the 2006 Shanghai International Festival, in performances of Greame Murphy’s Grand. Blanch has since toured throughout Australia and the United States. You can read his Full Professional Biography at: www.catapultdance.com.au

Inspiring Blanch’s return to Newcastle (Adam is Newcastle born and bred, training under Karen Thomas and the formidable force in Newcastle Dance education, Marie Walton Mahon) is the drive to expose through documentary (enter local film maker Neil Mansfield) the Culture of Dance in Newcastle. For a regional centre we have a high rate of dancers making long – standing professional careers in all dance mediums. No doubt the investigation will reveal some historic gems and personal stories of trial and triumph. Over the course of his three-week residency at Catapult’s Hunter St Studios, Blanch will pursue interviews with some of Newcastle’s successful professional dance exports and teaching institutions. There will also be elements of storytelling unfolding through dance as Blanch flexes his choreographic skills with Catapult’s local emerging Dance Artist Raegan Ashley Williams. Collaborative Newcastle Based film-maker Neil Mansfield will be working with Blanch on the upcoming documentary as well as pursuing a technical and creative video work with Kristina Chan in her upcoming residency in September. Neil Mansfield has developed an impressive award winning biography over the last twenty years and has had his work showcased at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Netherlands, and AFI nomination for best editing. His film Street Sweeper won best film Jury prize at the Anchorage International Film Festival, Alaska, USA in 2008. Mansfield also has an extensive backlog of music video and installation work, as well as a Mammoth accumulation of documentation of events such as Big Day Out, Live 8 and Wave Aid, and Live Australian Rock. In recent years (and the age of digitalisation) while most of the population is converting film files to digital bytes, Mansfield is returning his focus to his favoured form, the low tech and tangible 16mm celluloid. The team here at Catapult are eagerly anticipating seeing the fruits of Mansfield’s collaboration with Visiting Artists Adam Blanch and Kristina Chan (more on Chan in the next issue) and invite you to do the same.

Not to be missed for the culture hungry of Newcastle.

The work created will be shown at Catapult Choreographic Hub 880 Hunter St Newcastle West on August 21st and 22nd at 6pm. To negotiate our limited capacity, a reservation for the event is preferred, but not essential. To book please email: enquiries@catapultdance.com.au

PHOTO: Raegan Ashley Williams by Jessica Coughlan / Kristina Chan by Gregory Lorenzutti