‘This is What’s Happening’ comes to Northcote

Darebin Arts’ Speakeasy programDarebin Arts’ Speakeasy program is currently presenting This is What’s Happening at Northcote Town Hall this week as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Now through Saturday, October 3, Darebin Arts presents this collaboration between dancer-choreographers Alice Dixon and Caroline Meaden.

 

This is What’s Happening is about the mundane nature of 9-to-5 corporate jobs. Alongside performance maker and writer William McBride, who works under the humorous pseudonym “Slown, Smallened & Son”, Dixon and Meaden created This is What’s Happening to use imagery, rhythm and meaning to address what it is to be alive today.

 

Giving a voice to our bodies, Dixon and Meaden’s choreography navigates the toll of living in our modern, work-a-day world, with a poetic sense of injustice and more than a smattering of humour. Commenting on the ridiculous maze of bureaucratic boxes, categories and systems that permeate our lives, the work explores how often our bodies must fight to keep up with the world around us.

 

The work also includes text collected from interviews with Meaden’s father recalling his experience of “corporate burnout syndrome.” Adding a further choreographic layer to the work, the text contrasts and complements the more subtle and strange reflections on life.

 

Recently, Dixon and Meaden were involved in the creation and development of Nat Cursio’s Blizzard, which received several Green Room and Australian Dance Awards.

 

This is What’s Happening is presented at Northcote Town Hall’s Studio One, located at 189 High Street in Northcote, this week. Tickets begin at $20. For more information, visit darebinarts.com.au or call 9481 9500.

 

Photo by Mischa Baka.