Antony and the Johnsons with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra

The Jury-mobile is revealed for the first time upon arrival at Antony and the Johnsons!

Antony and the Johnsons with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra

Antony and the Johnsons with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (UK/USA/Australia)

Saturday 6 February 2010

Surprise opening act, Waso, featured a DJ with a solitary dancer wrapped in white tulle moving slowly across stage, winding and unwinding herself. An overall dark tone that blended soft and fluid gestures, countered by long silver knife-like claws and aggressive angular movements. Overall, the Jury was a bit unsure of what to make of the opening act, scared a bit, but taken by the wardrobe change that occurred from the silver bikini to the black shiny bikini, both of which appeared to look like they came from a spaceship.

As part of his Symphony Tour, accompanied by a 36-piece orchestra conducted by Rob Moose, Antony's voice and lyrics are spellbinding. As is often the case at the symphony (well, many art performances), a good number of audience members are lulled to sleep, through sheer ennui, or surrendering to the sounds that envelop them. One Jury Member was overtaken by Antony’s magical powers, falling into a deep trance that gave him super powers to sleep through two standing ovations and an encore, and which required fairly vigourous shaking to wake him. Bravo.

The range and clarity of Antony’s voice is astounding, as is the emotion he conjures, further accentuated by the orchestra. A highlight was his remake of Beyoncé’s Crazy, a more subdued version full of longing, which scored high points with the Jury. A generous and lively performer, he chitchatted with the audience, went on tangents about his love for his granny who wanted to (or maybe did) knit sweaters for little birds (I want to meet her), and his responsibility as a public figure to advocate for various underrepresented and marginalized communities and causes. His love of performing emanated from the stage.

Top points also go to the large crystalline sculpture suspended above the orchestra, which absorbed a rainbow of lights creating a chandelier one might expect in a palace on Mars.

PS. If you ever have the chance to hear Antony live, I beseech you, go. Recordings do not do him justice.

Welcome to Country and La Fura Dels Baus- OFFICIAL Jury Comments

A.J.: "Lots of light…this all cost half a million $$. Didgeridoo player, dancers walking into the crowd, hand prints. Aboriginals greet us in Aboriginal language. Really big crane.”

Christal: "Really nice start, and really spooky. Starts with traditional singing and dancing, really traditional and dangerous. He needs to be experienced to do this, does a lot of high stunts, really had a good ending (fireworks) had people spinning in white then hanging around. Had a lot of dancing and singing, a lot of chaos and a lot of acts involved moving around. It was loud too. And a lot of people were shown in this wonderful show.”

Lianah: “Lots of people, weird music sounded like elephants. Bright lights, scary music, scary fire, scary acting, scary costume, loud voice, getting boring, awesome acrobats, boring music, sounds like traffic + jungle. Didgeridoo, scary, cool dancing, crazy costume, freaky talking, brave speech, 1 minute silence, awesome fire (on trees) lots of people.”

Courtney: “It was noisy and it was very amazing. It was cool on the wheels and also on the hanging ropes.”

Areej: “Didgeridoo playing awesome. Welcome to country! Very good. The screen is showing how they play it while we hear the didgeridoo. Excellent! A minute of silence for all who have been before us! Burning tree! This is for their tradition, WOW! Director speak. Man speak, welcome. Two crazy women were waving their hands. So cool. Fire going on, loud music, it rotates. Awesome. Fantastic.”

Edmond: “I liked the fire, the didgeridoo player was good.”

Welcome to Country and La Fura Dels Baus!

The Children's Choice Awards at PIAF kicked-off with a bang, actually, with a series of bangs thanks to the spectacular fireworks of La Fura Dels Baus. We were sometimes scared, sometimes awed, sometimes we couldn't see, but overall we had a really nice time.

Mixing and Mingling at the Gov's

Visit to the Governor's House (all blog photos by: the Jury, Lewis Horne & MDR

As the Official Jury for the Perth International Arts Festival, the Children's Choice Awards Jury from Roseworth Primary School were invited as special guests to the PIAF opening night function at the Supreme Court Gardens

La Fura dels Baus

Opening Celebration

La Fura dels Baus (Spain)

Friday 5 February 2010

Along with the Children’s Choice Awards Jury, the Haircuts by Children stylists and their families joined us for the opening night performance of La Fura in the Supreme Court Gardens among thousands of onlookers.

A massive scale spectacle, the performance incorporated 60 locals harnessed together and suspended 150 feet in the air, dangled from a construction crane. Together they created a moving choreographed grid, brightly lit with changing colours that contrasted with the fireworks that became their backdrop in the starry sky. The dangling people and the fireworks were a huge hit among the Jury and hair stylists.

On the ground was a huge cage wheel led by a Roman-like vicious chariot-driver, with acrobats suspended inside, as it churned through the audience, which frantically ran every-which-way to avoid being squashed. The exciting adrenalin rush felt by most of the adult audience translated into a group of nearly 80 panic-stricken youth who were too short to see what was going on and were at the mercy of a much taller herd who were only concerned about getting out of the way of the rolling cart than what they themselves might trample in their attempt.

Frightening for obvious reasons, and boring because we couldn’t see anything; both for the wrong reasons.

Jury criteria: what we're looking for !

OK artists, performers, directors, producers, and everyone behind the scenes who makes a show a show: THIS IS IT!

These are the unofficial (and constantly changing) criteria established by our judges from Roseworth Primary School, the Official Jury of the Perth International Arts Festival 2010, and what they're looking for to evaluate your performance.

Be prepared to dazzle, amaze and mystify the Jury. Bribes ARE welcome!

Singer with the best pitch

Most beautiful dancer

Person who tried the hardest

Best shoes

Best guitar hero

Most awkwardest voice

Most catchiest tune

Most lovable (I loved it the most!)

Craziest instrument

Most funniest dancing

Most coolest moves

Best magician

Most romantic

Most experienced

Most boring

The person who talked the most in one act

Most intelligent so I had to concentrate

Most organized

Most mysterious

Most adult

Best kiddish

Best role model

Most weird

Most environmental

Most minimal show

Biggest ensemble

Best choreographer

Most dramatic

Looks like the most expensive

Most magical

Silliest

Prettiest girl

Most handsomest boy

Most shiny dress

Most similar voice to a pop star, ________

The most functions on an instrument (like a space ship)

Best producer

Most funniest act

Most acrobatic show

Craziest costume

Craziest hairstyle

Scariest

Best musician

Happiest

Most dirty language

Wildest show

Most emotional

Best make-up

Most flexible person

Most original

Most realistic

Most talented

Most fit person

Most surprising act

Person who forgot their lines

Least violent show

Most instruments

Most disguises

Best show ever

Loudest show