Image above by Evan Fowler

Hi there!

We are Freya McGrath and Harriet Wallace-Mead and we are the creators of The 24 Hour Dance Project, an electrifying participatory endurance dance experience.  We are presenting The Project at this year's Melbourne Fringe Festival and we need your help to make it happen.

The 24 Hour Dance Project has been developed and takes place on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation.  We pay our respect to their Elders past, present, and emerging, and all of this county's First Nations peoples.

How did it all start?

The 24 Hour Dance Project is the brainchild of emerging Naarm (Melbourne) based theatre maker Freya McGrath.  In her work as a performer, director, and arts facilitator, 21-year-old Freya has crafted her practice around the power of movement.  “I am committed to making art that is gripping and pertinent," she says, "art that is considerate and brings people together.”  

Freya has been dancing (if not professionally, then enthusiastically) since childhood.  “I believe dancing is an act of defiance in the face of a frightening world. When I dance, I am confident, I am fearless, I am present and I am powerful,” she says.  “I want to test how far my love of dance can take me." 

The premise for The 24 Hour Dance Project is simple:  Freya dances for 24 hours without a break, rest or sustenance, unless someone takes her place.  Throughout the 24 hours we'll move from 80’s bangers to a rave cave to slow-dancing under a disco ball to a dance at dawn to welcome the sun.  The entire event is a ritual testament to the power of dance.  

The 24 Hour Dance Project is both intensely personal – teasing out the relationship between the body, dance and sexuality – and fiercely communal – creating a safe space where EVERYONE can release their inhibitions, lose control and come home to themselves. 

We are very excited to announce that The 24 Hour Dance Project will be presented as a part of the Critical Mass program, a crowding of crucial ideas at Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick Mechanics Institute, Siteworks and Testing Grounds during 2018's Melbourne Fringe.

Who are we?

We are a team of emerging artists who met through the University of Melbourne student theatre community and are now making our way towards independent work.   We were all drawn to this project by our belief in Freya as a performer and, of course, our shared love of dance!  This is our first joint project in the Melbourne Fringe, but each of us has had a fair dose of experience making, facilitating, producing and managing a range of independent projects.  We've got the know-how and the passion to get the job done.

Where are we at now?

A year ago in August 2017 at the University of Melbourne's Mudfest, a student festival for performance and visual art, Freya created and performed a 12-hour version of The Project in a small vacant commercial lot on campus.  From 9am to 9pm Freya danced alone and in crowds of friends and strangers.  The space was transformed from at times a place of quiet reflection and at others to a frenetic rave.  After receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from those who chose to dance or to simply witness the spectacle, Freya decided to take her love for dance even further – to 24 hours of non-stop dance at the Melbourne Fringe. 

So far this year we have taken Freya's idea, facilitated her development as an artist, assembled a crack production team, found a venue, registered for Melbourne Fringe and written a manifesto to guide our work.  Now we're in the process of bringing The 24 Hour Dance Project into full fruition.

The 24 Hour Dance Project will have a lot of moving parts (pun intended).  We are working on a "relaxed hour", which is designed to make the work accessible to folks with sensory requirements or families with children.  We are currently approaching local dance organisations, community groups and other artists to perform in our 24-hour extravaganza.  Freya is also laying the plans to teach dance and performance groups choreography for three separate dances, which will then be performed by those groups throughout the 24 hours – Freya as dancer not just substituted, but multipled.

The 24 Hour Dance Project will be a lot of different things to different people.  For some, it’s an opportunity to watch an artist push themselves to their utmost physical and mental limit.  For others, it’s a chance to come together in a room full of strangers, laying aside any inhibitions and baring your soul through movement.  Or maybe it’s just the ultimate dance party.

What do we still need?

Like most independent artists, we are funded entirely by ticket sales.  So far we've managed to make The 24 Hour Dance Project fairly cost effective with the generous support of our venue Testing Grounds and our mentors at Union House Theatre.  Unfortunately, there are still a couple of big bills we need to pay.  Ticket sales will cover some of our costs, but there are some big ones on the horizon we will struggle to pay without extra support.  The Project has all the regular costs of an independent production, including marketing, lighting hire, costumes, set construction and music licencing.  But by far our biggest cost is security.

Why do we need security?

At the core of The Project is an insistence on taking up space as a queer woman, but within that insistence is an acknowledgement that sometimes that is dangerous.  As a team we want everyone who comes to The Project to feel safe, so in order to keep our venue open, safe and accessible for the whole 24 hours, we need professional security. 

We want to lose ourselves to dance, and we hope you'll come with us.

Our Current Budget

Our total budget is almost double what we're asking for in this campaign, and we are planning to use ticket sales to cover the remainder of our costs.  However, what's not included in this budget is payment for ourselves.  As emerging artists working without funding we are not expecting to walk away with a fat cheque.  All we want is to cover the costs of The Project without having to drain our savings!

How would we use the money?

Our first priority is to cover the cost of security.  Safety and overnight accessibility are non-negotiable aspects of this production, so we want to be one hundred per cent certain that we can afford it.  If we meet that initial goal, any further money raised will go towards making The Project the best it can be.  That means better costumes, sets and set pieces, covering additional administrative costs and getting the word out to as many people as we can.

Your support is absolutely crucial to making this work happen.  Please help us bring this beautiful, defiant dance experience to fruition.

Then all that's left is for us to meet you there, take your hand under the disco ball and dance our hearts out together!