A STUNNING MIX OF PRECISION AND ANARCHY, AIR TIME COLLIDES ONTO THE WOLLONGONG TOWN HALL STAGE

Merrigong Theatre Company and Branch Nebula are excited to present the world premiere of Air Time, a stunning collision between wheels in motion and the elegant flow of dance and parkour, performing at Wollongong Town Hall from 20th to 22nd April.

With skate ramps towering over the audience and performers propelling with extreme speed and height, this adrenaline-pumping new work is a display of air-born mastery with and original electro soundtrack by Phil Downing.

BMXers, skaters, dancers and parkourists collide in this production of organised chaos between various urban artforms to thrill audiences with their anarchic street energy.

Sizzling with danger, the fierce commitment of the performers to reach wild heights while executing stunts with precision will be breath-taking.

Co-creators, Lee Wilson and Mirabelle Wouters said, “We are continually challenging ourselves as performance makers, like the street-style artists we work with who push their bodies, we squeeze everything we can out of our creative minds, to push the boundaries. With Air Time we want to stretch the street-style culture into new territory for the audiences’ minds to be blown, beyond the spectacle, and the risky tricks, but also those elements are the glue, the rhythm of the piece.”

“Since 2004, we have made eight street-style productions all wildly different. Air Time draws on all that experience, and evolves our practice into a whole new area; we have also been mining our experimental theatre work into objects and everyday materials, which is not so out there for street-style artists like bmxers, skaters, parkourists and dancers, who often challenge themselves with found materials to build up new obstacles to run, jump, and soar over.”

Branch Nebula brings the virtuosity of street culture into the theatre, with a complex and spectacular show honouring their history and knowledge of the artforms and subcultures informed by nearly two decades of experimental performance art.

Air Time features a host of performers including pro skateboarder Austin Gray, professional BMX rider Alex Hiam, dancers Cloé Fournier (a guest choreographer/teaching artist with the Illawarra’s AUSTI. Dance and Physical Theatre Company) and for the first time, Branch Nebula is working with a roller skater, Tia Pitman.

Merrigong’s Acting Artistic Director Leland Kean said, “It is amazing to have the opportunity to bring Air Time and the work of renowned performance company Branch Nebula to the Wollongong Town Hall in this year’s season. Branch Nebula have an amazing history of creating work that challenges both the audience and form, incorporating some of Australia’s most talented extreme sport artists with their unique and breath-taking style of performance.”

“Air Time comes to us at the perfect time as we challenge what we can do in our theatres, transforming the Town Hall into a performance space like Merrigong audiences have never seen before.”