SHOW INFORMATION
DESERT HOTHOUSE
DESERT HOTHOUSE
More than a performance season - a communal moment to process the present and imagine a more empowered, interconnected future.
Desert Hothouse is a bold, multi-platform dance event that encompasses three full-length works - White Lies by Katina Olsen, territory by Frankie Snowdon and Public Property by Madeleine Krenek, alongside platforms for being together in conversation, sharing food and ideas across the season.
Typically the season is staged across an entire venue, with the triptych of shows able to fill theatre, gallery, outdoor or site-responsive spaces. The works explore sovereignty, self-determination, control, empathy, and myth-making, forming a powerful collective experience that invites reflection and action.
For the premiere season in Mparntwe/Alice Springs in 2026, Desert Hothouse was performed throughout the Araluen Arts Centre taking over the gallery, the theatre and the carpark of the Aviation Museum. 765 audience members experienced the three works across the season, as well as participating in conversations, a keynote presentation, a long lunch and Q&A’s with the artists. 225 school aged young people also experienced White Lies, sharing these important stories with our young people.
What audiences said about the full Desert Hothouse experience:
“Desert Hothouse was terrific (in ALL its meanings);
revelatory; impressive.”
“I was intensely proud of the calibre of this work, the creativity, the powerful messaging and the strength of cooperation to achieve such a memorable outcome.”
“Fabulous work. So well-considered in every aspect.
Fantastic to see the Araluen precinct utilised in such a way.”
ABOUT THE SHOWS
A spectacle of endurance, emotional vulnerability & exhaustion.
Inspired by the grim spectacle of depression era dance competitions of the 1920s and 30s, Public Property reflects on the darker side of human entertainment, showcasing suffering and endurance for public spectacle.
An effort to understand belonging.
territory is an immersive performance that exposes and calls into question the complicity, ignorance and subjugation of humans throughout history. In an effort to understand belonging, and using the body as a critical tool for interrogating complex questions, the work reckons with the concept of territory as something to be claimed and controlled.
‘If we muzzle the truth of the land and its people, how are we to learn and understand how to care for it and live within it?
Since colonisation of so-called Australia, First Nations people, our voices, stories and issues have been spoken for and misrepresented by those with a power to speak to the masses. What happens when those with a platform to speak to and influence many, share skewed uninformed information affecting a whole society’s understanding of this land’s First Peoples?
WE ARE LOOKING FOR PARTNERS WHO:
are interested in presenting bold artistic works; either as a full triptych or as individual shows
are excited by the possibility of doing something extremely GUTSY
are connected to their community, and can work with us to program offerings that speak to their specific contexts
are interested in creating meaningful, reciprocal partnerships
have a venue with various spaces, or are interested in collaborating across organisations to present Desert Hothouse
GET IN TOUCH
For more information about Desert Hothouse and touring opportunities, please contact:
Frankie Snowdon
GUTS Co-Artistic Director
frankie@gutsdance.org.au
Madeleine Krenek
GUTS Co-Artistic Director
maddy@gutsdance.org.au
FUNDERS & SUPPORTERS
Desert Hothouse is presented by GUTS Dance // Central Australia in partnership with the Araluen Arts Centre. Desert Hothouse is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. GUTS Dance is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funding from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.
The performance season of Desert Hothouse is also supported supported by the Northern Territory Government through Arts NT and the Australian Government through the Regional Arts Fund.
GUTS Dance also receives organisational funding through Arts NT and Future Generations Australia.
GUTS would also like to acknowledge the Arrernte people, on whose country they are based and this work was created, and whose sovereignty was never ceded. We pay respect to their elders, and to all First Nations people and countries.
