Music and dance enriches Seaweed Arboretum exhibition

Manly Art Gallery & Museum’s Seaweed Arboretum exhibition is in full swing, catching the attention of locals  and the media.

This weekend, the exhibition will be activated with music and dance performances, connecting audiences through sound and movement with the mystery and beauty of the fragile underwater world hiding off our coasts.

Local youngster James Brew, just 14 years old, has composed a piece, ‘Forest Flowing’ especially for the exhibition, and will perform it at 11am and 1pm on Saturday 24 April.

James at such a young age has a very impressive musical CV. Last year, he was announced as the overall winner of the Commonwealth Composition Challenge, and is a finalist in the International Composition Award, the only student from Australia to make the finals of both of these international composition.

He began composing at age 8 and won his first Australian national composition competition at 10 years of age. Just one year later, at age 11, he was on stage at the Sydney Opera House’s concert hall, conducting another one of his compositions Starlight for strings, piano, recorders and tuned percussion.

And if all these achievements were not enough, he was also, in 2019, the first competition student ever admitted into the prestigious Rising Stars program at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music.

From music to dance, on Sunday, internationally renowned dancer and choreographer Kate Dunn will perform Habitat, a dance performance, she choreographed especially for the exhibition. Accompanied by immersive lighting, her performance is sure to enhance the feeling of mystery and wonder audiences experience while exploring the exhibition.

Kate has performed as a principal artist with the Sydney Dance Company in several productions such as Piano Sonata and Beauty and the Beast and has also danced with the highly-commended Bangarra Dance Theatre.

At 16, she won a scholarship to study at England’s Royal Ballet School and is currently creating a dance television series and dance documentary series for the US.

‘FOREST FLOWING’, music performance by local young composer, James Brew

Date: Sat 24 Apr, 11 – 11.20am and  1 – 1.20pm

‘HABITAT’, DANCE PERFORMANCE, dance performance by internationally renowned dancer & choreographer Kate Dunn

Date: Sun 25 April, 1 – 1.15pm and 3.00 – 3.15pm

Habitat is an interactive dance performance exploring the subtle, exquisite beauty and vitalness of our vulnerable macroalgae. A free dive into the macroscopic and multicellular vegetation of our ocean’s gardens.