Rigging and projection screens are being installed at the Rosalind Park poppet-head as aerialists train to dangle from its side.
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The ACT Natimuk production – Poppet Bendigo – will take place on October 20 with animation, shadow puppetry, projections and sound designs to accompany the aerial artists.
The area will be closed off to the public from today until after the production takes place.
Performance director Jillian Pearce said upwards of 100 people will take part in the performance along with more volunteers helping behind the scenes.
“We have four Bendigo performers joining our two Natimuk performers for the aerial work,” she said.
“For the performance we have drawn from various community groups such as Camp Hill Primary School and Z Fit Studios who provided about 40 performers.
“We are partnering with the City of Greater Bendigo, the Chinese Museum, Camp Hill Primary School, Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, CreateAbilty and Bendigo Historical Society, and have also had amazing support and interest from other groups.”
Poppet Bendigo was announced as a Regional Centre for Culture project in November last year. It was one of the largest commissions and will see performers recreate for Bendigo stories from the city’s past.
“ACT Natimuk has done this sort of work before on things like coal dredgers and silos,” Ms Pearce said.
“We look at a community’s iconic structure and through visual language – aerial work, animation projection, shadow puppetry and sound design we create and inhabit the structure and re-interpret its meaning by creating a show about the (community’s) connection to the space.
“It's our visual language in the hands of the host community telling their stories on an iconic structure.”
When it came to pitching ACT Natimuk daring concept to the City of Greater Bendigo, Ms Pearce said it was well received
“They were really excited. Our projects usually take two years to come together but when we came to them with the idea, they were nothing but obliging about it,” she said.
“That's a really great thing. They are sharing this vision and enabling it. This sort of work can put up all sorts of concerns and fear but they are seeing the possibilities.”
Ms Pearce said ACT Natimuk also chose Bendigo’s poppet-head because of the community connection to it.
“It is a high and unusual structure, that's where we like to place our work, but it is really iconic in Bendigo for different reasons,” she said.
“There is the historical story to it, the Dja Dja Wurrung people have another story with it, the Chinese community is (connected) to it.
“It's actually a structure with different meanings. We are creating a show to explore those meanings, histories and culture.”
With just six weeks until the October 20 performance, it is all hands on deck for everyone involved in Poppet Bendigo.
Performers will start rehearsing at the poppet-head from October 1.
“There is a lot to cover in a short amount of time but we have a really great team,” Ms Pearce said.
“The next leg of workshops have begun and there will be a lot of making, moving ,filming and on site rehearsal.”
Ms Pearce said there were still possibilities for people to be involved in the performance, particularly people who use the poppet head for exercise.
“We want to turn the poppet into a huge percussion instrument,” she said. “Hopefully we can have a crew of fitness fanatics create a percussion piece as they go up and down the steps of the poppet head.”
Email Jillian Pearce at yspacedirector@gmail.com for more information or to get involved with Poppet Bendigo.
You can also find the group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/poppetbendigo