Air Time the Production
Skating and dancing aren’t exactly two activities you’d place together as artforms. Well, skating isn’t the most likely activity you would consider an artform, probably. Naturally, we associate skating with the street, with car parks and skateparks, with teenage boys and the X games. It’s competitive and a legitimate profession, yes, but an artform, maybe not. Right? Wrong.
When Lee Wilson, choreographer and performance director (among other things), and Mirabelle Wouters, industrial set designer (among many other things), began working together back in 1998, they knew that they as a team wanted to push the boundaries of performance theatre and arts. In the 25 years that have followed they have pushed, progressed, evolved and experimented in the most creative ways conceivable. Now, they are presenting to us a work unique and dynamic that comes in the form of Air Time, a production of their world renowned company Branch Nebula.
Air Time brings the street style of skating, BMXing, parkour and the likes to the stage of the theatre. It combines these street sports with dancing and choreography, an electronic soundtrack, and lighting not found on the street. It asks us to consider: what makes these ‘street sports’ and ‘performance arts’, what defines them, where are their limits and possibilities?
We see speed and height unseen in the theatre before, we see movement and technique interacting with their surrounds in ways uncommon to dance and choreography, we see artists collaborating and challenging each other in ways they otherwise wouldn’t.
Alex Hiam, professional BMXer and winner of 2018 X Games Best Trick Event, has found that not only has his BMX riding developed in new ways, but his skills off of the bike, like dancing and parkour, have developed too. He says these new skills are ‘adding a new flavour’ to [his] riding’ that he never expected. He also is inspired by those others he is performing with and the way they too are ‘branching out’. He enjoys the nature of this show being a space for ‘like-minded souls’ to come together and ‘bring their best performance to life.’
Tia Pitman, 24 year old proud Larakia woman and roller skater, enjoys that the show provides her with an opportunity for this kind of creativity too. She tells us that her sport generally does have lots of room for creativity, being a relatively young one with many skills yet to be discovered. However, the theatre adds a further layer to this which is ‘extremely exciting.’ It’s especially exciting in that it brings roller skating forward to an audience, being a sport not many have interacted with yet.
The show demands a rigorous rehearsal schedule, so much so that Tia finds that going to the skatepark after training is a challenge. When she has been though, she’s been ‘in disbelief’ of her progression. Skating the 11ft vert ramp of Sydney Park she felt confident doing skills she’d only ever done on a mini-ramp. She says her skills are smoother, she’s comfortable trying things she wouldn’t have before, and overall her abilities have expanded untold.
For Alex this rehearsal schedule is unique to his normal practice in that he is no longer riding solely or working towards only a few minutes of material. For Air Time, he may spend 45 minutes on one section, he is working around various other performers, and he’s factoring in other elements like lighting and sound. He describes it as ‘a big strategy in a huge project.’ Which it is. The scale of the production is major. It is dynamic, experimental and intense. It’s one audience members will be sitting on the edge of their seats during, without a doubt, as they watch the artists jaunt around each other with great precision, and also, danger.
For Feras Shaheen, a young but decorated Palestinian-Australian choreographer and dancer, he hopes the audience take the show as an opportunity to view art in a different way. He hopes we realise ‘that art is all around us and that it could be found in skate parks and football fields, tennis courts, anywhere.’ Shaheen himself particularly likes a scene called ‘Wheels of Death’ which he surprisingly describes as ‘quite a smooth section.’ He enjoys watching ‘the people on wheels…they way they flow together…connect and disconnect.’
With the help of Merrigong Theatre Company, Air Time will be premiering at Wollongong Town Hall this coming April 20th. Town Hall will look a little different though, with a skate ramp having been installed and with performers quite literally airborne. Alex, Tia, Ferras and a number of other artists will be performing there, but for three days only. Whether you’re a skater, surfer, singer or civilian, we reckon this show is one you’re going to love. It’s an opportunity to see art and sport in forms you never have before, and we hope you take it as an opportunity to support and expand theatre as we know it.
For more information on Air Time and previous works of Branch Nebula see here (https://branchnebula.com) , and for tickets, see here (https://merrigong.com.au/shows/air-time/)
Photos by Tristan Still