20 Things To Do At DreamBIG Children’s Festival 2019

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April 3, 2019

Welcome to DreamBIG Children’s Festival 2019!

DreamBIG Children’s Festival is South Australia’s iconic biennial arts festival for schools and families that places its audience at the centre of fresh, inventive, imaginative and inspiring arts experiences.

More than 2 million South Australian children have participated in the festival since its inception in 1974 (as Come Out Festival), and it remains an intrinsic part of growing up in South Australia.

There’s so much fun to be had over the 11 day festival and we are here to keep you up to date with everything that’s going on!

For the Doggie Lovers

Premiering in South Australia, New Owner blends puppetry, live action and animation, for ages 8+.
A must see for animal lovers, it’s also a lesson in love, loss and relationships. One of the Lead Creatives, Arielle Gray from The Last Great Hunt, explains…

What inspired you to create this beautiful performance?
We have another show called ‘It’s Dark Outside’ about an old man losing his memories and we have one scene in that show that stars a little dog puppet. That dog steals people’s hearts (and it’s only in one scene), so we thought why not make a whole show about the dog? We started thinking about pets and how when you adopt them you have no idea about their past, their experiences, the things that have shaped them into the adult dog that they become. So that’s where we started
– a show about a dog, from a dog’s perspective with all the adventures and relationships that go along with that.

You’ve combined different artistic methods to bring New Owner to life. What can we expect?
The show is a mixture of projected animation, puppetry and live performance. The animation is really fun because it means that our hero can go anywhere and do anything (including slow motion flying past giant hotdogs) but at its heart it’s
a story about a dog, an owner and other friends and foes encountered along the way.

What does New Owner help to teach young people?
I think the show at its heart is about relationships and how they shape you. It is about dealing with love, loss and loneliness, about making new friends and growing up.

The Last Great Hunt also brought us the international hit The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer. What is it about The Last Great Hunt shows that resonate?
I believe it is good stories, told in playful, creative ways that surprise people and have a whole lot of heart. Well that is what I hope anyway.

Sat 25 & Sun 26 May
11am & 2pm
Space Theatre – Adelaide Festival Centre
Tickets
Adult: $25 Child: $20
Suitable for 8+
60 Minutes

BIG FAMILY WEEKEND

Nature Craft – Sensory Play – Cubby Building, Junk Parts and Mud Play – DreamBIG Forest – Make Your Own Dukkah – Slacklining – Stories Under the Stars – Being, in space – Pop Up Science Calligraphy Writing and Paper Cutting – Drag Queen Storytime – Basket Weaving – BIG Family Sing Guru Dudu’s Silent Disco Walking Tour – Protest Lab – Dream Big in a Big House – Government House Open Day Neo Teen Art Tours – The Little Barista Program – Family Mediation – Family Yoga – Outdoor Stages and more!

DreamBIG By The Seashore

A new show is proving you are never too little to DreamBIG! Seashore by Sally Chance Dance and Insite Arts will premiere in Adelaide in May. Sally Chance explains what it’s all about.

Tell us about your new show, Seashore?
Seashore is an interactive dance performance where families will join in to become the co-creators, with dancers Stephen Noonan and Felecia Hick, musician/composer Heather Frahn and I. The beach is something most of us have experienced or can picture as a place of play and freedom. It’s a friendly imaginative place to start a creative journey with young children. We’re focusing on the shore, which would have to be nature’s best playground for children, as they run in and out of the water.

What inspired you to create this show?
My company has created four performance works for very young audiences, but I’ve always wanted to invite children aged three and younger, with their adults, into the heart of the creative action. Children this age are amazing audiences and want to participate. Depending on the feeling of the performance they’re watching, and on their own disposition, they may gaze with intense focus at the action or come right in and take part in it.
Seashore is aimed at children 3 years and under.

How important is it for babies and toddlers to experience live music and dance?
Yes the audience for Seashore will be very young! Theatre for early years is a branch of the performing arts that shows how young children have a cultural life which can be expressed through the immediacy of live performance. One of my favourite thinkers on young children, psychologist Daniel Stern, talks about the relationship between child and parent/carer as “the rich choreography of the world here and now between us,” so in a way life is a dance that starts at birth. Seashore aims to celebrate this.

You’ve said children are the creators of the show. What are you anticipating from each performance?
Seashore is well on its way to being a very special show, it’s being carefully prepared to invite its audiences into a beautiful and intriguing world. We’re excited about how each performance might vary depending on the responses of all the children present. It’s no accident that we’ve chosen Slingsby’s Hall of Possibility as our performance venue, which also happens to sit behind East Borough Eatery, I’m anticipating that Seashore has every element required for a wonderful, theatrical DreamBIG family outing.

Fri 24, Sat 25, Fri 31 May
Sat 1 June
10.30am

Slingsby’s Hall of Possibility
96 Glen Osmond Road Parkside

Tickets
1 child & 1 adult: $20 1 child & 2 adults: $25
Suitable for years 3 & under