ALTER – a double bill of Design, Dance, Disability and Dissent
Liz Lea
6 + 7 November 2026
Day + Time | Friday + Saturday | 7.30pm-3.30pm | Lunch included
Location | Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen ACT 2617
Entry | General Admission $45 | Bookings Essential
Access | template, template, template
ALTER is a presentation of two new works at Belco Arts, epitomising excellence in Canberra centred creativity. Led by Canberra artists of international repute in collaboration with leading ASEAN artists from Kuala Lumpur, a current UNESCO City of Design, both works have been supported by Creative Australia funding.
Born of design and innovation, ALTER is a double bill of dance works exploring the potential of new design technology in the interplay between body, identity and cross cultural exchange. Drawing on 35 years of Liz Lea's specialisation in classical Indian and contemporary dance, as well as focused research into the power of the Metaverse as an accretive design tool, ALTER brings technology to the fore to enable symbiotic interaction between real and virtual bodies, where movement creates visuals in a projected environment.
ALTER speaks to the brutalist architecture of Canberra's design and its surrounding nature. As the largest example of Australia's Garden City Movement, Canberra is recognised internationally as a designed and planned city, and yet nature prevails, its untamed energy making the city hum. Just as Walter Burley Griffin's designs were based on the natural topography of the land, ALTER draws from the natural topography of the body.
ALTER meets 8 of the 10 UNESCO City of Design criteria, contributing to the positioning of Canberra as a dynamic, people centred creative hub where design excellence and community wellbeing are intertwined. The works are presented alongside a program of community engagement opportunities, celebrating Canberra's multicultural nature and rich heritage through interactive theatre founded in deeply articulate human movement and responsive design.
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Liz Lea is a nationally and internationally recognised dance artist, choreographer and producer. Over three decades she has toured her work internationally and been commissioned in India, UK, Australia, South Africa, Singapore, USA and Kuwait. Liz was the 2017 ACT Artist of the Year and received a 2017 Australian Dance Award. She directs two Festivals – DANscienCE where dance and science meet, and BOLD which celebrates the legacy of dance across all identities. BOLD22 ran over 4 days in March 2022. In 2019 she was an Asialink Resident with Maya Dance Theatre, Singapore and was Artistic Director of Canberra Dance Theatre from 2010 to 2016. Liz Lea has toured her one woman show RED internationally and worked as a Movement Director in Kuwait. In 2021 she premiered The Point and is currently training in Audio Description. She also directs The Stellar Company, a not-for-profit arts organisation and recently launched the Chamaeleon Collective, Canberra’s first inclusive dance company. Liz is represented by Karen Gallagher and Associates, UK.
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Images | Performance Still from 3 + Virtual View | Produced by Liz Lea | Images courtesy of Liz Lea