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Neighbourhood
Contemporary
Art Festival
11 — 27 Nov. 2022

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We acknowledge that we meet on unceded sovereign lands of the Boon Wurrung and Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation.

We offer our respect to the Elders of these lands and to all First Nations people who reside here.

Enter Site

I Am Carisma

When 24 Nov | 7pm – 8pm | Preview performance 25 Nov | 7pm – 8pm | Opening night 26 Nov | 3pm – 4pm | Relaxed performance 26 Nov | 7pm – 8pm | Evening performance 27 Nov | 7pm – 8pm | Evening performance
Who Jonathan Homsey, MaggZ, Marnie Newton, Kerrtu Luik
Cost $20 — $30
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Wheelchair Accessible Captioning (Closed Captions) Relaxed Performance Get your tickets

An ever changing story about resilience, female empowerment and freedom, I Am Carisma is an anti-tragedy choreographed by Green Room award winning choreographer and curator Jonathan Homsey. An ode to a loved one, this performance is inspired by the passing of Jonathan’s close friend, Carisma – a fellow community member and dancer in the naughties.

Through the art of dance freestyle and improvisation, waackers MaggZ and Marnie Newton and locker Kerrtu Luik will take street dance vocabulary and flip it on its head through complex tasks inspired by contemporary dance. The dance trio will receive musical, emotional and anatomical instructions in an earpiece, allowing a symphony of limbs to emerge as they lock, waack, gyrate and celebrate their bodies. 

Thanks to a word game, projection and teleprompters, every performance will have a playful life of its own. Prior to the performance, audience members will submit questions through an online form. Ten attendees will then take turns onstage whispering a story about Carisma the audience has written together.

Be a part of the ensemble by submitting your request here, you will be contacted on the day before the performance if the stars have aligned to make you a lucky participant!

I Am Carisma celebrates the magic of coincidence, for the dancers and the audience in real time. It spotlights the messiness of growing up; embraces the accidental and finds inspiration from the banal episodes of life.

The possibility of success and failure in this task is what makes I Am Carisma special. Life is messy; it can succeed or fail. Choreographed failure can be beautiful to watch, for it is the failure and successes that make life what it is.

All Neighbourhood tickets are purchased via each venue’s website. To make ticket purchases, click on the ‘Get your tickets’ link, and you will automatically be redirected.

[Image by Shannon May Powell]

Meet the Artists

Jonathan Homsey Read more +

Jonathan Homsey is a Green Room award winning choreographer and curator working from the positionality of as a Queer Person of Colour based on Wurundjeri country. Originally an award winning dancer for crews during the naughties in Southern California, he is humbled to be a community leader in so called Australia for the past decade galvanising people together to dance. From Footscray Community Arts, Dancehouse to Melbourne Museum, he specalises in platforming Street and Queer dance forms to cultivate empowerment for sexually and ethnically diverse young people. Working across theatre, public and gallery spaces, he is passionate about getting people to feel good from the inside out, whether through witnessing or participating.

MaggZ Read more +
Headshot of performer Maggie Zhu

MaggZ is a Naarm-based (Melbourne, Australia) queer Chinese movement artist, creative director and producer, specialised in waacking – a freestyle dance originated in 1970s LA from the latinix and African American queer community, predominantly involving arm movements. Traversing amongst street dance battles, live performances, installations, creative direction and producing, MaggZ’s practice centres aliveness, stillness, persistence and agency and aspires to honour the authentic self and living experience through transdisciplinary explorations. MaggZ’s recent achievements are – the recipient of the Young Creative Awards in 2020, nominated four times by the Green Room Awards, and the winner of Destructive Steps allstyle 2v2 dance battle in 2022.

Marnie Newton Read more +
Headshot of performer Marnie Newton

Marnie Newton (aka. Milk) is a multi-disciplinary practitioner in both the architectural and dance fields as well as a cofounder of Melbourne’s largest female dance community, Sister Sessions. Trained in classical dance (jazz and tap) for 10 years, Marnie made her transition to Street and Freestyle Dance in the early 2010’s, learning and practicing in multiple styles (Hip hop, locking, breaking and house) before discovering the LGBTQIA dance style and culture of Waacking in mid 2012. Mentored by the only waacker in Melbourne at the time, Andy Kuramoto, Marnie co-founded Melbourne’s first Waacking community, Burn City Waack, which focused on sharing and educating people on Waacking, which has been running for over 8 years.

Kerttu Luik Read more +
Headshot of dance performer Kerttu Luik

Coming proudly from Estonia, Kerttu Luik is one of the leading street dancers and dance teachers in the Nordic and Baltic countries). She has travelled the world performing on big stages and competing in world renowned dance competitions. Kerttu has facilitated numerous inspiring and engaging workshops utilising her key skills in different street dance styles. Since 2010, Kerttu has been teaching street dance at the biggest dance schools in the Baltics, JJ-Street Dance Company. She taught over 350 students weekly and has taught 17 new street dance teachers between the years 2010 – 2020. Since 2012 she has been the managing partner in JJ-Street Dance Company, mentoring over 45 teachers and over 1800 students until she moved to Australia in 2020 March.

Accessibility

Pre-show notes and programs will be provided. Video captioning will also be used. Relaxed Performance session available.

Events Partners

Project supported by LGI through a studio residency at WXYZ Studios.