Tasdance, Mudlark and Assembly 197 collaborate for new major work

The debut cooperative work, Big Heat, from Mudlark Theatre Company, Assembly 197 and Tasmanian Championship Wrestling will arrive at the annual festival on September 21.

The "multi-artform feast" has been in the works for almost three years, and its debut in late September will signify what its creative directors hope is a new era of collaboration at Assembly197 - the arts collective home of Tasdance, which officially rebranded as Assembly197 in December, 2021.

Mudlark artistic director Cheyne Mitchell and Assembly 197 co-creative director Adam Wheeler - who are also Big Heat's creative directors - said the partnership is what the company hoped it could achieve with its new direction.

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"When I first came onboard at Tasdance, I wanted to bring together creatives in interesting ways from different places under one roof," Wheeler - who is artistic director of Tasdance as well, said.

"With Big Heat we're doing exactly what we set out to do: to be together and to be making things with the talented people here."

When it rebranded, Assembly 197 was styled as an "artistic hub", and opened up its doors for more than just dance, welcoming the likes of Mudlark Theatre group, circus outfit ROOKE, and youth dance troupe Stompin' into its fold.

With Big Heat, the idea of an artistic hub is bearing fruit.

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"I think the absolute beauty of Assembly is having all these partner organisations together, meaning we don't have to wonder anymore," Mitchell said.

"If I think about what the show would be like with circus performers, or with dancers, I can walk down the hall and knock on the door with this crazy idea.

"And those ideas, with these kinds of minds under one roof, mean that incredible things happen."

Wheeler and Mitchell have been close friends since attending college together in Launceston, and Big Heat - which began as a meta-styled narrative with nothing to do with wrestling - is partly a work of their friendship, too.

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Its final, TCW-infused form came about after Wheeler and Mitchell attended a local wrestling match and met with young wrestler Isabel Partridge, who would go on to be the show's star. TCW would soon come on board to bring an even more collaborative angle to the performance.

"It's been a huge learning process bringing together circus artists, dancers and theatre performers where we're finding a middle place between their physicality," Wheeler said.

"But we wouldn't be having that process be any other way; this is what we wanted from the beginning.

"It's been wonderful and we can't wait for the future of collaborations.

"This is going to be a time of ideas in Tasmania's arts and we're so excited to be kicking it off."

Big Heat is showing as part of Junction Arts Festival from Thursday, September 21, to Saturday, September 23.

More information and tickets can be found at the Junction Arts Festival website, and The Examiner will have a full preview in mid-September.

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