AMPA’s End-of-Year Show Premieres December 5th!
Presented by The Academy of Music and Performing Arts (AMPA), EUPHORIA, AMPA’s end-of-year show, brings together exciting new works in contemporary and jazz, showcasing the talent, creativity, and passion of AMPA’s dancers.
The program features choreography by AMPA’s acclaimed faculty alongside a striking new guest work, Promenade, created by multi-award-winning dancer, choreographer, and producer Liz Lea. Over three decades, Liz has toured internationally, been commissioned worldwide, and was named 2017 ACT Artist of the Year. She directs the BOLD and DANscienCE Festivals, leads The Stellar Company, and recently launched Chamaeleon Collective, Canberra’s first inclusive dance company. Describing Promenade as “a leisurely walk in a public place for pleasure or display — where the devil is in the detail as the minutiae becomes magnificent,” Liz has crafted the piece in collaboration with AMPA’s dance students.
Audiences will also experience original works by AMPA’s emerging student and alumni choreographers. Second-year student Emma Boxall premieres Impulse, a gripping contemporary piece that explores mass hysteria and the ripple effect of fear on collective behaviour, moving from order to chaos through intricate group dynamics and raw physicality. Fellow second-year Cherie Chan presents Tunnel 08, a haunting work that uncovers an eight-year-old girl’s hidden childhood trauma, revealing how emotional abuse and distorted love can lead to depression, dissociation, and suicidal thoughts, with the “tunnel” representing a dark inner sanctuary. Alicia Gladman, also in second year, debuts Entwined, inspired by Red String Theory: the ancient belief that an invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, stretching or tangling but never breaking.
Adding alumni flair, Georgia Van Der Sman returns with Greenback Boogie, a sharp commentary on Wall Street’s male-dominated culture, corporate greed, power imbalances, and the widening gap between the ultra-wealthy and everyone else. The program closes with a crowd favourite, Cockpit Cabaret, choreographed by AMPA alumna Kate Garrett. Following the success of her company Silhouette 9 Productions’ full-length Cocktail Cabaret at Sydney Fringe and its sold-out return season, Kate brings this high-flying, cheeky cabaret act to life with AMPA’s alumni company, inviting audiences on a glamorous, globe-trotting adventure with sassy air hostesses and irresistible in-flight entertainment.
EUPHORIA will be at NIDA Playhouse Theatre Friday 5th December, 7:30 PM. Grab your tickets now and experience the rush of EUPHORIA!
EUPHORIA, AMPA Bachelor of Dance Student, Jasmin Safadi, Photo credit Wenny Tan