Creative Movement and Drama Classes

PLAY UP: Grades Prep – 2 or Ages 5 – 7 years 
The emphasis for this age group is on creative play and improvisation. Classes are designed to stimulate the imagination of young children, through participation in various drama, music and movement activities.

ACT UP: Grade 3 – 4 or Ages 7 – 9 years - 5.15pm - 6.15pm
These classes are designed to encourage children to become confident in presenting their own ideas and to work together in a group. This is achieved through movement, poetry, songs, scripts and theatre games; providing safe, supported performance opportunities.
 
TROUPE: Grade 5 – 8 or Ages 10 – 13 years - Troupe 6.30pm - 7.30pm
These classes are designed to encourage children to become confident in presenting their own ideas and to work together in a group. This is achieved through movement, poetry, songs, scripts and theatre games; providing safe, supported performance opportunities.

Further information:
Classes are facilitated by Dee Whittington who has many years' experience with children and youth of all ages in the areas of creative movement, drama and music, with fabulous outcomes for the participants.

ANY ENQUIRIES please CONTACT the Box Office: Tue-Fri, 10:00am-2:00pm, 9754-8723 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

VCE Creative Showcase 2021 - exhibition now on!

VCE Creative Showcase is the largest showcase of emerging artists from across the Yarra Ranges region, featuring students who have completed VCE Art or Studio Art. This dynamic exhibition and project is an insight into the artistic minds of our youngest and brightest creatives.

After a challenging year, these students are displaying their hard work for the community to enjoy. Engage with a diverse range of artworks, from photography to sculpture.

Hosted at Burrinja Cultural Centre in partnership with Yarra Ranges Council, the exhibition is professionally curated, featuring students who were successful in the application process. Celebrate another year of creativity at the VCE Creative Showcase Exhibition. 

“2020 was a challenging year for most so it has been particularly incredible to witness the insight, creativity and talent coming from our community’s emerging artists, who endured the challenges of VCE through COVID-19. I am proud we can offer these opportunities, provide a platform for the emerging artists of the region and showcase their incredible work.” – Mayor Cr Fiona McAllister

Join us for the closing night festivities on Fri 12th March 6pm - 8pm ~ Bookings Essential

 

The Harbour Agency Presents:

Hot Autumn Nights • Tim Freedman live

Tim Freedman will re-emerge in March with a brand new solo show "Hot Autumn Nights 2021".

After a sold out 35 date tour in November and December, this snappy run through the country will preview three more songs from The Whitlams' forthcoming album "Gaffage and Clink", and also premiere reworkings of some of his favourite tracks from Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Randy Newman.

Performing for limited capacities, and bringing a grand piano to most of the venues, Freedman will once again mix cabaret and rock in his own sardonic style.

The Daily Telegraph wrote of his November show at the City Recital Hall, "The tall and gangly front man charmed and cajoled his 400-strong “spaced out” audience with all the debonair flair of a Bryan Ferry....The stripped back accompaniment of the piano highlighted just how cleverly constructed his lyrics are – they sound so uncontrived, which is hellish difficult to do as any would-be songwriter will tell you." (Steve Moffatt) 

Women Painting Women III   

Women Painting Women is a major exhibition of portraiture in traditional oil painting. It presents award winning realist painters from Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. Taking its inspiration from the Women Painting Women exhibitions in the United States, this is the third Australian instalment of the Women Painting Women phenomenon which celebrates traditional realist painting and the talent of female artists.    

"This exhibition uniquely honours the female spirit - of realist painters and their sitters” - artist Vicki Sullivan

Some of this years artists include: 

From Victoria: Lisa Axiotis, Dagmar Cyrulla, Jacqui Grantford, Liz Gridley, Vicki Sullivan

From NSW: Kim Leutwyler, Colleen Stapleton, Sally Ryan

From South Australia: Tsering Hannaford

From Queensland: Elizabeth Barden, Anne-Marie Zanetti

From ACT: Narelle Zeller

Join us for the opening on Saturday 13 March at 2pm - Bookings essential

 

 

 

The Body as is Place

Featuring works by Mel Smith OAM, Gulsen Ozer, Gretel Taylor, Viv Rogis, Leonie van Eyk, Jonathan Homesy, Cat McKay and special guests.

A one night screening of dance films that explore the complex relationships between body, place and environment.  Feautring new work by a range of local dance film makers and guests, these screenings are less 'dancing in situ' and more about poetry in motion en plein air. Screenings will be followed by artist discussion and panel.

The body and place share a complex and symbiotic relationship. From green valleys, to rolling vistas, to celestial skies, this curation of contemporary dance films places the body and environment in an intimate conversation.

 

Grigoryan Brothers play LIVE

A “Hear My Eyes” style screening of the film “A Boy Called Sailboat” with soundtrack played LIVE in the Burrinja Theatre by its creators, acclaimed guitarists Slava & Leonard Grigoryan.

This heart-warming movie, written and developed by Melbourne-based creative team Cameron Nugent and Andrew Curry was filmed in New Mexico and stars Academy Award® winning actor J.K Simmons, Noel G, Elizabeth De Razzo, Jake Busey, Lew Temple and Julian Atocani Sanchez in the title role.

Sailboat brings love and hope to a family who have forged a simple but proud life in the drought-ridden Deep South. One afternoon he brings home a “little guitar”. From this moment, Sailboat and his little guitar are inseparable, and when his ill grandmother requests he write a song for her, Sailboat meanders through adversity to deliver the unimaginable – the greatest song ever written.

The Latin-themed soundtrack is a key element to the movie and provides an opportunity for audiences to hear the Grigoryan Brothers like never before.

 

 

Holding Pattern

 

New work, new ideas, from the new world. Responding to the idea of ‘the anthropause’ (a considerable global slowing of modern human activities, notably travel, due to COVID-19 restrictions affecting the flow of human movement globally), five contemporary artists are commissioned by Burrinja to make new digital works.

The project will be delivered to audiences via their own mobile phones, turning our hand held screens into the stages of our future.

A new work delivered to audiences each Thursday throughout April.

Artists include Gretel Taylor, Roderick Price, Julien Macandili, Rhys Kiekegaard, and Edwina Green.

"Over the past few months, many countries around the world went into lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19. Brought about by the most tragic circumstances, this period of unusually reduced human mobility — which we suggest be coined ‘anthropause’ — may provide important insights into human–wildlife interactions in the twenty-first century. Anecdotal observations indicate that many animal species are enjoying the newly afforded peace and quiet, while others, surprisingly, seem to have come under increased pressure." - www.nature.com

 

 

HERE ME - Teenagers Take Up Space

We are doing it again! After our successful flashmob performance installation in Belgrave last year, HERE ME will be on again these Easter school holidays, proudly supported by the Yarra Ranges Council. A performance art project about teenagers addressing misconceptions held about young people, giving voice to their unique perspectives, and taking up space in a positive and creative way.

Watch a video what we developed last year

Say something! Explore! Move! Think! Be an activist! Get involved! Meet new people, learn new skills, have a voice, share ideas, express yourself, move and take up space! No drama, dance or performance experience necessary, only a willingness to participate! Spaces are LIMITED so registration is essential!

For more info go to the HERE ME Facebook page here or email Dani-Ela Kayler at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Jimeoin Ramble On

A stalwart of Australian comedy. Jimeoin is an all round likeable rogue in his new stand up show Ramble On! He happily imparts his clever and quirky observations on everyday suburban life in his trademark devil-may-care style.

'Recalls the familiar at fantastically silly level, boiling his audience down to a tear-filled, gibbering mess' (Scotland on Sunday).

'Hilarious... If laughter's the best medicine, Jimeoin is a course of steroids... Don't miss it!' (Edinburgh Evening News).

Recommended for ages 15+ | 110 mins including 20 min interval

 

 

Wabi - Sabi | the Beauty of Imperfection

Each year Dandenong Ranges Open Studios participating artists are asked to create a work based on a collective theme. This year’s theme is WABI-SABI, the Beauty of Imperfection, a Japanese philosophy which encourages us to focus on the blessings hiding in our daily lives and celebrate the way things are rather than how we think they should be. The group exhibition is a unique opportunity to see work from all the artists in one location and select the studios that most intrigue or inspire you to visit during the Dandenong Ranges Open Studios weekend.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow 2021

Australia’s favourite comedy convoy is locked, loaded and hitting every corner of the country!

Join the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow in 2021 as it rolls across the country to home deliver the Comedy Festival vibe to every crack and crevice of Australia. From Bega to Broome, Townsville to Traralgon, we’re criss-crossing the country taking in more than 80 destinations along the way. More than any year before, our comedians are champing at the bit to break out from the barriers, shake off the seclusion and roll out the laughs.

With an all killer, no filler line-up of Australian stars and talented newcomers, buckle in for a night of stand-up, sketch, satire, silliness and song to satisfy all your comedy cravings! 

 

Archie Roach: Tell Me Why 

A new work sharing stories and songs from Archie's new memoir and companion album. 

Not many have lived as many lives – from stolen child, teenage alcoholic, seeker, lover, father, musical and lyrical genius, to social advocate and First Nations leader – but it took almost a lifetime to find who he really was.  He is Archie Roach.  His new memoir Tell Me Why (Simon and Schuster) is an intimate, moving and often confronting account of his resilience and strength of spirit, and also of a great love story. It’s an extraordinary odyssey of love and heartbreak, family and community, survival and renewal – and the healing power of music.  The companion album Tell Me Why (Bloodlines), considered Roach’s 18 song ‘magnum opus’, re-imagines eleven songs which have defined his extraordinary career. Roach voices the joy, pain and hope he found on his path through these songs to become the legendary singer-songwriter and storyteller that he is today – beloved and respected by fans worldwide.

 

 

2021 Dandenong Ranges Open Studios

Come and explore the secrets of the Dandenong Range’s with this creative and inspiring cultural experience. The Dandenong Ranges Open Studios takes you down the fern lined lanes of the hills to discover a selection of the most intriguing studios. Explore and connect with artists, ignite your creative imagination and step into the hidden gems, curious constructions and awe inspiring spaces of the artists’ creative environments.

Visit the exhibition at the Burrinja Gallery and select the studios that most intrigue or inspire you. You will have the unique opportunity to purchase artwork and hand crafted items directly from the artists, informed by new insight into their creative world.

Dandenong Ranges Open Studios is the biggest creative 'Open Door' of the region.

Visit studios between 10am and 5pm during the Open Weekend.

For more details about the Artists & the Studios click here

The Ranges | 3 Perspectives

At one time each of the artists was a Dandenong ranges resident. The works featured draw from the surrounding landscape of the places they called home.

Mary Tonkin: Contemporary plein air landscape artist whose detailed large scale representations reflect the forest at her family’s property in Kalorama.

Fred Williams: Australia’s most iconic landscape artist redefined painting in the Australian bush during his ‘Upwey years’ from 1963-68.

Miles Evergood: An impressionist whose 1930’s Kalorama paintings are characterised by strong colours and expressive brushstrokes and use of palette knife.

learn more

 

Belong...
Become a Burrinja Member

Connect with your community and support arts in the Hills with your $40, and we will give you:

• One FREE theatre ticket each year to a Burrinja show *
  
• Member ticket discounts on Burrinja shows
  
• Free ticket postage
• Updates, insights and special programs
• Special event invitations
• Member priority new season booking
• 10% off Burrinja gallery shop

By becoming a Burrinja Member you will be supporting local arts and culture as well as the many local projects that Burrinja manages, supports and enable - building community through arts.

* Only available for eligble shows in the Burrinja Season, excludes venue hire 'No Free Tickets' shows. To utilise the "FREE" ticket benefit please contact our box office on 03 9754 8723

More Info