IF YOU had planned on braving the wind this weekend for a stroll along Nobbys Breakwater, then be warned about a group of youths loitering down the end.
Of course, by "group of youths" the Newcastle Herald means The Flipside Project and "loitering" is no less than "featuring in an international dance film".
The Flipside Project is the youth arm of Newcastle's Catapult dance hub. On Saturday and Sunday, 11 Flipside Dancers will collaborate with nine from Canberra's QL2 group for youth dance film Changing Faces.
Supported by the Australian Council for the Arts, Changing Faces will be directed by international film producer Sue Healey and bring together people aged 14 to 25 from Youth Dance Australia companies in Canberra, Tasmania, Wollongong, Newcastle, Blue Mountains, Melbourne and Adelaide.
Each section of the film will present iconic landscapes and locations across Australia based around the water. For Newcastle, this location is the breakwater.
"It's about bringing young people together especially after COVID from different places around Australia," director of Catapult Dance Crew choreographic hub Cadi McCarthy said.
"The underlying theme is coming together after such a long time apart and water is what actually connects us all because we are on an island in Australia."
This section of the film will be edited together into the full-length film and premiered nationally at Melbourne's Australian Youth Dance Festival in July 2022, and then launched to international audiences.
"All material the dancers will be performing is choreographed by them. It's about the creative process and bringing out young people's individuality," Ms McCarthy said.
"For them to communicate themes and discuss how their lives are across Australia."
Port of Newcastle is accommodating the project and the final third of Nobbys Breakwater will be closed to the public on Saturday, June 11, from 12.30pm until 5pm and Sunday, July 12, from 7am until 3pm for the filming of a youth dance production.
Nineteen-year-old Meg Burton is one of the Flipside dancers who will be performing for the camera this weekend.
"It feels pretty amazing. It's great to be dancing with people who have the same passions and the same ideas in contemporary dance as we do," Meg said.
"Being able to collaborate on such a big scale is something that is going to be really enjoyable."
Meg, who is now studying a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Newcastle having graduated from Hunter School of Performing Arts, said she has been dancing with Flipside for nine years.
"The community at Flipside is amazing, everyone is family and supports each other. It's not competitive and is a very friendly and hard-working environment."
She said the Changing Faces project is important to "show the arts is coming back stronger after COVID".
"It's incredibly important to show that we are rebuilding ourselves. Everyone in the arts had a very tough time with funding and not being able to work and perform," she said.
"Showing that we are coming back stronger than ever after such a hard time of is really important."
