Talking Drum

Hi to everyone out there.

Tetrafide has had a challenging and interesting year. After almost 200 performances in 4 different countries in 2010, with tours throughout Australia, India, China and the USA, 2011 was a much quieter affair.

As many of you would know, we lost 2 of our full time players last year, with Marcus joining the Cirque du Soleil team in North America for a stadium tour of Dralion, and with Louise leaving the group for personal reasons soon after.

This change caused a few challenges for us. The major project for the year was writing a new production, tentatively titled 'Small Things'. This process has proven to be harder than we'd hoped, with the big turnover of players meaning that the process took a lot longer as we all got to know each other and experiment with ideas. Writing is such a personal process that this familiarisation time became necessary.

Well, finally we're reaching the point where we can show some of this material, with a performance/showing at Trinity College (where we're artist's in residence) on December 3. Go to http://www.tetrafide.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=160869 for more detail, and to book your (limited) spot in the room. It will cost a measly $10 to get the first look at this new show.

Tetrafide played in the opening of the Commonwealth Festival last month, a part of the CHOGM happenings here in Perth. Along with about 220 other percussionists we were involved in creating a great opening to this festival- Drumming the Light, a work by Australian composer Graeme Leak, specially commissioned for the Festival. The event was coordinated fabulously by ex-Tetrafide's Louise Devenish.

Recent events have included gigs for various corporate, education and festival clients, including the Bull and Barrel Festival in Dardanup, and the Multicultural Food Festival for the City of Gosnells.

Next year will involve some exciting projects which I hope to announce over the next few weeks, including the premiere performance of the newest Steve Reich work, and some exciting developments involving the group nationally. We're sure that you will enjoy Tetrafide's 16 year of activities. Thanks for your interest in one of Australia's greatest and most underrated arts organisations!

Neville