Women Like Us in Ballina!
Got a bitchin’ middle-aged woman in the house? Then send her out for the night to be entertained by two overworked, underpaid, overwhelmed women, Mandy Nolan and Ellen Briggs, in their show Women Like Us! Nothing brings out the resentment more than the Xmas period and what better way to shake it off then with a laugh. ‘The other day I packed the dishwasher five times before any of my kids had got out of bed.’ says Nolan, seething with rage. ‘Thank god my life is meaningless, otherwise I’d have the shits!’ These two hardcore comedians drill down to the rockbed of reality; if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. So join in the fun at the Ballina RSL for two hours of comedy power on Friday. Show at 8pm. Doors at 7.30pm and tickets at ballinarsl.com.au.
Earth Frequency is a family affair
Earth Frequency Festival are gearing up for an inclusive event this February with the inclusion of The Family Realm,a large, shady area in the centre of the festival dedicated to providing a safe space for families to play, rest, create and learn together. Featuring Bella The Bookworm, Boys in da Boo, Krazy Koala Puppet Show, Daniel Wheeler and much much more. The organisers realised that in order to keep up with the amazing growth of this space and to ensure that we can continue to provide quality workshops, entertainment and professional staff, as of 2017 there will be a $20 participation pass for the Family Realm per child. The Family Realm participation fee is being implemented to ensure that enough materials and professional staff can be made available to cover the growing interest in the space from all the beautiful Earth Frequency families, and to help us estimate the number of children that we will be providing for.
Earth Frequency is held at Ivorys Rock 17–20 February. For more info go to earthfrequency.com.au.
Shrek the Musical
The world’s most beloved and only green ogre, star of film and stage, is coming to Ballina Players Theatre in Shrek the Musical Jr. His story has been called ‘the greatest fairy tale never told’.
Shrek the Musical Jr was inspired by the Oscar award-winning Dreamworks Animation film Shrek. It and its sequels became the highest-grossing animated franchise ever.
Geoff Marsh is director, with Sarah Jarvis assistant director and choreographer and Leanne Broadley musical director. Based on the Dreamworks Animation motion picture and the book by William Steig, Shrek the Musical Jr will be staged at the Players Theatre on 13–15 and 18–22 January. Book online at ballinaplayers.com.au or at Just Funkin Music, 6686 2440 (a booking fee applies).
The Look of the Taste of Love
‘More than 20 million couples in America are in sexless or near-sexless relationships. When we talk to couples living this way, they often wax poetic about the passionate sex they had at the beginning of their relationships. So what happens to so many of us? A key challenge to all relationships is stress. Couples who stay together will inevitably experience the effects of stress, regardless of how much chemistry they have or how loving they feel towards one another. We can choose to nurture and protect ourselves and our partner from the effects of stress by making love. As paradoxical as it may seem, we can take the barrier we formed and turn it into a buffer against stress. We are not talking about sex fuelled by falling in love, which creates a surge in desire, or the habits we all form around making love. Forget the preconceptions and expectations we all form about sex, and choose to practise Mindful Sex instead. Making love in a mindful way is about dancing with desire as it arises, not being stuck in habitual ways or the pressure of “performing”. Mindful sex is a whole new mindset. It is not work, because it is constantly fresh and therefore constantly refreshing.’
This is an excerpt from a blog on the Taste of Love website and gives a bit of a feel for the kind of ideas and underlying philosophy of the event.
The Taste of Love Festival is an event designed to facilitate an exploration of intimacy in the realms of self, others and the divine… through the portals of sexuality, relating and consciousness. People of all gender identities and expressions are welcome to all sessions as this is a gender-fluid event.
The Taste of Love Festival 2017 will feature well-known presenters such as Elaine Young (Ireland), Annetta Luce (US), Destin Gerek (US), Shantam Nityama (US), Elie Prana (Japan), and Eyal Matsliah (Australia) to name just a few. There are local and national presenters kept in balance to support everyone, musicians and artists whose work is highly regarded by peers and attendees alike. The full program is available on the website. The Festival commences Friday morning on 20 January at the Byron Bay Community Centre and runs until Sunday evening on 23 January. For more program and ticket information go to tasteoflove.com.au.
Timber Art
Murwillumbah-based artist Amelia Reid will be showing new timber assemblage work at Byron Bay Brewery during January. Sourcing materials from local scrapyards, demolished houses and renovations in the area, Amelia’s minimalist and totemic hanging sculptures question ratios of domesticity and wildness in the home and self.
Amelia recently exhibited at the Regional Arts Australia conference Artlands.
Flickerfest turns 26
This year marks the 26th year for the Academy-accredited Flickerfest International Short Film Festival. Bringing a cache of world-class films to its home ground (Bondi Pavilion) this year and then embarking on a national tour that takes in more than 50 venues, ensuring that cutting-edge film makes it to regional areas. The committee this year have watched and reviewed more than 2,400 entries from across the globe, of which just 100 are seen in the official screening. The uniting force among the shorts screening at the 2017 Flickerfest Festival is their ability to push the conventions of film and narrative to deliver surprising, exciting and groundbreaking results across animation, documentary and every genre in between. Festival director Bronwyn Kidd was there when it began as a small festival at Balmain High School in 1991 and she says: ‘Short film continues to excite and thrill me year after year, and I still strongly believe shorts are the perfect vehicle for our latest generation of storytellers to cut their teeth and express the stories at the heart of who we are. Every year I am moved, surprised and inspired by the films raising the bar for what is considered “the best” in short film. The imagination and creativity showcased throughout Flickerfest highlights the role of short film as one at the centrepiece of innovation and creativity in global cinema today.’ This year Flickerfest comes to the Mullum Civic Hall from Friday 27 Jan till Sunday 29 Jan and features Best of the International, Best of Australian Shorts, Short Laughs Comedy and Byron’s All Shorts. Full program, information and bookings: www.iQ.org.au. Doors Open: 7.30pm nightly (and 1hr prior to daytime sessions). $50/40 Festival Pass.
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