Three fabulous weeks of contemporary Asian and Asian Australian performance, art, literature, cuisine and culture will take over Adelaide for OzAsia Festival this October-November.
This year’s programme features more than 500 community, national and international artists from more than 8 countries, including 10 world premieres, 1 Australian premiere and 7 Adelaide premieres. . . Across 50 ticketed and free events and exhibitions.
“I loved the way OzAsia Festival audiences embraced our programme last year,” Artistic Director Annette Shun Wah says.
“With borders open this year we offer even more exceptional, meaningful, and enthralling works of creativity and artistry, putting Asian and Asian Australian perspectives, imaginations, and ideas firmly at the centre of this unique festival. Join us for three weeks of wonder, beauty, magic, and stories that will warm your heart and fill minds and stomachs in the most satisfying ways.”
Free event The Moon Lantern Trail returns on the opening weekend, inviting attendees to wander Tarntanya Wama/Pinky Flat and discover more than a dozen giant handcrafted lanterns.
'SNAP' – Image © Tae Won Kim
The Australian premiere of ‘SNAP’ from South Korea’s GRUEJARM Productions is a magical, mind-boggling mix of illusion, mime, comedy and cabaret. It blends sleight of hand with vaudevillian comedy and visual effects.
Postponements in 2021 bring two works to OzAsia in 2022, as they celebrate their world premieres. Leading film actor and fight choreographer Maria Tran’s ‘Action Star’ smashes glass ceilings, racial stereotypes and more, as she reveals her story. Choreographer Sue Healey’s ‘The Long Walk’ is inspired by the pilgrimage of more than 16,000 Chinese miners in the 1850s to Victoria’s goldfields. The piece will be led by Asian Australian dancers Kimball Wong and Julian Renlong Wong.
Also moving from the 2021 programme to 2022 will be Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s ‘The Demon’, investigating the history of the White Australia policy, and Chinese Australian musician, composer and performer Mindy Meng Wang’s ‘When’, a deeply personal tale of upheaval, family, and the pandemic.
Renowned journalist Jane Hutcheon delves into family archives to narrate her mother’s extraordinary childhood during pre-communist China in ‘Lost In Shanghai’. Plus, Dalisa Pigram, a Yawuru and Bardi woman with Malay and Filipino heritage reaches into Australia’s history of decolonisation and industrialisation on traditional lands, in ‘Gudirr Gudirr’.
'Lost In Shanghai' - Image © Clare Hawley
“This year’s OzAsia Festival program shines brightly on ideas central to our multicultural community. I look forward to seeing everyone out and about at the diverse variety of free and ticketed events that we will have on offer for audiences,” Adelaide Festival Centre CEO and Artistic Director Douglas Gautier AM says.
There’s also plenty of music on offer, too. ‘Bridge Of Dreams’ is a breathtaking collaboration between 22 pre-eminent Australian and Indian musicians, led by award-winning saxophonist Sandy Evans. New York-based Singaporean pianist Margaret Leng Tan explores her 50-year career in ‘Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep’. On the final day, ‘Hyoshi In Counterpoint’ sees virtuoso percussionist Satomi Ohnishi and Guzheng virtuoso Zhao Liang lead an all-star collective of six South Australian women.
Plus, Korean alternative K-pop sensation LEENALCHI (이날치) and Australian-Korean hip hop supergroup 1300 team up and Nexus Arts hosts ‘Eastmode In The West End’.
Writing and ideas programme In Other Words will take place under the new curatorship of writer/performer Jennifer Wong. For fans of laughs, ‘The Special Comedy Comedy Special’ brings together a stellar bill of Asian Australian comedians to Her Majesty’s Theatre.
“I congratulate OzAsia Festival on its 15th year in 2022 and encourage everyone to make the most of the incredible programme that Annette Shun Wah and her team have curated,” Minister For The Arts, The Honourable Andrea Michaels MP says. “The South Australian Government is proud to support this wonderfully popular event and annual staple on Adelaide’s festival calendar.”
'Dragon Ladies Don't Weep'
The Lucky Dumpling Market will once again be at Elder Park, serving up a colourful range of delicious cuisine from the best local vendors. At the market and on Festival Plaza is the world premiere of rock opera ‘The Rat Catcher Of Angkor Wat’, a musical theatre and puppetry experience set in 2222.
One-day events include AnimeGO! and Chinese Music Day, plus visual art will take centre stage when the King William Road screens display ‘A New World On Earth’, artist Tianli Zu’s new video animation depicting relationships between humankind and nature through digital work.
Check out the full OzAsia programme and tickets.
OzAsia Festival is on at Adelaide Festival Centre from 20 October-6 November.
