2017 ACT Artist of the Year Liz Lea created this work with the help of her team of collaborators. Photos: Supplied by Ausdance ACT.
A tale told by one woman with a particular take on how time passes for us all and the blood that runs through our body, irrespective of race, colour, creed, politics, and sexuality opened last night at the Gorman Arts Centre.
The 50-minute show created by Liz Lea premiered on International Women’s Day, with Ministers Gai Brodtmann and Gordon Ramsay attending the opening night.
2017 ACT Artist of the Year Liz Lea created the dance performance with the help of her team of collaborators Brian Lucas, Vicki van Hout, Virginia Ferris, Martin del Amo, Nino Tamburri, Alexander Hunter and Karen Norris.
“I am a bit of hermit so I am used to tucking myself away, working on my own, so it is really good to hear the other voices, which there are a lot of. We have been working on it for a long time, so everyone is on the same track, so it is just ensuring just like we are a train track, that all of those segways are open so we stay on the same track.”
“For a long time, I have been wanting to make a new or a full one-woman show. My background lay in touring separate solos as a one evening, but to create something that is one piece has always been something that I wanted to do.”
RED is a tale told by one woman with a particular take on how time passes for us all and the blood that runs through our body. Photo: Supplied.
Running until the 11th of March at the Gorman Arts Centre, Lea is prepared to have little time to relax across the Canberra long weekend.
“It is exhausting, it takes a lot out of me. I am really starting to feel the age. Putting myself back up on stage at my age, knowing I can still do something but not quite sure what, and not wanting the audience walking away thinking ‘she can’t quite cut it anymore’.
As a child, all she ever wanted to be was a dancer and started chasing her dream when she was seven. Lea describes her life as a very long 47-year journey. “It has been rewarding, but it is a tough industry with lots of knockbacks and injuries. There is not always a lot of money in the industry but it is all very thrilling and enlightening, which is why I do it.”
“There have been soul destroying moments when I have times wished there was something else that I wanted to do; like really wanted to do.”
Thankfully for us, Lea pushed through those moments and has created a masterpiece for those staying in Canberra over the long weekend to enjoy.
See the performance that portrays Lea’s dogged mentality and approach to her career, the price she has had to pay, and the ways in which her determination and career have not aligned with her personal health.
The Canberra season of RED will be accompanied by ‘20:20 a retrospective’; a costume exhibition of 20 costumes from 20 years of Liz Lea Dance. It promises to be a unique experience for lovers of theatre and design.
10th March 8 pm & 11th March 5 pm
QL2 Theatre, Gorman Arts Centre
Tickets: Eventbrite
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