Sweet Dreams was a 2013 project, a multi-arts program of music, dance, visual arts, storytelling workshops and performance, linking artists with a disability in Lithgow, Bathurst and Orange.

A public showcase of all the projects was held Tuesday 14 May 2013 at Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre. The showcase brought the three groups from three locations together.

Dance workshops

Held at the Heritage Building at Bathurst Health Service over 10 weeks with dancer/ choreographer Wendy Erickson. For the performances dancers responded to and danced with a background of images created by the visual arts group from Lithgow.

Visual art workshops

Held at Lithgow Information and Neighbourhood Centre (March 7- April 13, 2013) and Wangarang Industries Orange (February 21-April 11), led by Cate McCarthy.
Program: Showing of small shadow puppet theatre. Explain about the overall Sweet Dreams project.
Week One and Two: dreams and aspirations; Drawing dreams and images from dreams;
Discuss possible stories around these images.
Week Three: Create characters from the images; Make these characters come to life; Play with the characters with a light and screen.
Week Four: Create a setting for the story; Create a medium size shadow theatre box and
work with the story and the characters; Practice with the characters, background
Week Five: Practice with all of the elements and add music and sound effects
Week Six: Performance.

Music workshops

Music composition workshops were held at Orange Regional Conservatorium in January 2013 led by musician Charlie McMahon. The music was performed at the end performance but also integrated into the visual storytelling and dance components.

Showcase

Here’s a short video about the project and the showcase (made by Adrian Symes):
https://youtu.be/5EXTQXNhiyo