Common Dissonance

A collision of circus and culture that interrogates harmony and conflict to find a Common Dissonance.

Friday 2 June | 7.30pm | GPAC Main Theatre

In a 21st Century world where it is common to believe in both spirituality and science – how can we navigate the complex dialogues that consume contemporary culture?

Common Dissonance is an urgent contemporary circus work that creates a physical dialogue between different voices of reason. Featuring two contemporary circus performers with shared and distinctly individual experiences, it seeks balance, community, exchange, unity and diversity.

For thousands of years in Australia, understanding of the world came from dreamtime stories, song lines, and oral histories, all of which are still relevant to many Australians. Our environment is riddled with the hypocrisies of a culturally diverse past lingering in the wake of a globalized present.

Common Dissonance presents this internal conflict as physical interactions between two performers, speaking not only to the inherent conflict between modes of reasoning, but also the moments of unity, the examples of cultural exchange, and hopes to seek resolution and balance into the future.

Contradiction and correspondence, harmony and dissonance: all play out as we seek truth, knowledge, and understanding in our lives.

“Australia makes good circus, but it’s rare to see a show this moving.” Cameron Woodhead, The Age

“The company is prepared to bend the shape of things into something exhilaratingly new.” Stephen A Russell, Timeout

“In Common Dissonance, discussions of how we live and think are transformed from abstract concepts to heart-pumping, flesh-and-bone reality.” Megan Koch, ArtsHub

Company Bio

Na Djinang Circus is a Melbourne based contemporary circus company working with diverse young artists to share unique insight with the next generation's Hands & Feet.

Founded by Wakka Wakka man Harley Mann, Na Djinang Circus aims to develop work that utilises the next generation's social and political attitudes and tell stories that challenge our own perceived ideas about contemporary Australian society. Our work explores fundamental human characteristics from an indigenous perspective, using the body to demonstrate complex human experiences of trust, connection, vulnerability, and joy.

Na Djinang Circus is known for being a First Nations led company and our art and ethos reflect traditional and contemporary values. We are curios, original and free to make mistakes.

Image credit: Bridget Grigg