After almost a year of rehearsals the next generation of dancers in the Bega Valley are putting the final touches onto a new show before taking it to the stage.
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Fling Physical Theatre’s co-artistic director Gabrielle Rose said Monkey See Monkey Do was based around conformity. Set in the future, it asks the question what it is like when you are the odd one out and what to do when you want to fit in.
“It’s essentially trying to have a little bit of a look at what behaviours are our future generations learning from adults, and what are they picking up without learning?” she said.
The 20 performers of the piece come from Fling’s younger two companies: YFling which is ages seven to 10 and Flux Creators which is ages 11-14.
Ms Rose said some of the themes the performers dealt with included bullying, such as if they see a popular kid being mean to another kid, do they have to be mean as well to fit in?
“They’re all very sweet, I’m asking them to be quite mean in this show and they struggle!” she said.
“They don’t like being the bully, but it’s an important theme to put on the stage so their peers will think ‘oh, what do I do in that situation?’”
During the creation process the performers were asked what were habits that could go bad and they said technology was a big thing, such as an obsession with phones. This was adapted for the piece, so in the future everyone is using their phone.
Ms Rose hoped the performance would encourage audiences to think about what they did with their children, that parents would have conversations with their kids around fitting in and their use of technology.
“The ultimate question is what habits will you follow and what habits are you going to question?” she said.
“What stuff are you going to question because everyone else is doing it?
“What are you going to follow, who are you going to follow, can you just be your own person, can you be a leader with your own ideas?”
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Monkey See Monkey Do is on Saturday and Sunday, November 3-4, from 4pm and on Monday, November 5 at 10am. It will be at the Bega Indoor Stadium on Carp St, Bega. Tickets are adult $15, child $10, family $45.
Albert McKnight
Journalist at Bega District News.
Journalist at Bega District News.
