Touch and Go.
Camera IconTouch and Go. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Awesome two year olds show Touch and Go

Tanya MacNaughtonEastern Reporter

WHEN community dance practitioner and director Sally Chance was in Perth for the 2014 Awesome International Arts Festival for Bright Young Things with her show Nursery, designed for babies four to 18 months old, ideas for her next show, Touch and Go, were already beginning to form.

Touch and Go is dedicated to the fabulous two-year-old; it’s a bit of a ‘Yay for the two-year-olds’ show,” Chance, based in Adelaide, said.

“The energy of a two-year-old is intense but what we hope is the show meets that energy for the duration. We understand why the phrase ‘terrible twos’ exists but if you think about it, it’s only terrible for the adults because for the two-year-olds it’s about testing the boundaries and figuring out where they stop and the adults in their life start.

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Touch and Go is simply about making a special place for those brave, questioning, energetic, creative two-year-olds.”

Chance, originally from the UK, has created a dancing game of cause and effect featuring two dancers and a live musician which children can either simply watch or are more than welcome to join in.

“The show begins in a way we hope supports children to feel safe and their parents or carers who might be wondering what to expect,” Chance said.

“There are very gentle and simple activities where the entire show is an open space, three performers and masking tape. The masking tape makes patterns, shapes, pathways and stepping stones on the floor, then later we rip the tape up, ball it up and roll it along the ground or build towers. It is a little hard to describe until you’ve seen it.

“It’s not like anything goes and the show is very carefully prepared, but when the children join in there is an extra dimension that makes it incredibly exciting for us and keeps the performers on their toes.”

Touch and Go will be in Rehearsal Room 1 at the State Theatre Centre of WA from September 30 to October 4, performed for ages 24 to 36-month-olds during the 2017 Awesome International Arts Festival for Bright Young Things by Chance’s company Sally Chance Dance.

“It’s handy that my surname rhymes with my art form,” she said.

“I used to hate it and have heard all the jokes, but I quite like it now.”

THE ESSENTIALS

What: Touch and Go

Where: Rehearsal Room 1, State Theatre Centre of WA

When: September 30 to October 4

Tickets: www.awesomearts.com

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