RabbiT | 9 - 20 Oct | Sydney Opera House

My 5 year old daughter is very excited about RabbiT, an upcoming performance which is included in the Kids at the House program at the Sydney Opera House.

RabbiT is performed by Buzz Dance Theatre from Perth, Australia’s only professional contemporary dance company specifically for children and young people. Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Buzz uses dance, theatre and comedy to capture the imagination of children.

Artistic Director Felicity Bott says “RabbiT celebrates adventure and curiosity, and encourages children’s creativity and natural inventiveness”.

RabbiT stars four madcap bounders searching for an Alice to join their wonderland. There is Warren, the bossy, pompous one; The Wallies, the world’s most non-identical identical twins who morph together like a two-headed monster; and the very naughty, tantrum throwing Bebe. When an Alice wannabe arrives, the rabbits measure her Alice-ability with some seriously silly tests.

We booked our tickets months ago as most shows sell out within the Kids at the House program. I would advise booking ASAP to avoid disappointment.

Arts Rocket has a family pass to giveaway to the production of RabbiT (Tuesday 9 October performance) courtesy of the Sydney Opera House. To go into draw all you have to do is subscribe to the Arts Rocket newsletter. Current subscribers will also go into the draw. The winner will be announced September 20.

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SEASON DETAILS: RabbiT
Dates/Times:
Tuesday to Saturdays from 9 to 20 October at 10am and 12.30pm.
Venue: The Playhouse Sydney Opera House
Tickets: All tickets $24 / groups of 4 or more $21 per person
$17 per person for registered childcare groups
Bookings: (02) 9250 7777 or online at sydneyoperahouse.com
Duration: 60 minutes
Age Group: Suitable for children aged 4+

Ultimo Science Festival - Review

We visited the ABC centre in Harris st to visit the Ultimo Science Festival.

Children were invited to take part in hands on activities such as looking through a microscope to count the number of eyes on a funnel web spider. They could solder their own flashing light toy and engage with the many scientists who were also there assisting and encouraging.

The highlight for my 9 year old was Ruben Meerman, the surfing scientist who demonstrated some impressive experiments with dry ice, balloons and potatoes.

Stand up mathematician, Simon Pampena, gave an hysterical dancing and screaming performance sharing his passion for numbers with the audience.

My problem now is: How do I explain again to my son those answers he gave for 0 divided by 0?

Review by Kathryn Cronshaw

Other activities included

Calico Bags Block Printing
Using hand carved stamps and artists quality paint to depict processes and systems in nature on a canvas shopping bag. Choosing from an insect’s life cycle, root system of a native grass, stormwater waste stream, fresh water pond life and much much more.

Leonardo da Vinci: Models of Genius
A talk about the working models based on the artist's sketches and notebooks. Demonstrating Leonardo da Vinci's uncanny foretelling of 'modern' innovations such as paddle wheel boats, double hulls for ships, the anemometer and hygrometer.

Music at Lennox House - NSW

Last week I took my 3 month old baby to Lennox House in Newtown- NSW for their Tiny Tots music session. Lennox house is a parent and child learning centre in Newtown run by the Department of Education and Training for children from birth to 5 years old.

They have lots of different activities throughout the week like playgroup, baby gym and occasional care and also have a toy library which only costs $15 a year to join. The music session is every Tuesday afternoon at 2 and costs $2.50. Michelle who runs the session makes it really interactive, she plays guitar and has books and toys to accompany the songs.

The children attending usually range from 3 months old to preschoolers, but I think songs and nursery rhymes are great for language development and creative play for children of all ages. The children are also invited to dance along try out some of the Lennox House instruments.

If you’re looking for something to do on a Tuesday afternoon the music session is a drop in program.
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You can contact Lennox House on 9519 3839, they are at 229 Australia St in Newtown.

Books Illustrated

Shaun Tan, illustration from The Red Tree

Books Illustrated, a centre for childrens literature in Melbourne has an annual exhibition which features illustrations from books entered into, and shortlisted in, the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s 2007 Book of the Year Awards. runs until September 2.

Also, check out the beautiful limited edition illustrated prints that are available for purchase.
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Not • So • Short • List Exhibition
Books Illustrated
at Gasworks Arts Park
15 Graham St Albert Park
Vic 3206

Packing up: Starting out

The German Arts Festival is on its way to Sydney with selected showcases in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. The festival endeavours to showcase cutting-edge programmes, challenging acts and daring performances. Creating spaces and new opportunities for encounter and dialogue.

As part of the festival school children from year 3 to year 12 were invited to produce a short feature, cartoon, or animation film in German, of max. 4 minutes in length showing creative interpretations of the theme: Packing up: Starting out.

The films will be shown as part of the German School Film Festival and the winners will be announced.

The Germany Faces Australia - German Arts festival runs from the 10 Sept till 20 Oct 2007.
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Booking details:
Wed 19 September, 2.00pm
Free Admission
www.goethe.de/schoolfilmfestival
Venue: Chauvel Cinema
Oxford and Oatley Street Paddington
http://www.chauvelcinema.net.au/

Other states:
22.10 ADELAIDE Mercury Cinema Adelaide
09.11 MELBOURNE ACMI Federation Square

Welcome to the town of Kafkamêsto

My son discovered some great online games on the ABC ROLLERCOASTER site. The games are listed in the following categories: Animal, Art, Science, Music, Quizzes and Sport. The graphics and themes are fantastic and you will find something suitable for all ages.

Highlights include:
Dots and Diamond- A game where you are the detective and must solve the Mysterious Case of the Missing Mummies. As you search for scarabs and other clues lots of interesting museum facts are discovered along the way.

For older kids Kafkamêsto is very intriguing. "You awaken from an uneasy dream. You are in a small, bare apartment. You are alone. You have no idea how you got there. You don't even know who you are. Welcome to the town of Kafkamêsto."

In the t-shirt maker kids can design and print their own t-shirt transfers with a wide choice of graphics to play around with.

My daughter and younger son are enjoying the online activities that can be found on the Queensland Art Galley site. In The Call of the Wild Australian artist Justine Cooper invites children to play her game where the aim is to set the animals free from the museum and return them to their natural habitat.

Kusamas World of Dots is based on artist Yayoi Kusama’s fascination with dots. This interactive is great fun- children can select different scenes and add dots of different colours and personalities. If your child is still crazy about dots after this interactive - check out Latitude & Longitudes Wallcandy Dottilicious coloured dots.

Yuka Oyama - Schmuck Quickies Salon – Powerhouse Museum

We visited Yuka at the Powerhouse Museum on Sunday (see Leigh's entry below). Here is a photo of the ‘jewellery’ she made for my son (modeled by Big Ted). While a little shy at first, as most of the children seemed to be, my son was delighted with his piece. He roamed with Yuka through some boxes until he spotted something he liked and then she added to it to create something he was happy to wear for the rest of the day.

Get in early to avoid a large waiting list.

Schmuck Quickies Salon with Yuka Oyama
Date: Sat 04 Aug 2007 - Sun 12 Aug 2007
Time: 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Venue: Powerhouse Museum, Harris St, Ultimo