ADC Director Xavier McGettigan sat down to chat with Get Your Coats On in Edinburgh online ahead of our arrival for the world premiere of Perfect Pairing: A Wine Tasting Dancegustation this August. Scroll down or click here to read the interview.
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This is my first time in Scotland, in fact it’s my first time in the United Kingdom altogether! I’ve always heard how amazing Ed Fringe is, especially being a fan of quite a few UK comedians (even more now thanks to Taskmaster being my favourite TV show), so it’s pretty incredible to be a part of such a prestigious festival among over 3,000 other shows. Perfect Pairing is not only my international debut, but also the first international performance by Attitude Dance Company, we can’t wait!
“Adjusting my life and creativity around my neurodivergent brain, giving myself some grace and how to weaponise hyperfocus to make cool art.”
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
2022 was an exciting year, I got married to my Perfect Pairing Co-Producer husband Jayson Fry in April, and immediately went into rehearsals for our award-winning production of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (oh yes, another UK connection, I grew up on the original Hitchhiker’s radio play on cassette during family trips) and got my ADHD diagnosis later in the year. Adjusting my life and creativity around my neurodivergent brain, giving myself some grace and how to weaponise hyperfocus to make cool art.
Xavier in rehearsal. photo by Sandy Gray
Tell us about your show.
Perfect Pairing actually came to life when my husband and I were celebrating an anniversary at our favourite local restaurant, The Hot Chicken Project. After hearing Laura Viva, the THCP Wine Manager talk passionately with other patrons about wine, we asked her to take us through a bottle of her favourite wine. Not knowing much about wine ourselves, we were taken not only by her knowledge, but her passion and “no bullshit” approach to talking about wine. She often says, that it doesn’t matter what you know, if you drink a wine and you like it, it’s good wine. At ADC like to think about contemporary dance in the same way, avoiding elitism and taking the pressure off audiences from having to “get it” to enjoy it.
Attitude has been around for 14 years, starting as a dance school, then in 2014 focusing purely on creating original dance theatre, becoming Attitude Dance Company. A few of the Perfect Pairing cast have been around since the dance school days! We performed a preview performance in our home town of Geelong, but the Edinburgh Fringe season of Perfect Pairing is its world premiere! We hope to tour Australia over the next two years, and maybe beyond, who knows?
Xavier mid-leap. photo by Sandy Gray
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
We’re traveling over to Edinburgh and are performing at Greenside alongside two other Geelong/Surf Coast companies, Project Connect who are presenting “a/lone”, an original physical theatre piece about loneliness and “Shadows of Angels” by Anglesea Performing Arts, a play about a true story of crime in 1920s Australia. Both shows feature live, orginal music by Kirstin Honey (she’s amazing), and I also happen to be one of the two performers in “a/lone”.
In the first week of Fringe you can watch “a/lone” and Perfect Pairing back to back in the Olive Studio and “Shadows of Angels” leads into Perfect Pairing in the second week of the Festival. Either way, we have an awesome double-bill of Aussie theatre with a wine tasting during the second show!
Thanks to Get Your Coats On for the wonderful interview, make sure to head to the Ed Fringe website or click the image below to get your Perfect Pairing tickets now! We have a few days left on our crowdfunding campaign via the Australian Cultural Fund, we have been generously supported but would still love your support. Click here to make a donation to our campaign today.
