The FLING Company in Socialsize Me. Image Paul Hopper
All projects featured on this page are original performance works presented by FLING Physical Theatre from 2001 to the Present.
In addition to these works, FLING has also presented short works programs on an annual basis, including work by FLING Artists, Alumni and Guest Artists, original performances created with YFLING and FLUX Creators, and numerous commissions for partners including the Bega Valley Regional Gallery/SECCA, Wanderer Festival and Four Winds Festival, among others.
To Learn more about FLING's story, see History. For more recent work see Current Projects.
In addition to these works, FLING has also presented short works programs on an annual basis, including work by FLING Artists, Alumni and Guest Artists, original performances created with YFLING and FLUX Creators, and numerous commissions for partners including the Bega Valley Regional Gallery/SECCA, Wanderer Festival and Four Winds Festival, among others.
To Learn more about FLING's story, see History. For more recent work see Current Projects.
encounter - 2020
ENCOUNTER was presented in Sydney Festival on January 10-12, 2020.
This epic project was commissioned and produced by FORM Dance Projects (Western Sydney) in partnership with FLING Physical Theatre and Sydney Youth Orchestras. Created by an incredible creative team including Director/Choreographer Emma Saunders, Writer Felicity Castagna, and Composers Jodi Phillis and Amanda Brown, the work featured 8 performers from the FLING Company, alongside 9 young performers from Western Sydney and 50 young performers from Western Sydney Youth Orchestra.
ENCOUNTER is a site specific work of joy, exploring the everyday extraordinariness of being young, created with and about young people from Parramatta, Western Sydney and the Bega Valley in regional NSW.
Developed over a two year period, the project is a fantastic model of a significant regional - metropolitan partnership, with multiple points of engagement and performance outcomes across both regions, and the development of meaningful connections between the FLING and FORM performers, and the creative team and partnering organisations.
The FLING Company was incredibly lucky to make it to Sydney for ENCOUNTER, as the tour dates fell in the midst of the Black Summer Bushfires that encircled the Bega Valley in Dec 2019 - Jan 2020. In the days leading up to the tour our entire region was in severe danger, with vast devastation to the land, homes and properties. Some of the homes of the performers and their families were being directly threatened by the fires and all roads out of the Bega Valley were closed as the fires closed in around us.
On the verge of cancellation, and after many days of sensitive negotiation with families to establish that we would only travel if advised it was safe to do so, we managed to take advantage of a window of safe travel to depart for Sydney. When the FLING performers arrived at the park to meet the FORM dancers, they fell into each others arms, full of emotion, some tears, grateful to be safe and to have made it to Parramatta.
This epic project was commissioned and produced by FORM Dance Projects (Western Sydney) in partnership with FLING Physical Theatre and Sydney Youth Orchestras. Created by an incredible creative team including Director/Choreographer Emma Saunders, Writer Felicity Castagna, and Composers Jodi Phillis and Amanda Brown, the work featured 8 performers from the FLING Company, alongside 9 young performers from Western Sydney and 50 young performers from Western Sydney Youth Orchestra.
ENCOUNTER is a site specific work of joy, exploring the everyday extraordinariness of being young, created with and about young people from Parramatta, Western Sydney and the Bega Valley in regional NSW.
Developed over a two year period, the project is a fantastic model of a significant regional - metropolitan partnership, with multiple points of engagement and performance outcomes across both regions, and the development of meaningful connections between the FLING and FORM performers, and the creative team and partnering organisations.
The FLING Company was incredibly lucky to make it to Sydney for ENCOUNTER, as the tour dates fell in the midst of the Black Summer Bushfires that encircled the Bega Valley in Dec 2019 - Jan 2020. In the days leading up to the tour our entire region was in severe danger, with vast devastation to the land, homes and properties. Some of the homes of the performers and their families were being directly threatened by the fires and all roads out of the Bega Valley were closed as the fires closed in around us.
On the verge of cancellation, and after many days of sensitive negotiation with families to establish that we would only travel if advised it was safe to do so, we managed to take advantage of a window of safe travel to depart for Sydney. When the FLING performers arrived at the park to meet the FORM dancers, they fell into each others arms, full of emotion, some tears, grateful to be safe and to have made it to Parramatta.
ENCOUNTER, presented in Sydney Festival 2020, Image: Heidrun Löhr
encounter south - 2019
ENCOUNTER follows the success of ENCOUNTER SOUTH, presented as part of Four Winds Spring Music Festival in November 2019. The Four Winds Soundshell and surrounds at Barraga Bay in the Bega Valley was the site of the first development of the project, and a number of sections of the work were directly inspired and informed by the incredible natural beauty and physical characteristics of the site. ENOUNTER SOUTH was shortlisted for an Australian Dance Award for Outstanding achievement in Youth Dance in 2019.
ENCOUNTER SOUTH, presented at Four Winds Spring Music Festival, Images Heidrun Löhr
ENCOUNTER PROJECT ARTISTS
Direction - Emma Saunders, Associate Artist - Rob McCredie, Writer -Felicity Castagna, Composers - Jodi Phillis & Amanda Brown, Orchestrator - Jessica Wells, WSYO Conductor - James Pensini, Visual Artist - David Capra
Dancers -Sarah Kalule, Lawrencea Mateariki, Sabrina Muszynski, Joshua O’Connor, Naomi Reichardt, Feras Shaheen, Caylan Spendlove, Xara Zaineddine & FLING Physical Theatre - Esme Barker, Ebony Constable, Gabriela Green Olea, Ebony Ryan-Miners, Lara Scrivens, Bodhi Turner, Rory Warne, Luca Yi
Musicians - Western Sydney Youth Orchestra, Spoken Word - Pola Fanous
Direction - Emma Saunders, Associate Artist - Rob McCredie, Writer -Felicity Castagna, Composers - Jodi Phillis & Amanda Brown, Orchestrator - Jessica Wells, WSYO Conductor - James Pensini, Visual Artist - David Capra
Dancers -Sarah Kalule, Lawrencea Mateariki, Sabrina Muszynski, Joshua O’Connor, Naomi Reichardt, Feras Shaheen, Caylan Spendlove, Xara Zaineddine & FLING Physical Theatre - Esme Barker, Ebony Constable, Gabriela Green Olea, Ebony Ryan-Miners, Lara Scrivens, Bodhi Turner, Rory Warne, Luca Yi
Musicians - Western Sydney Youth Orchestra, Spoken Word - Pola Fanous
my black dog - 2019
How can we talk about the difficult stuff?
Maybe we can figure it out together?
My Black Dog is a collection of stories and encounters that relate to our everyday lives. We fear, we doubt, we hide, we cry. We have taken the emotions that often exist behind closed doors to reveal them, own them and nurture them.
We hope that this work encourages us all to accept our failing and vulnerabilities and emboldens us to let others in and talk more to one another, trusting that friendship can comfort and hold us when we need it most.
Direction - Kate Denborough, Co-direction - Rob McCredie & Gabrielle Rose, Music & Sound Design - Kelly Ryall, Set & Costume Design - Bryony Stringer, Technical Director - Hector Cordova, Production Co-ordinator - Anne Corcoran, Choreographic Collaborator - Gabriela Green Olea, Mental Health Advisor - Jennie Keioskie, Videographer - Kyle Wilson
Performers: Julien Comer Kleine, Freya MacRae, Bodhi Moffatt Turner, Becky Robbers, Lara Scrivens, Rory Warne, Luca Yi, Rob McCredie & Gabrielle Rose
Alongside the development of the live work, FLING developed a program of Health and Wellbeing workshops for high school students. The workshop program was offered free of charge to high schools around the Bega Valley. Designed to create space to support mental health issues facing students, providing practical skills in coping with stress, building resilience and practicing self compassion.
My Black Dog was shortlisted for an Australian Dance Award and was winner of the Youth Award at the Mental Health Matters Awards 2019.
In 2023/2024, My Black Dog was recreated into film, which will premiere in February 2025 and tour Regional NSW alongside wellbeing workshops.
My Black Dog Film
Maybe we can figure it out together?
My Black Dog is a collection of stories and encounters that relate to our everyday lives. We fear, we doubt, we hide, we cry. We have taken the emotions that often exist behind closed doors to reveal them, own them and nurture them.
We hope that this work encourages us all to accept our failing and vulnerabilities and emboldens us to let others in and talk more to one another, trusting that friendship can comfort and hold us when we need it most.
Direction - Kate Denborough, Co-direction - Rob McCredie & Gabrielle Rose, Music & Sound Design - Kelly Ryall, Set & Costume Design - Bryony Stringer, Technical Director - Hector Cordova, Production Co-ordinator - Anne Corcoran, Choreographic Collaborator - Gabriela Green Olea, Mental Health Advisor - Jennie Keioskie, Videographer - Kyle Wilson
Performers: Julien Comer Kleine, Freya MacRae, Bodhi Moffatt Turner, Becky Robbers, Lara Scrivens, Rory Warne, Luca Yi, Rob McCredie & Gabrielle Rose
Alongside the development of the live work, FLING developed a program of Health and Wellbeing workshops for high school students. The workshop program was offered free of charge to high schools around the Bega Valley. Designed to create space to support mental health issues facing students, providing practical skills in coping with stress, building resilience and practicing self compassion.
My Black Dog was shortlisted for an Australian Dance Award and was winner of the Youth Award at the Mental Health Matters Awards 2019.
In 2023/2024, My Black Dog was recreated into film, which will premiere in February 2025 and tour Regional NSW alongside wellbeing workshops.
My Black Dog Film
The FLING Company in rehearsal for My Black Dog, 2019
My Black Dog, Images by Kyle Wilson
beats - power within - 2019
In 2019 FLING's BEATS program offered a series of workshops for Aboriginal young people living on Thaua Country in the Yuin Nation, offering the opportunity to collaborate with a team of professional artist to write and record an original song and create an accompanying dance/music video.
The workshops were held in Eden in partnership with Campbell Page over a six month period. Participants developed new skills in songwriting, recording, sound mixing, dance, film making and editing, with the support of mentoring and Cultural teaching from local Aboriginal Artists including Meaghan Holt, Warren Foster Jnr, Chelsy Atkins and Shaquille Aldridge.
The resulting video POWER WITHIN also includes interviews with participants and the local community in Eden, asking "What does Culture mean to you?" The Video was recently featured on NITV's Facebook page.
BEATS was produced by FLING Physical Theatre, led by Project Coordinator/ FLING Dance Development Officer Gabriela Green Olea, with support from Create NSW through the Aboriginal Regional Arts Fund, with key project partners Campbell Page Eden, Bega Valley Shire Council, Bega Valley Shire Library, Allawah Ngindigaan - Indigenous Education Programs, and Merimbula School of Music.
The workshops were held in Eden in partnership with Campbell Page over a six month period. Participants developed new skills in songwriting, recording, sound mixing, dance, film making and editing, with the support of mentoring and Cultural teaching from local Aboriginal Artists including Meaghan Holt, Warren Foster Jnr, Chelsy Atkins and Shaquille Aldridge.
The resulting video POWER WITHIN also includes interviews with participants and the local community in Eden, asking "What does Culture mean to you?" The Video was recently featured on NITV's Facebook page.
BEATS was produced by FLING Physical Theatre, led by Project Coordinator/ FLING Dance Development Officer Gabriela Green Olea, with support from Create NSW through the Aboriginal Regional Arts Fund, with key project partners Campbell Page Eden, Bega Valley Shire Council, Bega Valley Shire Library, Allawah Ngindigaan - Indigenous Education Programs, and Merimbula School of Music.
body AND environment - 2018
Set within a unique transforming set installation, Body and Environment featured the FLING Company, made up of 13 young performers from the Bega Valley. A suspended web of 64 interconnected shirts was manipulated by the performers to create a series of spaces; from architectural structures to natural environments, public and private spaces, to the subconscious internal landscapes of the mind.
Body and Environment was a meditation on how the spaces we move through consciously and unconsciously affect our everyday lives and shape our imaginative worlds.
A physical journey through psychological spaces.
Body and Environment was first presented as a live performance in Bega in 2018, and received an Australian Dance Award in 2018 for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Dance.
In 2022 Body and Environment was recreated into a film, which premiered at the Riverside Theatre Parramatta, presented by FORM Dance Projects, and to our local audience in Bega.
Read more about Body and Environment Film
Original Cast:
Esme Barker, Genevieve Comer-Kleine, Taj Constable, Rosa Hodder, Ruby Hodder, Freya Macrae, Becky Robbers, Lara Scrivens, Bodhi Turner, Rory Warne and Luca Yi
Original Creative Team:
Rob McCredie, Holly Durant, Tim Newth, Gabrielle Rose, David Hewitt, Gerry Corcoran, Gabriela Green Olea and Anne Corcoran
The 2018 Live work was supported by Create NSW, Regional Arts Fund, and Bega Valley Commemorative Civic Centre.
Body and Environment was a meditation on how the spaces we move through consciously and unconsciously affect our everyday lives and shape our imaginative worlds.
A physical journey through psychological spaces.
Body and Environment was first presented as a live performance in Bega in 2018, and received an Australian Dance Award in 2018 for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Dance.
In 2022 Body and Environment was recreated into a film, which premiered at the Riverside Theatre Parramatta, presented by FORM Dance Projects, and to our local audience in Bega.
Read more about Body and Environment Film
Original Cast:
Esme Barker, Genevieve Comer-Kleine, Taj Constable, Rosa Hodder, Ruby Hodder, Freya Macrae, Becky Robbers, Lara Scrivens, Bodhi Turner, Rory Warne and Luca Yi
Original Creative Team:
Rob McCredie, Holly Durant, Tim Newth, Gabrielle Rose, David Hewitt, Gerry Corcoran, Gabriela Green Olea and Anne Corcoran
The 2018 Live work was supported by Create NSW, Regional Arts Fund, and Bega Valley Commemorative Civic Centre.
Body and Environment (2018), Images: Andrew Norman
WE WILL COME TO THE RESCUE - 2016
Celebrating 10 years since FLING Physical Theatre's Who will come to the Rescue?, We will come to the Rescue combined dance, physical theatre and gymnastics in an action packed show. The 2016 FLING Company transformed into superheroes and super villains, exploring and embracing the themes and cliches of the superhero genre, to ask what will our current generation of young people do to save the world?
We will come to the Rescue was presented in Bega and toured regional NSW to Yass, Bathurst and Dubbo, where it was presented at ARTLANDS National Regional Arts Conference.
Direction/Choreography - Rob McCredie, Choreographic Collaborators - Alexandra Harrison, Nick Power, Leif Helland, Gabriela Green, Sound Design - Braydon Zirkler, Lighting Design - Gerry Corcoran/GCLX, Rehearsal Direction - Lee Pemberton.
We will come to the Rescue was presented in Bega and toured regional NSW to Yass, Bathurst and Dubbo, where it was presented at ARTLANDS National Regional Arts Conference.
Direction/Choreography - Rob McCredie, Choreographic Collaborators - Alexandra Harrison, Nick Power, Leif Helland, Gabriela Green, Sound Design - Braydon Zirkler, Lighting Design - Gerry Corcoran/GCLX, Rehearsal Direction - Lee Pemberton.
HOME - 2016
Place, space or state of mind? Where do you hang your hat?
Home was a unique collaboration of five local professional artists, and a large cast performers ranging from 14-80 years. Drawing on interviews with the local community, Home painted an eclectic picture of what it means to be at home in the Bega Valley. Featuring original songs by Heath Cullen and a large community choir, Home toured locally within the South East NSW region, with presentations in Bega, Bermagui, Merimbula and Eden.
Direction/Choreography - Gabrielle Rose, Musical Direction/Composition - David Hewitt, Co Direction/Choral Direction - Dan Scollay, Lighting Design - Gerry Corcoran, Songwriter/Performer - Heath Cullen.
Home was a unique collaboration of five local professional artists, and a large cast performers ranging from 14-80 years. Drawing on interviews with the local community, Home painted an eclectic picture of what it means to be at home in the Bega Valley. Featuring original songs by Heath Cullen and a large community choir, Home toured locally within the South East NSW region, with presentations in Bega, Bermagui, Merimbula and Eden.
Direction/Choreography - Gabrielle Rose, Musical Direction/Composition - David Hewitt, Co Direction/Choral Direction - Dan Scollay, Lighting Design - Gerry Corcoran, Songwriter/Performer - Heath Cullen.
Rule of Three - 2015
Rule of Three brought together short works made by three choreographers with strong connections to FLING. Curved Lines, by FLING Alumni Ruby Dwyer, explored the communication pathways of the body. Speech, by Youth Company Director Rob McCredie, used movement and text to explore how much of the truth we are willing to share. Socialsize Me, remounted ahead of a tour to Highschools in the South East Region, explored the use and abuse of social media. Socialsize Me was remounted by Lee Pemberton and Gabrielle Rose, with lighting Design by Gerry Corcoran GCLX.
X The Floor - 2014

X the Floor engaged with boys from our community using parkour and movement training to explore themes of risk taking behaviour and adolescent friendship. Direction Lee Pemberton, Choreography Matt Cornell and Gabrielle Rose, Gymnastic and Parkour coach Alison Czolij, Set design and construction Stajlogistix, Lighting design GCLX, Sound score devised by Matt Cornell and Braydon Zirkler.
" Imagine looking through a school fence at the playground. Imagine all the dynamics, the sub-cultures, the conflicts, the lifelong pacts, the betrayals. Imagine the camaraderie. Imagine the isolation. Now imagine all the children are supercharged Ninja’s. This is Theatre, unbound and flapping in the wind". Patrick O'Hallarin Bega District News
" Imagine looking through a school fence at the playground. Imagine all the dynamics, the sub-cultures, the conflicts, the lifelong pacts, the betrayals. Imagine the camaraderie. Imagine the isolation. Now imagine all the children are supercharged Ninja’s. This is Theatre, unbound and flapping in the wind". Patrick O'Hallarin Bega District News
Socialsize Me - 2013

Socialsize Me explored the impact of technology, social media, facebook, and text, and their affects on our everyday lives and relationships. Direction Lee Pemberton, Associate Director Gabrielle Rose, Choreographer Adam Wheeler, Assistant Choreographer Ryl Harris, Sound score Braydon Zirkler, and Lighting design Gerry Corcoran GCLX.
Smoke Signal - 2013

- Smoke Signal combined dance and percussion exploring the rhythms of movement and sound. Collaborators Lee Pemberton, Gabrielle Rose and David Hewitt with Biamanga Percussion and the FLING Company.
The Idea of South - 2012

Inspired by exploratory expeditions of the late nineteenth century and the lived experience of the present day inhabitants of the remote far southeast of NSW, The Idea of South was a performance of human endurance and physical extremes, suspended on the frozen edge of the earth. Direction & Choreography - Alexandra Harrison & Rowan Marchingo, Aerial Direction & Design - Tully Ward, Sound Score - Bob Scott, and Lighting Design - Gerry Corcoran.
I Wanna Be - 2011

A zany and fast moving mix of contemporary circus and daring dance performed by 33 young people from Bega to Wollongong. The work explored the confusion faced when making choices about the future career pathways presented in life, and toured to Merrigong Theatre Wollongong. A co-production by FLING Physical Theatre and Circus Monoxide's Half High Circus, with collaborators Lee Pemberton, Circus Director Jane Davis, and Choreographer Adam Wheeler.
The Voyage - 2010

Inspired by historical journeys, treacherous voyages and survival stories of the wild oceans of the Far South Coast of NSW, The Voyage was a movement and dance play, utilising the possibilities of aerial dance to explore the huge force of a magnificent storm at sea. Directed by Lee Pemberton in collaboration with choreographer Fiona Malone.
The Voyage is dedicated to the memory of Julie Baker.
The Voyage is dedicated to the memory of Julie Baker.
Sol's Way- 2009

Sol's Way follows the experience of Sol on his journey to find himself. The characters explored motifs and imaginings from life's journey and death, using memories of childhood games, camping trips and the beach. Directed by Don Asker with choreography by Jane Mortiss.
Awake - 2008

A culmination of research, workshops and development concerning issues around themes of family history, natural heritage, conservation, memory, life and death, AWAKE brought together a number of communities in the Bega Valley Area and featured performers aged 8 to 80 years. Eight choreographers were involved in the seeding, development and creation of the performance with two musician/composers.
Director Lee Pemberton, Animatuer Don Asker, Choreographers, Jane Mortiss, Colleen Meessmann, Steph Hutchinson & Gareth Hart, Composers Geoffrey Badger & Pete Wild
Director Lee Pemberton, Animatuer Don Asker, Choreographers, Jane Mortiss, Colleen Meessmann, Steph Hutchinson & Gareth Hart, Composers Geoffrey Badger & Pete Wild
Who Will Come to the Rescue? - 2005 - 2007

Drawing on comic book super heroes, Who will come to the Rescue? explored science fiction story telling. After an experiment gone wrong the evil Flyman attempts to take over the city, by attracting Gangsters, Gargoyles and super villains to his side. A classic tale of good versus evil, this show encouraged the performers and audience to find their inner super hero. Direction and choreography by Lee Pemberton and Kirk Page.
Canon - 2006

Canon was inspired by original work written by local composer Geoffrey Badger, and the musical form of a Canon, and featured twenty dancers performing with three young string musicians. Choreographer Helen Linkenbagh, Artistic Director Lee Pemberton, Composer Geoffrey Badger.
Sick - 2006

Sick combined physical theatre, break dance, hip hop and contemporary dance, to capture the energy of youth gangs and skate park fever in a rural landscape. The performance was presented in skate parks from Tathra to Eden and Wyndham to Cooma.
Direction Lee Pemberton, Choreography B boy Swipa
Direction Lee Pemberton, Choreography B boy Swipa
A Dictionary of Habitats - 2004 - 2005

A Dictionary of Habitats was a thought provoking study of landscapes and wildlife of the Far South Coast of NSW, inspired by the natural beauty of the region. Direction Lee Pemberton, Projections Stuart Carless, Costume Design Colleen Meessmann.
Struggle - 2003

Set in a school play ground where the tables could turn from dream to nightmare depending on which side of the fence you grew up on, Struggle evoked memories of childhood. Direction Lee Pemberton, Creative Collaborators Ingrid Kleinig and Rowan Marchingo, Set Design Jude Walker
Quiver of the Heart - 2001

Quiver of the Heart was the first full length production made by Lee Pemberton with FLING Physical Theatre. An exploration of space and a meeting of youth culture with contemporary arts.