SPRING.LOADED.DANCE

22 - 26 September 2021

A bespoke mini dance festival presented in partnership with Red Hot Arts Central Australia, nestled within the Desert Festival 2021.

The inaugural festival celebrated dance in all its forms, bringing professional contemporary dance experiences to Mpartnwe audiences and providing a platform for local dancers and dance groups to perform and share their artistic expression with the community.

Red Hot Arts housed a pop-up bar and festival hub, and the workshop space was transformed into a theatre housing professional performances and the opening/closing celebrations. The Community Day brought together the diverse populations of Alice Springs/Mparntwe to showcase and share traditional and contemporary cultural and social dance styles.

FESTIVAL PROGRAM

5pm & 7pm: Alice Can Dance 2021 - IN COLOUR @ Araluen Arts Centre
250 of Central Australia’s brightest young sparks take the stage at the Araluen Arts Centre bringing you all the feels, hope and brave bodies you need to remember the world’s future can be vibrant.
7pm: Spring Loaded Dance Opening
8pm: Ecstatic Dance with Brother Moonbug
@ Red Hot Arts, 67 Bath St
6pm: Fertile Ground
Suspended in time, vulnerable bodies navigate a forest of cement. GUTS present this stunning, engaging work by choreographer Ashleigh Musk (Mparntwe/Meanjin) and Michael Smith (Meanjin/Townsville), performed in SLD with the incomparable Jen Large.
7:30pm & 8:30pm: North of Centre
@ Red Hot Arts, 67 Bath St
Created alongside Tracks Dance, North Of Centre brings the energies of Northern Territory dance to the tropics of South-East Asia. In three short works; a solo, duet, and trio, dancers explore their connection to place and understanding of people.
6pm: Fertile Ground
7:30pm & 8:30pm: North of Centre
9:30pm: Spring Loaded Dance Party with DJ Gemini, DJ Wrong Banana and Demirep
@ Red Hot Arts, 67 Bath St
12pm: Community Dance Day
@ Chamber Lawns
Bringing together over 50 performers for a big celebration of some of the beautiful and important Cultural and social dance practices that happen in Mparntwe. With performances by the Tinkerbee Dancers, Little GUTS, Nepalese Dancers, Chance to Dance 50+, AfroAfro, Balinese Dancers & Alice Swings
Graphic Design: Zoya Godoroja-Prieckaerts
Photo Credit: Ivan Trigo Miras
This project was proudly supported by Festival Australia, Red Hot Arts Central Australia, the Northern Territory Government through the Department of Education, the Araluen Arts Centre, the Foundation for Regional and Rural Renewal (FRRR), Alice Springs Town Council, 8CCC Community Radio and NT MEC.