Valley & Wildebeest

Riverside Theatre and FORM Dance Projects will be showcasing Valley, a new and exciting work by Israeli choreographer Omer Backley-Astrachan.

Valley explores solitude, vulnerability and sensuality while a small society of four co-exist on a frozen and isolated island in the Arctic.

“In the show we are presenting two different works, one is called Valley and this is a work we have premiered at the Summer Dance Festival in Tel Aviv last year,” Backley-Astrachan said. “We have another new work called Wildebeest and it will see its first light of day in Riverside Theatres and consists of five professional dancers who live and work in Sydney.”

Backley-Astrachan wants audiences to experience the performance and walk away with their own individual understanding and enjoyment.

“I don’t think I want the audience to feel something specific, its more about allowing the audience to feel the work, that the dancers are allowing the work to be transparent so the audience can take what they are seeing and experience their own experiences.”

Both performances stem from their own unique idea, yet they both share a few similarities.

“In Valley, we looked at an environment which was sensitive and vulnerable and how that can be replicated within us as some sort of metaphorical environment. The other work is completely different, it speaks about feminism. In a way, both works are different branches from the same tree because both of them are searching for social truths or exposing some sort of conventions,” Backley-Astrachan concluded.

Until Feb 17. Riverside Theatres, Corner of Church and Market Streets, Parramatta. $28-$35+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.riversideparramatta.com.au

By Jade Morellini