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Five dancers wear pink and stand in a diagonal line caught in movement.

Joshua Monten Dance CompanyGame Theory Term 2

14 – 17 May 2024

In the Studio

Schools

International Dance Week for students | Stages 2 - 6 | Arriving directly from Switzerland is Game Theory – a fast-paced, funny and playful dance celebration of play, sport, big emotions, and the highs and lows of playing games! This season of performances and workshops will have students looking at dance from a whole new perspective.

What’s wonderful about this company is that they take everything seriously, without being quite too serious about it...

Richard Peter, Dewezet

Before dance became art, it was a game. Everyone loves a game…

Game Theory comes to Australia for the first time after delighting students across Europe. In this playful and joyous dance performance, students will recognise the building blocks of play and games - big emotions, freedom and rules, and adrenaline and flow.

Gaming is a source of inspiration for Joshua Monten and his dancers. For the creation of Game Theory they focused on the spontaneous beauty of movements that arise in the flow of an intensely played game. Be inspired by the language of sport and competitive games – with the dancers playfully moving through capoeira, table tennis, and Twister!

The games we like the best are often the ones we probably shouldn’t be playing in the first place. Games that have consequences and risks, games that are more than just a game, games that make our heads spin and can break our hearts.

Younger students will delight in the highs and lows of dance inspired by play, whilst students studying dance will be inspired by the fun and aesthetically rigorous choreography.

Accompanying these performances is a Dance workshop for Secondary students as part of our international dance week and Day Out at the House program. The Joshua Monten Dance Company is also available to come to your school to run a Flash Mob Dance Class after your students have enjoyed the performance on-site at the Sydney Opera House. Please contact the Creative Learning team for more details on your booking form or by emailing creativelearning@sydneyoperahouse.com.

Sydney Opera House presents a Joshua Monten Dance Company production with support from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, the Canton of Bern, the City of Bern and Corodis

Curriculum links

Game Theory explores themes surrounding play and its intrinsic ties to human emotion, dynamics and experience, and connections between physical exertion and emotional well-being. Collectively, these themes underscore the transformative power of games, emphasising their influence on individual emotions, societal norms, and group dynamics.

The performance supports general capabilities and cross curriculum priorities curriculum across personal and social capability, and critical and creative thinking.

Game Theory supports learning across Dance, Drama, PDHPE, and the Creative Arts.

Learning resources

The Opera House’s learning resources provide inspirational activities to watch, listen and read for students in the classroom or learning at home.

Find learning resources

Watch the trailer

Hear from Joshua Monten

Game Theory choreographer on the performance and the workshop

Joshua Monten Choreographer

Joshua Monten was born near New York City and studied literature and cultural anthropology at Duke University before beginning his dance studies. As a dancer he has performed with Bern Ballett, Staatstheater Nürnberg, Theater Freiburg, öff öff productions and DA MOTUS! He has worked with choreographers such as Stijn Celis, Hofesh Shechter, Juha Marsalo, Doug Varone, Konstantinos Rigos and Tino Sehgal.

Joshua Monten regularly choreographs for ballet, opera, theater and freelance dance productions. He has received numerous choreography commissions from the Stadttheater Bern, the Ballet National du Rhin, the Staatstheater Nürnberg, the Staatstheater Braunschweig, Theater Bonn, Opéra National de Lorraine, The Yard (USA), Theaterhaus Gessnerallee (Zürich), Zentrum Paul Klee and Art Basel. His work has been broadcast on television stations such as Arte and Mezzo and has been seen live by more than 300 000 audience members.

In 2012 Joshua Monten founded his own dance company, working for adult and young audiences.

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Ticket and Travel Subsidy

The Sydney Opera House is committed to providing the very best national and international performing arts experiences to NSW students as part of their educational studies.

The Sydney Opera House Arts Assist program provides the full cost of the Creative Learning performance ticket and $5 per student toward travel costs. School applications are assessed according to socioeconomic disadvantage, schools with special needs and individual responses regarding the School Profile and School Community.

The Sydney Opera House thanks and acknowledges our generous Arts Assist donors; The Greatorex Foundation and Sydney Opera House Ladies’ Committee.

Other information

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