INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed creative husband and wife team, choreographer Fiona Jopp and composer Tobias Merz, will be performing their deeply personal and compelling new work, ‘Aftereffect’, at the Maleny Community Centre on Friday September 8, at 7pm.
A powerful and moving exploration of love and loss, told through contemporary dance and multi-instrumental music, ‘Aftereffect’ promises to be a truly unique and unforgettable experience.
The performance explores universal themes of love, loss and resilience told through the uniquely personal lens of the artists’ own lived experiences of grief and loss. Speaking with GC&M News, Fiona said the current work had been developed over a 12-month period and had essentially offered a pragmatic way to process, express and share deeper emotions.
“As artists we should all tell our own stories, even our most vulnerable ones, however we hope that by sharing our own cathartic journey, it may also allow others to experience and even navigate aspects of their own journey through our journey,” explained Fiona.
“I felt that this was really the only story I can tell right now, and I needed to express these emotions in a way that is both cathartic and beautiful, though it’s not all doom and gloom. We’ve incorporated a sense of play to the work, a little bit cabaret, a little bit of fun and hopefully our audience will find the beauty and see their own stories in the performance,” said Fiona.
Although a renowned opera singer who has performed at many of the world’s major opera houses, Tobias said the Maleny performance won’t include any opera, rather he has specially composed a contemporary score to suit the emotional undercurrent of the performance.
“We collaborated together to find the right moods for the work, and although there is some classical music in the piece, there isn’t any opera. I sought to compose music for contemporary dance and create music that amplifies our story, while also allowing audiences to connect with it on a deeper level,” Tobias explained.
Tickets for ‘Aftereffect’ are priced between $20-$45+BF, and available at https://events.humanitix.com/aftereffect. Seating for the Community Centre Premiere is limited and tickets are selling fast.
Main image: Fiona Jopp and Tobias Merz
