The 2024 program for Melbourne's Rising festival has been announced, with a vast array of new music, art and performance. Held over 16 nights from the beginning of winter on June 1, the festival will feature 105 events, more than 480 artists, 23 special commissions and eight Australian premieres. Performances and events will take place all over the city, from tiny hidden spaces, to the awe-inspiring St Paul's Cathedral, to the grand Melbourne Town Hall, which will host a "sprawling day party" throughout the Kings Birthday weekend.
The dance component includes:
- The premiere of Chunky Move's You, Beauty, in which "a giant undulating inflatable is both a theatre visited by the audience and a sculptural form viewed from the outside". Held at the Immigration Museum, as the two "dancers are finally swallowed by the giant structure, they invite audience members to step inside, and be transported into a surreal other world of song, dance, enchantment and dread".
- Lucy Guerin Inc's One Single Action (in an ocean of everything), a duo of Amber McCartney and Geoffrey Watson, in which they "ride the internal and external rifts in a world fraught with interference".
- Arkadia, a new dance opera from Melanie Lane at the atmospheric Substation.
- Justin Shoulder’s ANITO, in which "queered Filipino myths surface through dance, installation, masquerade and haute couture costuming" at Arts House in North Melbourne.
- Ghenoa Gela's Gurr Era Op, also at Arts House, a dance narrative on climate change impacts on Torres Strait Islander culture.
- ECLIPSE, a First Peoples futuristic drag show and new RISING commission at Melbourne Town Hall.
For the full program, go here.