WANNA BE A RABBIT

Choreographed by Yumi Umiumare in collaboration with Weave Movement Theatre, the work moves between the surreal, absurd and mundane; humorously reversing perceptions of difference, exploring themes of status, power imposed and decomposed, where categories develop cracks and shatter. Based on a creative development in 2018 and 2019 with showings as short pieces in the ButohOUT! Festival 2018 and 2019 at Abbotsford Convent, The company assumed the production would be in late 2020, but Covid came.

Over the next two years there were attempts to rehearse and stage the piece. We reached dress rehearsal the night before opening night in 2021 with a lockdown declared that night at midnight. Eventually it was staged at the Fringe Hub in 2022 an evolved version with a subtle subtext reflecting the journey with unconventional, intimate staging breaking the fourth wall, using dance, physical theatre, pedestrian movement, original text in a poetic, image based narrative with Butoh influence through Yumi’s evolved approach to this form. Committed Weave performers contribute strongly to this process.

CREATIVE TEAM

Director/Choreographer: Yumi Umiumare
Producer: Janice Florence
Sound designer: Dan West
Installation artist: Pimpisa Tinpalet
Costume designers: Joe Noonan and Brynna Lowen
Lighting designer: Rachel Lee
Videographer: Tan Kang Wei
Photographer: Vikk Shayen
Outside eye: Maude Davey