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Volume 38 #19 28–24 October, 2023 Editor: Eve Jeffery Editorial/gigs: gigs@echo.net.au Copy deadline: 5pm each Thursday Gig Guide deadline: 5pm each Friday Advertising: adcopy@echo.net.au P: 02 6684 1777 W: echo.net.au/entertainment
Shearwater’s The Gatekeeper on a WAVE The buzz is building at Shearwater and it’s not just the bees – with two weeks to go until curtains up on WAVE 2023, the Mullumbimby Steiner School has hit term 4 running! Tickets are on sale now for this year’s Wearable Arts performance event, the school’s 23rd, and it’s entitled The Gatekeeper. A highlight of the school’s performing arts calendar, WAVE is embedded in the curriculum (and is also a ton of fun!), with around 200 students taking on roles as dancers, musicians, actors, writers, filmmakers and editors, lighting and audio technicians, carpenters, tailors, set and prop designers and builders, choreographers, photographers, stage hands, models and caterers. WAVE Director, Josh Rushton, says it’s always an exciting moment when the competition garments, created by students, staff and the wider creative community, begin arriving at the school.’
Love and driftwood ‘It has been four years since that morning, one of those fateful moments in time that would knit itself into the fabric of who I am today. This morning though, unlike many of the other pivotal moments through which I had been reluctantly forged by loss, grief, and heartache – this one morning became the gift I longed for in the midst of so much sorrow.
to the ocean when I was 11 years old, and when I sought to feel her, that’s where I would return. So there I was, alone on the beach, driftwood in hand, being transformed in a way I’m yet to properly articulate – not knowing, but somehow understanding the significance of this moment and the change that lay ahead.
‘A piece of driftwood in the shape of an eagle’s beak lapped onto the shore by sea and swell and perhaps the hand of something far greater than I understood then. On any other day, I may have missed it, but on this particular day, I found myself seeking solitude on a long, empty stretch of beach to sit face to face with the long-held grief of my mother’s passing. A simple gift from the ocean, a piece of driftwood, would serve to completely alter the course of my life. I was ten years old when I lost my mum – I was not prepared, not ready to be without her. She will be forever upheld in my memories as a strong, powerful and deeply beautiful woman who embodied such divinity. When she left, so too did my childlike innocence and wonder for the mysteries of the world. My imagination gave way to survival and my noticing dulled. I gave her ashes
‘The dreaming in me began to stir from its 15-year slumber, led by what I believe to be the gentle hand of my beautiful mother. For the two months that followed, I remained on that beach collecting driftwood, reacquainting with all the lost parts of myself – childlike wonder and joy. My initiatory work, a wedge-tailed eagle titled Reincarnate, I named in honour of my father who passed away mid-way through the creation of this sculpture. He had always wanted to return as an eagle. My sculptures hold great love, great intention and grand meaning. I am blessed by their creation.’ – Ben Hellewell. ‘Where Movement & Stillness Collide’ is the inaugural solo exhibition of Ben Hellewell. Opens Thursday and runs until November 5 at Vampt Vintage, Byron Industrial Estate.
‘In this sense, Shearwater’s Wearable Arts event has built, over more than two decades, a true artistic interface between high school and the world. A competition that goes out to the community; a high school production that builds an incredible show around an inspiring theme; and finally the integration of competition entries that brings the show to life.’ The performances will take place in the Shearwater Hall from November 1 to 4, starting at 7pm with refreshments available from 6.30pm. Winners will be announced on opening night. As part of Shearwater’s 30th year celebrations, tickets this year are $30 for adults and $15 for school students, with family options available (not suitable for children under eight years). Book your tickets via the WAVE website at shearwaterperformingarts.com or by scanning the QR code on our ad. All ticketing enquiries to wavetickets@ shearwater.nsw.edu.au or phone Shearwater on 6684 3223.
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