Luke Fryer

QL2 Centre for Youth Dance has been invited to attend the 2014 Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival hosted in Glasgow, Scotland as part of the lead up to theCommonwealth Games. Eight senior members of the Quantum Leap ensemble, including myself, were selected to travel on a 2 week tour to Glasgow from July 1^st up until July 13^th. En route to Glasgow, our tour will initially stopover in Bangkok where we will join forces and explore movement with the dancers from Bangkok Dance Academy whom we have a strong and valuable ongoing connection with. Our next short journey will take us to London, renowned as a cul-de-sac of inspiring world class dance. Finally after arriving to Glasgow it will be straight into a week jam packed with activities and workshops with like minded passionate dancers from all over the globe. 

Creation of a performance piece for this tour began many months ago. Since January of this year, we have been working collaboratively with independent artist and former Quantum Leaper James Batchelor to choreograph an 8 minute piece which will be performed in Glasgow. After daily intensive rehearsal periods through January and into March, an initial base version of the piece titled ‘Cinders’ was formed. 

A version of the piece has already been showcased at the Australian Youth Dance Festival (AYDF) in held in Renmark back in April and received great positive feedback from both young and professional dancers from around Australia. As for the future of Cinders, it is only a month and counting until the piece begins its tour over to the other side of the world. The piece is in a cycle of constant adaption, growth and improvement. Shortly after AYDF wrapped up we had another daily intensive rehearsal period to polish the original 8 minute piece, whilst also shaping a 16 minute version which will be shown in Bangkok and in ‘Boundless’ as a part of the Quantum Leap at the Playhouse season in early August.
                                                                                                   
Cinders conveys the idea of constructs which we use to make sense of our world. The piece goes on a journey from the initial building blocks of these constructs up until a point of structured chaos. Resolution to the chaos comes only when connection between us as individuals is achieved, when we can work as one by maintaining our individual characteristics. That is the essence of a Utopian world.

The choreography and ideas presented in Cinders are a result of our collaborative choreographic and creative process with James Batchelor. The creative process began with discussions about an ideal Utopian world. Through utilising methods of improvisation, we could investigate and take note of a deeper level to this concept and slowly fine tune the details of our movement into a set score. Other phrases of movement within the piece are derived from simple human actions caught on camera at a construction site, whilst some phrases were taught to us directly from James Batchelor. James’ movement quality is beautifully unique with its moments of acceleration contrasted with moments of thick ‘nebulous-like’ flow. In combination with a sporadic counting scheme, I believe the piece builds a great sense of rhythm, drama and unpredictability, keeping the audience entranced with snippets of illusory movement.

The total cost for this tour was quoted at $6100, but your small pledges can go a long way. If I can reach my goal of $500 worth of pledges, Creative Partnerships Australia will match my $500 to a total of $1000 as part of their MATCH: Crowdfunding for the Independent Arts Sector initiative. This $1000 will go directly to help pay for the most cost heavy aspects of the tour like flights and travel costs. 

This means that your $1 pledge = $2, a $5 pledge is equal to $10, and a $50 pledge would amount to $100.
It is an 'all or nothing' approach so if the target is not reached within the two weeks, no money will go towards the tour or matched by the government. 
If the target is reached and exceeded, additional money will go towards paying off the other $5100  for the tour which includes expenses such as
* Registration and participation fees in CYDF
* Domestic transportation 
* Development Workshops
* Food at CYDF 
* Accommodation in Bangkok, London and Glasgow
* Travel Insurance
* Workshops and tourist activities in London and Bangkok
* Paying for chaperones and the beautiful QL2 staff assisting us on the tour 


^ "The Chosen 8" and Artistic Director Ruth Osborne, my second family :)

An obstacle I foresee with this project  mainly revolves around travelling large distances and adapting to new environments. As a performer and a member of an ensemble, I want to be able to present this work to my best ability at all times. Unfortunately, long plane flights, time zones and climate differences can be of mental and physical strain. However, i believe myself and the rest of the ensemble are ready to deal with whatever travel throws at us. All of us are a tight and unified family that are blessed to be supported alongside the QL2 staff and the wider community. Besides, travel is no fun without a bit of adventure.
There is always a positive way to look at things, and I think another challenge we face with this project lies within communication. Dance is a universal language, but even still, every culture is different and every artist has a different interpretation. It is a massive challenge taking this piece into new cultures and I hope that we can be the voice of youth dance Australia, to go beyond the boundaries of culture to showcase the diverse nature of dance. This is a challenge I am willing to accept.