SICK is a landmark dance collaboration between Australia’s foremost provocateur of contemporary dance and choreography, Phillip Adams, and award winning contemporary dancer and performer, Ryan New. Join them for this one-of-a-kind cross-generational dance performance.
SICK provides complicated critiques pervading notions and expectations of artists with disability, in an attempt to reframe the debate. Beyond a definition of physical and mental illness, ‘sick’ contains both negative and positive associations. For Ryan, a person with autism, ‘sick’ implies an impulse to act out of the ordinary with his body and thoughts; to arrange things the way he feels and sees them. Phillip and Ryan turn the negative on its head, taking inspiration in the slang connotations of the word ‘sick’ as ‘cool’ or ‘fabulous’.
Phillip and Ryan work together to meld their disparate quirks, foibles, histories and limitations into a piece filled with dark humour, radical sentiment, sharp social commentary and ever-present dysfunction. SICK speaks about the beauty and awkwardness of moving and failing, as Phillip and Ryan put their mismatched bodies on the line to create this uniquely framed, personally exposing quest for shared grace.
Choreographic quirk is accentuated by the glam-shock meets rhinestone-biker-trash aesthetics of visual artist Jake Preval’s design; a psychedelic gnome garden further sets the scene of Ryan’s indefatigable and visionary imagination.
SICK’s debut at Midsumma Festival at Temperance Hall will move audiences through an entertaining and immersive shared visceral experience, purposely designed to shift perceptions around the capabilities of artists – and everyone – with disability.
“I have lived with autism since birth and that has helped me to understand what is real and what isn’t. I want to tell my story in my way, to simplify everything and be livelier with emotions and expressions.”
– Ryan New
“Working with Ryan has been a profound quest of intimacy. We are united by a love a dance that gives birth to a new voice, one that can enliven and reframe the debate about perceptions of body, mind, form and so-called disability.”
– Phillip Adams
EVENT DETAILS
Wed 9 Feb, 7:30pm
Thu 10 Feb, 7:30pm (relaxed performance)
Fri 11 Feb, 7:30pm (Auslan interpreted) post show artist Q&A
Sat 12 Feb, 7:30pm (Please note the audio described and tactile tour at 6:45pm is SOLD OUT)
LOCATION
Temperance Hall
199 Napier Street, South Melbourne
DURATION
60 mins
ACCESSIBILITY
Wheelchair accessible
Auslan intrepreted by Auslan Stage Left
Audio described event on Saturday (SOLD OUT)
Relaxed event 
TICKETS
Full $30
Conc. $25
Please book on the link below or call Midsumma Box Office (03) 9296 6600
Find out more about how Temperance Hall is staying COVIDSafe HERE.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
RYAN NEW is a performer, contemporary dancer, tai chi practitioner and landscape innovator who has been performing with Rawcus since 2008. Find out more about Ryan's work HERE.
PHILLIP ADAMS is one of Australia’s most innovative and challenging choreographers known for his avant-garde and exquisitely staged performances, with a career in dance and performance spanning over 25 years. Find out more about Phillip's work HERE.
JAKE PREVAL is a visual artist living and working in Narrm/Melbourne whose practice spans sculpture, photography, installation and performance. Find out more about Jake's work HERE.
Image credits:
Photo taken at development showing of SICK at Temperance Hall, photo by Jeff Busby.
Temperance Hall's Midumma Festival program has been generously supported by our wonderful patrons and The City of Port Philip, Arts Access Victoria, Besen Family Foundation, Creative Victoria, Working Heritage and The Australian Government RISE Fund.
Temperance Hall acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land in which we dance and create, the Bunurong Boon Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation, and pay our respect to Elders both past and present and, through them, to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.