CreateAbility  Brings  Performance  to  Wodonga    Media  Release      No  Hands  Theatre  Performance  at  The  Cube  Thursday  20th  September  7.30pm    Public  Workshop  Wednesday  19th  September  10am  to  2pm    Link  direct  to  ticket  purchase  page  for  Show:  

https://purchase.thecubewodonga.com.au/loader.aspx/?target=hall.aspx?event=822  

Link  to  Creatability  workshop  ticket  purchase:  

https://purchase.thecubewodonga.com.au/loader.aspx/?target=hall.aspx?event=823  

Link  to  info  page  on  both  which  has  link  to  purchase:  

http://www.thecubewodonga.com.au/whats_on/2017121198698.asp  

No  Hands  tells  the  story  of  a  young  man  obsessed  with  the  flight  of  birds  which  he  imagines  flying  to  heaven  and  communicating  with  angels.  The  people  of  his  village  are  suspicious  of  him  and  conspire  to  convince  a  young  woman  to  impersonate  an  angel  in  order  to  distract  him.  His  disillusionment  when  the  deception  is  revealed  is  overwhelming  and  he  departs  never  to  set  foot  in  the  village  again.    What  happens  next  is  unexpected  and  questions  our  striving  to  achieve,  our  own  obsessions  and  even  our  attachment  to  hope.  This  performance  has  been  inspired  by  a  short  story  by  Isak  Dinesen,  The  Diver.  

“No  Hands’  premiered  with  acclaim  at  Castlemaine  State  Festival  2017,”  says  Creative  Producer  John  Willis.      “Vibrancy,  strength,  curiosity  and  braveness  are  qualities  that  describe  our  performances,”  says  Mr  Willis.  “Our  work  is  powerful  because  of  the  expressive  courage  of  the  ensemble  of  performers”    CreateAbililty  is  an  arts  company  based  in  Bendigo,  Victoria.  The  company  creates  new  work  across  diverse  visual  and  performance  based  practices.  Established  in  2002  CreateAbilty  provides  opportunities  for  people  with  disability  to  engage  with  contemporary  arts  practice  and  to  present  their  work  publicly.  Partnerships  and  working  relationships  have  been  developed  with  artists,  arts  organisations  and  community  groups  who  are  interested  in  developing  inclusive  practices  and  representing  the  diversity  of  our  community.  No  Hands  has  been  developed  as  a  co-­‐production  with  Capital  Venues  and  Events  (Bendigo).    Golden  City  Support  Services  is  the  organisation  in  which  CreateAbilty  is  based.  “There  are  aspects  of  our  community  life  that  are  still  difficult  to  access,”  says  Ian  McLean  Golden  City  Support  Services  CEO.  “As  an  organisation  we  are  committed  to  ensuring  everyone  can  contribute  in  their  local  community  and  especially  to  the  culture  life  where  we  live.”          

Public  workshop    As  part  of  the  tour  to  Wodonga,  CreateAbility  is  running  a  public  workshop  offering  an  insight  to  its  inclusive  approach  to  devising  performances.    CreateAbility  has  developed  a  way  of  working  with  stories  to  go  deeply  into  the  emotional  and  mythic  aspects  of  story  and  folklore.  Images  and  gestures,  movement  and  sound  are  used  to  explore  these  themes  in  a  way  that  creates  an  immersive  world  for  audiences  to  enter.  There  is  a  conscious  use  of  forms  that  are  not  reliant  on  words  and  text  to  deliver  meaning.    Having  found  ways  to  use  both  physical  exploration  and  visual  arts  methods  in  our  work  we  are  interested  in  the  bridging  of  performance  and  visual  art  approaches.  We  believe  there  is  more  to  be  discovered  in  this  working  method.    A  local  connection    The  No  Hands  show  has  a  local  connection  with  Wodonga.  Eliza  Hull  composed  the  music  for  No  Hands  and  performs  as  part  of  the  show.  Her  amazing  vocals  send  chills  up  the  spine.  She  grew  up  in  Wodonga  and  returns  frequently  to  catch  up  with  family  and  friends.  Eliza  says  “Working  on  this  show  has  been  an  incredible  experience  and  has  been  important  to  me  in  reassessing  my  own  experience  as  a  woman  with  a  disability”.    Eliza  has  been  recording  and  performing  her  work  over  a  number  of  years.  Her  work  has  featured  in  TV  and  film  and  she  is  releasing  her  latest  EP,  How  We  Disappeared  in  September.  The  single  from  that  EP,  Hard  Way,  has  been  getting  a  lot  of  very  positive  attention  on  radio  around  Australia.    CreateAbility  Performance  Ensemble    CreateAbility's  ensemble  is  a  group  of  12  individuals,  many  of  whom  have  performed  together  over  a  number  of  years.  They  are  co-­‐devisors  of  the  work  and  bring  their  unique  approaches  and  experiences  to  performing.  Golden  City  Support  Services  are  the  catalyst  to  CreateAbility’s  establishment  in  2002,  since  then  they  have  ensured  the  ensemble’s  ongoing  viability.  Valuing  the  critical  role  creative  practitioners  and  the  arts  play  in  community  life,  Golden  City  Support  Services  are  committed  to  providing  opportunities  for  people  of  all  abilities  to  express  themselves  and  connect  with  others.      CreateAbililty  has  two  Co-­‐Creative  Directors,  Kate  Stones  and  Sam  Thomas.  Sam  worked  on  an  earlier  show  with  CreateAbility  and  formed  a  bond  with  the  CreateAbility  performers.  He  relocated  to  Castlemaine  from  Barcelona  and  has  a  background  as  a  physical  performance  artist  with  the  touring  group,  The  Chipolatas.  In  2016  CreateAbility  invited  Kate  Stones  (Castlemaine  Theatre  Company,  Red  Room  Theatre)  to  work  with  the  ensemble.  Kate’s  extensive  experience  as  an  actor  and  director  are  valuable  complementary  skills  in  the  creative  team.    CreateAbility  acknowledges  their  partners  in  touring  No  Hands:  Creative  Victoria/Touring  Victoria  and  Golden  City  Support  Services.  No  Hands  is  co-­‐produced  with  Capital  Venues  and  Events.    Contact  John  Willis  Creative  Producer,  CreateAbility  Golden  City  Support  Services  0439  554  815  Email:  john.willis@gcss.org.au