Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal, Paula van Beek and Ria Soemardjo have just begun the final stage of the creative development of Opal Vapour, through Kultour's Mobile K at Salamanca Arts Centre in Hobart.

Opal Vapour brings incredibly talented choreographer/dancer Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal, theatre/image maker Paula van Beek and composer/musician Ria Soemardjo together to create an interdisciplinary dance performance and installation that addresses the loss of ritual in contemporary culture.

The local Port Macquarie arts community made up of dancers, visual artists, musicians and designers have already participated in an interdisciplinary performance workshop with the artists and at the residency’s end will attend an informal showing of the work were they will have the opportunity to further engage with the artists and the work and provide feedback. The artists then move on to Salamanca Arts Centre in Hobart in November this year.The first iteration of the work was commissioned by the Arts Centre, Melbourne and Multicultural Arts Victoria in 2010, and further developed into a residency project by Kultour. Stay tuned for updates on the project as it moves across the country.

Images courtesy of the artists

Jade speaks about their time in Port Macquarie:

The Opal Vapour artists have been enjoying the beauty, splendor and dangerous power of nature on the north east coast of New South Wales. Sunrises over the Pacific Ocean, long walks through mangrove forests, close encounters with humpback whales and dramatic electrical storms have invigorated our creative practice.  We have created a small coastal ecosystem in the Ross Family studio at Glasshouse Port Macquarie and invited local artists to share our explorations of how we can connect with ancestry and place.  The generous support and resources from Glasshouse has made this a wonderful working environment. We had a really great audience response from our showing on Sunday.  The sharing has stimulated our discussions about qualities of ceremony and ritual in contemporary performance.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.