A few months ago I posted about the giant aerial puppet, Phoebe Sparkles, made by David Jones and friends for the show Highly Strung, which was performed from silos at the Nati Frinj (Natimuk Fringe Festival). Dave has followed up with this great video of sequences edited together from rehearsals and the performance. The animations really add another dimension, and as he comments, it’s amazing to see the puppeteers in action.
silos
Phoebe Sparkles, a giant aerial puppet at Natimuk
This is the fabulous Phoebe Sparkles, a giant aerial puppet made for the show Highly Strung, which was performed from the silos at Natimuk over the weekend at the Nati Frinj (Natimuk Fringe Festival). I’ve been enjoying Dave Jones‘s blogging of the build over the last couple of months, so it’s great to see the puppet come to life. The daytime rehearsal photos give better perspective on her size and the task of puppeteering her. Phoebe was named by the kids at the local school, and the plan was to project talking animations drawn by the kids onto her face. I wonder if that was possible in the very windy conditions on the night.
The silos have been used for aerial dance and puppetry before.
Dave also makes lovely puppets from wire and other rusty farm-type bits and pieces of metal. These and the amazing bird below are characters in a long term work-in-progress stop motion film of his, The Rhyme of the Ancient Merino.
The Birds (Rhyme of the Ancient Merino Work in Progress) from dave jones on Vimeo.
Puppetry and dancing at altitude
(photo credit: David Fletcher)
Radio National’s Bush Telegraph has audio of their April 23rd interview with Jillian Pearce (fast forward to the 36 minute mark). Jillian is a performance artist living in Natimuk, the small town at the foot of rock-climbing mecca, Mt Arapiles, in rural Victoria. Jillian and her performing arts company, Y Space, have for some years been doing exciting work with rock-climbers, dancers, animation and puppetry in ‘unusual and high places’, such as the Natimuk wheat silos, exploring images, stories and relationships with the space and land. Check out their past and present projects, and some of their video.
