Savoury meat-jelly

from Gippsland Times Tuesday 19 July 2022

Church recess

www.gippslandtimes.com.au

Scimm are on st age in Sale

Stefan Bradley

HAVE you ever wrote, rehearsed and booked an entire dance tour, only for the show to never be performed? Scimm Dance Company return to the stage with their brand new show, Paracosm, which will be performed at The Wedge in Sale this Sunday. After Scimm’s previous show, Fractures was cancelled due to COVID, it was decided to start anew for their next performance.

Paracosm is a double bill featuring choreography by Company Directors Scott Pokorny and Tim Barnes, alongside new work, Altered Trajectory, by guest choreographer Sarah Boulter. The show also features lighting design by Nick Glen and visual art by artist Jonty Knight, in addition to launching a brand new soundtrack composed by music artist Tiarn Courtice.

Paracosm presents the phenomenon where a detailed imaginary world is created within one’s mind. These worlds possess their own geography, history, and language to escape from reality. This show explores the concepts of escapism and fantasy creation expressed through contemporary dance, sound, lighting and visual art. At the intersection of dance and imagination, Paracosm serves you an artistic feast fit for the senses. Company Directors, Scott Pokorny and Tim Barnes say, “remember those detailed imaginary worlds we created as children? They possess their own geography, history and language that we use to escape from reality.” “Our aim has been to create a show that demonstrates how this phenomenon is created within one’s mind. We want to serve you an artistic feast fit for the senses,” they said. Mr Barnes grew up in Sale and Rosedale before moving to Melbourne at age 15 to pursue dancing at the Australian Ballet School. Mr Pokorny grew up in Sydney and also moved to Melbourne at age 15 to take up dancing at the very same venue. The last time Mr Pokorny and Mr Barnes spoke to the Gippsland Times in January, Australia was in the middle of the first Omicron wave and the pair were unsure if Fragments would go ahead in Sale. In the end, Mr Pokorny and Mr Barnes cancelled all their Fragments shows, but kept their Regional Workshop at the Leads And Bounds Dance School in Sale. “(The workshop) was very successful and a great way to still be active in the community, even though our show was cancelled,” Mr Pokorny said. Mr Barnes said it was incredibly saddening to not be able to to perform Fragments. “The show will now sit on the shelf, however there were some moments that made it into Paracosm,” he said. They also expanded on some choreography in Fragments to use for Paracosm. Mr Pokorny said it felt very strange to sit on a show that has never been performed. “The emotional connection to that show is still very strong and there was so much great content in that show,” he said. “There are a few reasons that we decided to produce something new for this upcoming tour. We have a completely different cast that is larger and more diverse. We wanted to make sure that each dancer would be suited to the choreography and vision we have.” Mr Barnes said that after the pandemic, they wanted to push themselves to create something completely different and elevated from their previous works. “It is never as rewarding to try and recreate a show from a previous time unless the ingredients are right,” Mr Barnes said. Mr Pokorny said that Paracosm was an “experience”, not just a dance show. “The combination of dance, music, lighting and art is all on display here. All of these elements are blended together to create a hypnotic and diverse sensory experience that will take the audience to another world,” he said. After more than two years of delays and cancellations, Mr Barnes said it was an incredible relief for them and their dancers to have a show they know will go ahead. “This year we have 16 dancers with the company. We had most of the remaining cast return from last year, with the addition of nine new dancers that we scouted at our auditions earlier in the year,” he said. Mr Pokorny said the dancers were really hungry to get back to the stage and perform. “There is a mix of excited smiles and nervous jitters. Some of these performers haven’t been on stage in over three years,” Mr Pokorny said. “The Wedge is a great venue. It has a warm and friendly atmosphere and is a great size for our company. They are really easy to deal with as well.”

Paracosm is being performed at The Wedge on Sunday, July 24th starting at 7.00pm. For more information, go to www. scimmdance.com.au