New Arts Projects through Korea-Australia Connection Initiative

The Korea-Australia Connection Initiative is a partnership between the Australia Council and the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS) to support new collaborative projects involving performing artists and companies from Australia and Korea. It aims to encourage long-term creative exchanges and to build market knowledge, expertise and networks for artists, companies, and producers in both regions.

In its first year, Strange Fruit and Noreum Machi will collaborate on In the Shadow of the Dragon, a new performance work inspired by ritual and ceremony. Noreum Machi is a renowned Korean music and dance ensemble who re-create traditional forms to suit contemporary times. Strange Fruit produce and perform a unique style of work that fuses theatre, dance and circus, using an elevated medium. Through the collaboration, the two companies will explore new techniques and work with music, dance and design to develop an aurally and visually arresting performance experience.

Phillip Gleeson, Creative Director, Strange Fruit, says, “Strange Fruit are incredibly excited to collaborate with Noreum Machi. Their work is contemporary yet deeply grounded in the practice of shamanism. Together, we will push the physical and gestural landscape to create a unique performance outcome.”

Juhong Kim, Artistic Director, Noreum Machi, says, “Noreum Machi is a Korean traditional music ensemble that gives highly theatrical performances. We expect its collaboration with Australian company Strange Fruit, which has emerged as a leader in street performance and physical theatre with its unique ways of expression, to reinvent the theatrical originality of Korean traditional music, produce world-class performances and open new avenues for performance.”

Not Yet It’s Difficult and Wuturi will produce AMPERS&ND, an international collaboration involving music, dance and physical theatre artists. Not Yet It's Difficult is highly regarded for its approach to intercultural theatre practice, physical performance, multimedia theatre and site-specific installation. Wuturi specialise in traditional forms of music-driven theatre and dance. They will work together with Elision, a contemporary music ensemble, who bring their research into instrumental gestures to the project.

David Pledger, Artistic Director, Not Yet It’s Difficult says, “As an artist, collaboration for me is about creating something new, something other than what I would make on my own. An international collaboration amplifies this space as it forces the artist to consider their process in an inter-cultural frame and pretty much challenge every aspect of it. For NYID, Wuturi and Elision, this is the promise of AMPERS&ND.” Claire Sung, Producer, Wuturi , agrees: “I am ready to dive into the sea where all the treasures are hidden and waiting to be found.”