Special event: dance & travel tales
William Yeoman previews an unusual travel-inspired project at Government House.
Regular readers ofThe West ’s Travel pages are used to Stephen Scourfield and his intrepid team of writers exploring the furthest reaches of the earth and living to tell the tales.
But Scourfield’s latest project may be his most unusual yet, as he and dancer Floeur Alder brave the rarefied atmosphere of Music on the Terrace’s Tenth Anniversary Season at the Government House Ballroom for Beautiful Witness, an evocative fusion of words, music and dance based on Scourfield’s travel biography of the same title.
The award-winning author and travel writer first worked with Adler last year on the dance project Articulating Landscapes, part of which was inspired by Scourfield’s writings.
“Floeur choreographed some pieces and danced in others,” he says. “Since then we have been working on this new, travel-based piece called Beautiful Witness.”
Scourfield and Alder will perform with a live-music ensemble at the Government House Ballroom on Sunday, July 26 as part of a series which commences on Sunday April 12 and which includes recitals by acclaimed pianist Piers Lane, German mezzo soprano Stefanie Iranyi and jazz diva Ali Bodycoat, as well as concerts by the UWA Symphony Orchestra and Fremantle Symphony Orchestra.
Scourfield, whose work includes novels Other Country and As the Rivers Run and the set of three novellas, Unaccountable Hours, says Beautiful Witness is the story of a traveller — and specific places and moments — through words and dance.
“It is loosely based on the themes of my travel biography of the same name,” he says, “but this is a new piece, all about considering the world we love moving through. For me, making the Beautiful Witness performance has been a most extraordinary project.”
FACT FILE
For full details, see ghf.org.au.'''''' For individual concert tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.au. An individual ticket for Beautiful Witness is $35. For Music on the Terrace 2015 season tickets, phone the Government House Foundation on 9325 2963 or email foundation@ghf.org.au. A season ticket for all six Sunday afternoon concerts is $180.
