OzAsia Festival lights up tonight with lanterns, performances and more
The Adelaide Festival Centre and riverbank precincts will come alive with stunning performances, giant lanterns and much more for tonight’s official opening of OzAsia Festival 2021.
With more than 50 events across 18 days, the festival has a range of experiences to offer audiences of all ages – everything from dance, theatre, music and comedy through to community events, visual art, literature and film.
Contemporary Asian Australian Artists
Tonight’s performances by leading contemporary Asian Australian artists include the Australian premiere of acclaimed pianist Belle Chen’s latest work, Destinations, at Her Majesty’s Theatre for one night only.
Chen’s compositions retain the beauty of classical piano while simultaneously traversing avant-garde and electronica to embody the world’s changing natural wonders. Destinations will see her arrangements brought to life in vivid colour with help from immersive visual projections.
The world premiere of Somewhere, Everywhere, Nowhere will see choreographer/dancer Alison Currie and award-winning Japanese soloist Yui Kawaguchi take to the Space Theatre stage for their first-ever collaboration together. Currie and Kawaguchi’s intricate choreography will drift in and out of sync to expose the significant, simple and absurd – all while interacting with an electrifying light installation by Fabian Bleisch.
After a successful opening last night, White Pearl will continue with performances in the Dunstan Playhouse until Saturday. Presented by Sydney Theatre Company and Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta and written by promising young playwright Anchuli Felicia King, White Pearl is a blisteringly funny satire about a skincare company whose new TV commercial goes viral for all the wrong reasons.
OzAsian Festival Opening week
OzAsia Festival’s opening week also features the first round of performances for Open Homes, which invites audiences into the homes of local storytellers across Adelaide from October 22 to November 7.
Free entertainment on offer includes the inaugural Moon Lantern Trail from tonight until Sunday. The interactive trail will begin at Adelaide Festival Centre, with attendees walking past an impressive 40m Hong Kong dragon lantern along the Adelaide Oval footbridge before reaching the main attractions over at Pinky Flat in the riverbank precinct. More than 20 giant lanterns from previous OzAsia Festivals will be on display, along with two new additions – an Adelaide rosella lantern sponsored by Green Adelaide and a moon which will appear to be rising out of the water as it floats on the River Torrens/Karrawirra Pari.
In a new interpretation of the much-loved Moon Lantern Parade, the Moon Lantern Trail offers four days of celebrations including roving performances and live music. While the event is free to attend, online registrations via the OzAsia Festival website are being encouraged to guarantee admission for the desired day and time.
Food Vendors and Free Live Music
Throughout the festival, foodies favourite Lucky Dumpling Market will offer a feast for the senses with food vendors and free live music at Elder Park, while art exhibitions on display at Adelaide Festival Centre and other CBD venues include On View: In Translation – a series of cinematic portraits by celebrated choreographer Sue Healey in the new Ian and Pamela Wall Gallery at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
OzAsia Festival 2021 runs from October 21 to November 7.
The full OzAsia Festival program can be viewed online:
