BRANCH NEBULA PERFORMING LINES For the last decade Branch Nebula has been challenging the social structures governing everyday existence with a unique artistic vision. They offer 5/245 Chalmers Street, Redfern, NSW 2016 audiences a diverse view of popular and contemporary culture, and place Tel 02 9319 0066 the recognition and exploration of diverse cultural expression, in all of its [email protected] multitudinous glory, at the pinnacle. performinglines.org.au ‘We embrace the culture that is around us and that is beyond the world Performing Lines develops, produces and tours new Australian performance of theatre, so called low brow culture; whether its going to events like nationally and internationally – across genres including physical theatre, circus, kickboxing, wrestling, speedway, video arcades, BMX competitions, art dance, indigenous and intercultural arts, music theatre, hybrid work, and text- Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts & Mobile States present exhibitions, peep shows or just doing our shopping at the local mall. These based theatre. aspects of cultural life are what we experience and share with our audience, because it’s what we know.’ General Manager Wendy Blacklock AM Producer Harley Stumm Branch Nebula was founded in 1998 by Mirabelle Wouters and Lee Wilson. Producer Fenn Gordon They create distinctive, hybrid movement-based performance combining Associate Producer Kar Chalmers dance, theatre, acrobatics, music and design to create powerful and visceral Production Manager Tristan Taylor experiences for audiences. Coordinator Claire Portek Accounts Linda Luke In 2004 they co-produced Plaza Real with Urban Theatre Projects, a physical theatre show for 6 performers, in the roles of director and designer; and Performing Lines is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia conducted a creative development for Mrs. White, a solo performance Council, its arts funding and advisory body. by Mirabelle Wouters. In 2002 they remounted Sentimental Reason at Performance Space, Sydney and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. In the same year, the company created Cattle Prod, a new short work whilst in residency in Brussels (Belgium) at ‘Les Bain Connective’. In May 2002, Branch Nebula presented Sentimental Reason, Cattle Prod and Rose Turtle MOBILE STATES: Ertler at KC Nona in Mechelen (Belgium). Mad Red, a full-length work, was TOURING CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE, their first production and was presented by the Victoria Festival in Ghent (Belgium) in 2000, before touring to Bern in Switzerland for the Auawirleben AUSTRALIA festival. Mobile States is a consortium of Australia’s major independent contemporary performance presenters: Arts House, Melbourne; Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane; Performance Space, Sydney; Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth; Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart; and tour producer Performing Lines. PERTH INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS It was established to provide touring opportunities for small companies and independent artists in contemporary practice, and enable audiences across the TOURING NATIONALLY IN 2008 Perth Cultural Centre, James Street, Northbridge country to experience performance works from outside their home-towns. PO Box P1221, Perth, WA 6844 Brisbane Powerhouse 9 – 12 April Tel 618 9228 6300 Mobile States is a national touring initiative of the Australia Council, supported Fax 618 9227 6539 by its Theatre and Dance Boards and its Inter-Arts Office. Darwin Entertainment Centre 15 – 16 April [email protected] pica.org.au Since 2004, Mobile States has toured many of Australia’s most significant Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs 18 – 19 April performance makers: Back to Back’s small metal objects and Lucy Guerin Inc’s Adelaide Festival Centre 23 – 26 April Housed in a centrally located, iconic heritage building in Perth’s Cultural Love Me (2007); Tanja Liedtke’s Twelfth Floor and version 1.0’s The Wages of Centre, the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is a place where Spin (2006); de Quincey Co’s Nerve 9 and Chamber Made’s Phobia (2005); and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts 30 April – 10 May visitors can experience the work of local, Australian and international artists Jenny Kemp’s Still Angela (2004). working in the areas of visual, performing, new media and hybrid arts. Arts House, Melbourne 14 – 17 May Through a year-round program of exhibitions, performances, screenings, Wodonga Civic Centre 20 May studios, publications and a range of interdisciplinary projects, PICA seeks to Merrigong Theatre Co, Wollongong 23 – 24 May promote the contemporary arts while stimulating critical discussion about the DANCENORTH’S UNDERGROUND arts and broader cultural issues. 19-29 NOVEMBER Performance Space, Sydney 28 May – 7 June Look out for the next Mobile States tour, Dancenorth’s Underground. It’s Casula Powerhouse, Sydney 10 – 11 June Director Amy Barrett-Lennard an explosive dance theatre work, showcasing the gutsy choreography of Business Manager Richard Mackay-Scollay Dancenorth’s Artistic Director, Gavin Webber. Communications Manager Georgia Malone Curator Melissa Keys Set in a subway during rush hour, Underground is a place of crowded isolation, Performance Program Manager Chrissie Parrott familiar yet strange. It’s a world where commuters slip between mundane reality Venue Production Manager Andrew Beck and a vivid dream world – disconnected from each other, yet capable of great Front of House Manager David Fussell compassion and tenderness. Designer Tom Mùller Installation Manager Eli Smith Underground shifts from darkly moody to hilariously funny to terrifyingly athletic, Administrative Assistant Bayoush Demissie with Luke Smiles’ powerful score turning it up with Nick Cave, Nine Inch Nails and Messerchups. Board of Directors Chair: Margaret Moore Deputy Chair: Tos Mahoney Treasurer: Leslie Chalmers Michael Dulaney Roshana Lewis Bret Mattes Julie Robson CREATIVE TEAM ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Performers | Devisors Produced by Alexandra Harrison (Acrobat) has become one of Australia’s most sought after physical theatre performers. As an ensemble member with Legs on the Acrobat Alexandra Harrison Performing Lines Wall she created, performed and toured nationally and internationally in Runners Up, Eora Crossing, On the Case and Flying Blind and performed and toured B-boy Anthony ‘Lamaroc’ Lawang the world with All Of Me, Homeland and Clearance. She co-devised and performed in three seasons of short works at the Downstairs Belvoir St Theatre and Singer Inga Liljeström Production Manager saw the conversion of three of these works into the award-winning dance filmsTogether , Shadow Play and Elevator. Her most recent work includes the Nigel BMX Simon O’Brien Tristan Taylor Jamieson/Garry Stewart production, Honour Bound and NVA and National Theatre of Scotland’s Half Life. Dancer Kathryn Puie Skater Petera Hona Sound Engineer Petera Hona (Skateboarder) has been skating all styles – freestyle, vert, flatland and street – for twelve years. He has won competitions in Sydney, and has Liberty Kerr appeared in several skate videos, including Sketchy and Magic Underpants, which will be screened on Australian cable TV. He joined the Paradise City team for Co-Creators & Director Lee Wilson the tour to four cities in Brazil, including international dance festivals in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte & Recife. He is also into BMX, ramp style. Stage Manager Co-Creator & Set, Costume & Lighting Design Mirabelle Wouters Mirabelle Wouters Anthony ‘Lamaroc’ Lawang (B-Boy) is a member of internationally known B-boy crews Fresh Sox and Zulu Kings. He has performed in the US, NZ and all Composers around Australia, and has won competitions such as: Wikid Force Throwdown 1, 2 & 8, VIC (2002-2006); Australian Battle Of The Year, NSW (2003) Solos; Bob Scott & Inga Liljeström Ramp Design & Construction Dancekool Championships, NSW (2003 & 2005); Footwork Flava’s competition at Bodyrock, NZ (2004); Sundance, NSW (2005); Freestyle Session, Japan Creative Consultant Michael Mulhall & Greg Ambler (2005); and OZ b-boy Championships, NSW (2004, 2005 & 2006). He has also toured with ARIA-Award winning The Cat Empire, and DJ Dexta. Kate Champion Photography Inga Liljeström (Composition/Singer) is a vocalist, composer, producer and sound designer. She has two solo albums, Urchin & Elk to her credit, has Paradise City was devised and choreographed by the artists Heidrun Löhr & Michael Myers sung with iconic Australian group The Church, and on recordings by Gerling (hit single Dust Me Selecta), Friendly, d.i.g, and others. She has composed for film, listed above, with additional creative input from Michael radio, and documentaries, and performed at/on Rove Live, Big Day Out, Adelaide Fringe, Homebake and many more, and has received two Australia Council THANK YOU Mulhall, Shaun Gladwell, Deborah Pollard and Narelle grants to produce original recordings. Inga recently collaborated with Mark Collin (Nouvelle Vague) and Aliplays in Paris, and appeared on Gotye’s ARIA- Legs on the Wall Benjamin. nominated album Mixed Blood. She is soon to release a CD and DVD in Europe followed by shows including Colours of Ostrava festival in the Czech Republic. Sydney Theatre RSEA Simon O’Brien (BMX Rider) has been riding Flatland BMX for 12 years and is one of the most highly regarded Flatlanders in Australia. Simon has competed and won competitions throughout the world including France, USA, UK, Japan, Hungary, Spain, Malaysia and China. In 2005 he was Flatland Champion in the Australian BMX games, and in 2003 he was champion of X Games (Los Angeles) and X Games (Asia).

PRODUCTION HISTORY Kathryn Puie (Dancer) has performed around Australia and the globe with companies including, Skadada, Friches Theatre Urbain (France), Stalker Theatre Company (New Zealand, South America and Korea), Spare Parts Puppet Theatre (Perth and Broome), Legs on the Wall (Melbourne), Branch Nebula (Sydney Paradise City was commissioned by Sydney Opera House, after an initial development residency at Performance Space. It premiered at The Studio, Sydney and Brazil) and Theatre of Image (Sydney). Kathryn has 24 years of experience in various forms of dance and performance, having started her performing Opera House in November 2006, produced by Performing Lines. career at the early age of five competing in ballroom dancing championships. Kathryn studied dance at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Perth). She has had great experience working as a mover and a shaker; flyer, teacher, choreographer, aerialist, stilt walker and puppeteer. Kathryn began this In 2007 it toured to four Brazilian cities, including international dance festivals in Rio de Janeiro, Recife & Belo Horizonte, as well as the presitigious year training and performing at the WA Circus Festival whilst also teaching youth skills in aerial and stilt walking. Teatro SESC Pinheiros in Sao Paulo. Lee Wilson (Director/Co-Creator) graduated from University of Western Sydney in 1991, and has devised and performed with Australia’s major physical This Australian tour is produced by Performing Lines for Mobile States: Touring Contemporary Performance Australia. The tour is assisted by the Australian theatre companies, including Acrobat, Legs On The Wall, Stalker, Theatre Physical, Gravity Feed and Post Arrivalists. He directed Plaza Real, a Branch Nebula Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and through the national performing arts touring program, Playing & Urban Theatre Projects co-production, and Mrs White, a Branch Nebula creative development (both 2004). He was Movement Director on Urban Theatre Australia, and by the NSW Government through Arts NSW. Projects’ two Sydney Festival shows, Back Home (2006), The Last Highway (2008); and on Mechanix (2003), a large scale outdoor work, as well as PACT Theatre’s Song Of Ghosts (2004). Recent performing credits include Force Majeure’s Already Elsewhere (Sydney Festival 2005, Biennale de la Danse de Lyon 2006), and Stalker’s Incognita, (Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Festivals, 2003, then touring Italy, The Netherlands and France in 2004). In 2002 Lee worked with Meryl Tankard on a creative development for Disney.

Mirabelle Wouters (Designer/Co-Creator) is a Belgian set and lighting designer, contemporary dancer, a graphic artist, and a graduate in Industrial Design and Scenography. She designed Urban Theatre Projects’ Sydney Festival show The Last Highway (2008), Martin Del Amo’s Never Been This Far Away From Home (2007), and in 2004 she co-created and designed Branch Nebula’s Plaza Real. She was a performer in Stalker’s Incognita touring Europe and playing in Melbourne International Arts Festival, Sydney Festival and the Perth International Festival. She worked as a dancer and deviser in Carte Blanche by the Belgium-based company Hush Hush Hush. The show toured successfully throughout Europe for two years in theatres, hip-hop festivals and dance festivals, ABOUT PARADISE CITY and won the ‘Signaalprijs’ (Signal Prize) for best youth theatre in Belgium in 1997. Bob Scott (Composition/Sound Designer) is a Sound Designer, Mix Engineer and Composer with an interest in combining modern audio techniques ‘The skateboarder’s highly developed integrated sense of balance, speed, hearing, sight, touch, and responsiveness is a product of the modern metropolis, such as live signal processing, recording, editing and amplification, with acoustic instruments. He has worked as a mix engineer for various artists including a newly evolved sensory and cognitive mapping; the aim is not only to receive the city but to return it to itself, to change through movement and physical Nigel Kennedy, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Nigel Westlake, Ensemble Moderne, Australian Baroque Brass, Salut Baroque, energy the nature of the experience of the urban realm.’ Song Company, Ensemble Offspring and has been the sound supervisor in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. Bob has also recently been involved in Iain Borden, Another Pavement, Another Beach: Skateboarding and the Performative Critique of Architecture musical collaborations with Brett Dean and Genevieve Lacey – Noctune for Miss Genevieve for ABC Classics, a work for 5 bass recorders, processed bells and large PA; Tomoko Mukaiyama and Nederlands Dans Theater One Week in White performance for piano and live processing in Aoyama, Japan; Xenia Hanusiak Paradise City is a portal into a much larger world. We hope to contribute a small part to the organic and autonomous side of street culture – the part that 1000 Doors, 1000 Windows Australian tour; Taikoz with Meryl Tankard’s Kaidan, Sydney Festival and Synergy Percussion – works for live electronics and you catch a glimpse of from your car window; a body suspended between two buildings pulling off a manoeuvre for no reason, except that it is a way of percussion. existing that might be our best bet with the way the future is looking right now. Liberty Kerr (Sound Engineer) has worked on a wide variety of productions in either the role of sound engineer and/or composer, sound designer. She This project has grown out of a love for anarchic, do it yourself, urban expression art forms like break dancing, BMX and skateboarding. These styles are has produced and co-produced studio recordings for many artists including Inga Liljeström, Fourplay and The Bird as well as her own solo projects and learnt by an organic process of sharing, watching and making it up as you go along and is a process that aligns itself very well with Branch Nebula’s collaborations, involving her in more than 20 contemporary music releases. Her live production and sound engineering credits include Regurgitator, Fourplay, approach to making performance. Tony Buck and Big Day Out.

The opportunity to tour Paradise City all over Australia in 2008 is an extremely exciting occasion for Branch Nebula. The company is proud to be bringing Tristan Taylor (Production Manager) has worked with Performing Lines as Production Manager for the last two years on tours nationally and an incredible team of thirteen collaborators to audiences throughout the major cities and also regional centres such as Alice Springs, Darwin, Albury- internationally. Recent projects have included Holding the Man tours to Brisbane and Melbourne; Urban Theatre Projects’ premiere of The Last Highway and Wodonga and Wollongong. Back Home Toronto season; and Branch Nebula’s premiere of Paradise City. Previously, Tristan has worked as part of the lighting team at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the home of the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet, taught Theatre Technology at the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema in Vietnam, We look forward to delivering a show that shares a view of street-style artists as virtuosic and visionary contributors to contemporary life. and helped research a rediscovered pre-revolution palace theatre on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia. Tristan is a Graduate from Deakin and Wollongong Universities, with previous technical theatre engagements including Glen Street Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Ensemble and Company B, among others.