DANCENORTH Tectonic 6.

Dancenorth joins forces with the Urab Dancers from Poruma Island for the creation of this bold new collaboration uniting sculpture, movement and sound in a dazzling site-specific performance.

Tectonic is a collective journey, a shared responsibility, toward creating a sustainable future. Together we unravel the oftenimperceptible shifts that surround us day-byday, drawing attention to the accumulative effect of these changes and their potential to disrupt a viable future.

Elemental forces, once predictably linear, are becoming increasingly erratic and volatile... Tectonic resides within these changes.

How do we realign ourselves with the balance of nature in order to leave the earth in a better place than when we found it?

How do we define the framework from which we curate our expectations of the world - and the world’s increasingly urgent expectations of us?

With the Coral Sea and Magnetic Island as the backdrop, and featuring 180 fit balls buried in the sand; Tectonic is unlike any performance you have seen before. Micro-trampolines ignite the performance and the dancers as they run, bounce, flip, soar and ricochet across the stage. The fit balls remain buried for the duration of the festival, providing a large-scale interactive installation for the public. Performances will be held each evening throughout Strand Ephemera, on the sand next to the Strand Rock Pool.

Workshops will also be held during the day within the Tectonic performance space, offering the community opportunities to engage with the artwork.

A further salient feature of Tectonic is our desire to contribute to the preservation of Porumalgal (Poruma Islander) culture, history and heritage. Measuring 1.4km long and 400m wide, Poruma Island is home to 180 residents and is about as close to paradise as you can get. As global sea levels begin to rise, Poruma Island is slowly sinking. The Poruma community has nurtured a deep connection with their natural environment for generations, choosing to live in concert with the world around them. In this time of ever increasing environmental flux, this uniquely synergistic relationship is beginning to come under question.

Underpinning the choreography of this work is an exchange of 360 letters between Poruma Island and Townsville residents, encouraging cultural exchange and the sharing of personal stories about the weather, climate change, and community members’ hopes and dreams. Each participant will receive and write a letter, and copies of these letters will be presented at Strand Ephemera as part of a large sitespecific installation. There is a palpable desire for communities in the Torres Strait to share their story with the mainland, and indeed the world. Tectonic provides a fertile platform for the sharing of culture, custom and tradition through story, song and dance.

All performances and workshops will occur on or near the beach next to the Rock Pool on the Strand.