Dance performance and life-size puppetry combine to transport children to a universe of magic and adventure.
WINNER: 2024 Melbourne Fringe Awards Best Kids.
“There’s nothing dank or dreary about this swamp. Melanie Lane’s buoyant family-friendly dance adventure carries audiences from the forest to the ocean to the planets and stars beyond… this is such a gentle production, involving rather than immersive, imaginative and generous.” – Andrew Fuhrmann, The Age.
Dreaming beyond the limits of our bodies, young audiences are transported into an absurd and uncanny universe of magic, adventure, and transformation. Created by leading Australian choreographer Melanie Lane, the journey begins in an immersive swamp-like world, murky and unpredictable – like a bizarre dream. In a collision of sound, colour, texture, and movement, two dancers shape-shift, cast spells, time travel, and defy gravity, transporting young people to a place where they can imagine their own bodies as a site of fantasy.
Dream Swamp was originally commissioned by Melbourne Fringe and received Cash to Create through the Fringe Fund, with thanks to the Pulse Giving Circle.
Family Fiesta, Forest
Part of Family Fiesta 1–4 July. MPAC invites children 0–12 and their families to step into the forest and discover a world of free and affordable events. Explore ancient trees, fungi and the hidden micro-world beneath your feet, and see how everything in the forest is connected. Artists, theatre-makers, musicians and dancers team up with scientists to show you just how wondrous and essential these ecosystems are.
Credits/Bio
Melanie Lane: Concept, Choreography, and Set Design.
Melanie is one of Australia’s leading choreographic voices. Her major work Arkadia (2024) was nominated for five Green Room Awards, winning Outstanding Ensemble (Dance). In 2017 she won the Leipziger Bewegungskunstpreis (Germany), the 2018 Keir Choreographic Award, and the 2022 WA Performing Arts Award for Outstanding Artist.
Melanie Lane is an Australian choreographer and performer of Australian/Javanese heritage. She is a recipient of both the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship and Creative Australia Fellowship for Dance. Melanie was the 2023/24 Choreographer in Residence at Chunky Move, a Resident Artist at The Substation, and Associate Artist at QL2 (Canberra). Her recent commissions for Sydney Dance Company, Australasian Dance Collective, Chunky Move, and West Australian Ballet have received critical acclaim. Collaborating with Director Adena Jacobs, she has choreographed large-scale works for English National Opera (Salome) and Burgtheater Vienna (Nosferatu, Trojan Women).
She continues to work in Europe, in recent years commissioned by Staatstheater Braunschweig, Dance Theatre Heidelberg, National Dance Company Wales, and Nagelhus Schia Productions. As an independent artist, Melanie’s ambitious creations often transcend the world of contemporary dance and have been presented globally at major festivals and theatres in Europe, Australia, and Asia.
