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    • A Daylight Connection

    A motley crew of visionary theatre-makers

     

     

    A Daylight Connection is Kamarra Bell-Wykes, Carly Sheppard and small sound with a dazzling line-up of special guest artists, creating work for Mob, for young audiences, and for outsiders like themselves who aren’t regular theatre-goers. Based in Naarm (Melbourne), this independent theatre company offers an explosive union of equally weird and talented artists encompassing almost all creative and design roles including, dramaturgy, devising, directing, choreography, performance, set and sound design. Bound by the elusive dream of not only being independent but truly self-determined artists, the collective was formed from a shared love of high-quality, boundary-pushing performance.

    Previous works include Chase, A Nightime Travesty and Whose Gonna Love ‘Em? I am that i AM.

     

    Reviews for A Daylight Connection:

    “Epic, transformative.”

    “Rattling the doors of Australia so hard they fall off!”

    “Literally the best piece of theatre of I’ve ever seen.”

    “The next step in Blak Theatre.”


    Kamarra Bell-Wykes     (Jagera/Butchulla) is a playwright, director, dramaturge, devisor, facilitator, performer, producer, curator, community developer and education consultant. Her transformative practice is highly sought after, delivering innovative research, resources and acclaimed performances.

    In 2012 Kamarra graduated from Charles Darwin University and Batchelor Institute for Indigenous Education with a Bachelor of Teaching and Learning and was awarded an honor in recognising and responding to diversity in the classroom before working as a teacher and youth worker across the Northern Territory. She then returned to Melbourne in 2014 to build ILBIJERRI’s education and learning program from the ground up.

    Kamarra’s transformative First Nation’s practice is highly sought after across the performing arts, community, health, education and justice sectors.  Since 2017, Kamarra has been exploring the intersection between First Nations cultural and theatre processes, working closely with applied theatre experts Sarah Woodland and Free Theatre. In 2021, Kamarra is designed ILBIJERRI’s premier social impact model and ensemble to deliver community forums, workshops, performances and training across Australia.

    Kamarra’s writing and directing credits include A Nightime Travesty (Yirramboi), Because the Night, (Malthouse Theatre), Chase (Malthouse Theatre and HotHouse Theatre), The Score, Scar Trees, Viral, North West of Nowhere, Body Armour, Chopped Liver, Shrunken Iris (ILBIJERRI), Crying Shame (Next Wave) and Mother’s Tongue (Yirra Yaakin).

    In 2021, Kamara received the Patrick White Playwrights Award (Sydney Theatre Company) for her work Whose Gonna Love ‘Em? I am that i AM (Footscray Community Arts and ILBIJERRI).


    Carly Sheppard     (Takalaka) is a cross-disciplinary performance artist based in Naarm (Melbourne), working across dance and theatre making and performance, sculpture, drawing, writing, voice, and installation. Her practice navigates complex narratives of  intersecting race, class, mythologies and identities we inherit and how meaning is created and processed through prisms of colonial interruption. Carly’s work reflects her fascination with the chaos of conflicting cultural paradigms.

    Carly’s career and practice have been platformed and nurtured through invaluable artist initiatives run by BlakDance, British Council, Australia Council for the Arts, ILBIJERRI and more. Carly’s formal training includes Careers In Dance at NAISDA Dance College and a Bachelor of Dance at Victorian College of the Arts. Carly’s recent performance credits include Chase (A Daylight Connection), A Nightime Travesty (A Daylight Connection), Set Piece (Anna Breckon and Nat Randall), Considerable Sexual License (Joel Bray Dance), Anthem (Performing Lines and Arts Centre Melbourne) and Love (Dee and Cornelius).


    small sound     (Andrew James – Quandamooka) is a multi-form, multi-instrumentalist composer who has collaborated, created and performed original sound designs for dance, film and theatre. Both his sound and set designs are obliquely informed by Terry Pratchetts approach to the magic in scientific creation. He is interested in site specific live scores that interpret and respondto performance as it is created within the interface of geometry, space and the sculptural possibility in his set design. small sound has worked with Farmwalker Films, Blackbox Media, Human Sacrifice and ILBIJERRI.

    Projects

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    A Daylight Connection
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