Part theatre. Part music. Part dance. This Show Is About People is a stunning work by Shaun Parker & Company. Set in a transit waiting room, ten outstanding dancers and vocalists tell a story of the innate need within us all to belong to something. Our need for religion. Our need for belief systems. Our need to comprehend the mirrored division between life and death. These are all brilliantly interrogated with humorous reflection by Shaun Parker and his team.
Led by world renowned musicians and vocalists Mara and Llew Kiek, the spine tingling vocal music of Bulgaria collides with songs from medieval Europe, modern gospel, word-art and popular songs of hope. The movement language is informed by highly physical contemporary dance, acrobatic and street dance styles, layered with intricate gesture and manipulative force.
This Show Is About People is a powerful and unique production that has moved audiences to tears, evoked belly fits of laughter, and brought the audience to their feet with heart-felt standing ovations.
Winner of an Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Production, and shortlisted nominee for Best Performance of an Ensemble in a Music Theatre Production.
- Venue Format
- Theatre, Black Box Venue
- Technical Rating
- Touring Party
- 14
- Considerations
-Some mild language -Not suitable for under 12 years old -Technical: requires pre-rig
Shaun Parker & Company is an exhilarating and bold Australian dance company that has exploded onto the international dance scene.
The company creates critically acclaimed dance productions, which are renowned for their integration of stimulating choreographic forms, arresting musical scores and theatrical invention.
Led by award winning Artistic Director and Choreographer Shaun Parker, his work is described as ‘so cutting edge it actually wanders off the edge of any single-word definition…’
Based in Sydney, the company has toured across Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the Middle East, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Serbia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, and the UK, including a sold out season at London’s prestigious dance house Sadler’s Wells.
Shaun Parker & Company has won two Australian Dance Awards, a Banksy Award, and the Argus Angel Award in the UK.
- Company Website
- shaunparkercompany.com
Unique Selling Point
This show is about community. The powerful street dance and physicality, coupled with the arresting live Bulgarian vocal singing, counter-tenor and gospel singing draws in both music and dance audiences immediately. The stunning set design by Robert Cousins, creates a theatrical space that is compelling to theatre audiences, as well as the dramaturgy by Veronica Neave.
The show is funny, beautiful, poetic, powerful…and above all else….this show is about people! Our audience connect with the production in a very heart-felt way.
Marketing Materials
-Full marketing materials are available (Stunning production images, and broadcast quality footage, marketing blurbs and digital assets). -The director and cast are available for media interviews and sponsor talks. -Education Pack suitable for senior arts, music, drama and dance students. -The full soundtrack of the production was released on CD, and are played on local radio leading into the season. -The Artistic Director was a featured tango dancer in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge and has choreographed for So You Think You Can Dance. These have proven to be great selling points for Regional areas in the past.
Community Engagement
-Lead Soprano in the production Silvia Entcheva will teach Bulgarian vocal singing to community choirs, and indeed anyone who wants to sing! The local lines and audio/visual tutorial will be available online and sent ahead of the tour for the choirs and individuals to practice before we arrive. Silvia will release a new tutorial online every 3 months following the tour for the next year. The choirs will then film themselves performing each of the Bulgarian vocal songs, which will be edited into a film clip, showing all of the choirs from the vast array of communities we worked with. Each choir will also end up with 3 new Bulgarian vocal songs as part of their ongoing repertoire.
-Dance masterclasses and workshops are available with Shaun Parker and the dancers - Shaun's Movement & Meaning Workshop is accessible to dancers and well as actors, circus and physical theatre performers in the region.
Comments/Reviews
The Sydney Morning Herald
Media Review
"...explores transitory lives and the weird and wonderful moments when paths cross, blur and repel.... when the dancers hurl themselves against the floor or arch their bodies as though lifted by meat hooks, the fluorescent-lit spectacle is dangerous and daring... stylistically refreshing in the way it marries humour, lyricism and urban grit to examine themes of isolation and belonging."
The Australian
Media Review
"The dance style comes from the street and is frequently tough and dangerous. But there is also some exquisitely delicate, liquid use of arms and hands. This Show asserts that life is full of complexities, connections, disjunctions and oppositions and that desolation and great beauty can walk hand in hand."
Real Time
Media Review
"…beautiful and often gesturing toward the profound…Shaun Parker’s This Show is About People is entirely unique and utterly wonderful."
The Sydney Morning Herald
Media Review
"Parker has a deft, original touch in creating theatre. Along with his love of dance and music, it turns his ideas into something audiences can laugh at, sympathise with, and generally have a good time while they are watching – then leave something for the mental doggie bag to take away and think about afterwards…this is a terrific show about people."