Dancenorth Artistic Director and Co-CEO Kyle Page says the response from audiences has been extraordinary, with many spilling out of the Playhouse seeking to have further conversations with the performers.

“We’re meeting people on the street after the show who are just so deeply moved and affected by the work,” Page said.

“And that is the power of contemporary dance, in particular it’s a very subjective art form, it’s non-linear, it’s abstract, it’s non-verbal.

“We’re not trying to guide people with words to a particular outcome or a particular experience. We’re really creating this situation, this series of unfolding events, which is life.”

On the face of it, RED is tribute to the most beloved of Aussie larrikins – the redhead. But underneath the layers deeper themes emerge.

RED is set tens of thousands of years ago, when a genetic mutation gave rise to the physical manifestation of red hair in humans. But now, they are endangered.

In the show air slowly empties from a large transparent inflatable structure, with the plight of the dancers an allegory for a contracting world, where biodiversity is progressively being suffocated and silenced.

“The original musing was beginning to form when Amber (Haines – co-CEO of Dancenorth) and I were looking quite heavily into the loss of biodiversity on the planet,” Page said.

“And the statistics are truly harrowing. It seems as though that loss of biodiversity is really a symptom. And it’s a symptom of our loss of connection or awareness of our connection with the natural environment.

“So we see ourselves, humans, as distinct and separate or other to nature, thereby we can rule dominion over this thing that is separate to us and we can extract resources at horrific rates right across the planet.

“In modern Western culture we have cultivated this kind of social and cultural falsehood that we are separate to the natural environment. We are not nature and nature is not us. And our kind of deep understanding is that there is no truth in that and that we are of course deeply and intimately connected to the natural environment.”

Page said their regional base in Townsville is integral to RED and their other works – such as the Brisbane Festival runaway successful show Wayfinder – which will embark on a national tour next year.

The immersive natural environment of their Townsville base prompts challenging conversations and ultimately productions about how we are neglecting our connection with nature.

“We are deeply, deeply influenced by the natural environment, the vastness of the sky, the ocean right there. The Great Barrier Reef, this incredible rainforest on our doorstep,” he said.

“And not only are we influenced by proximity, we’re influenced very intimately through process. So we spend time in nature working in the bush, we spend time in the ocean working with the dancers on these sensing and sensorial exercises.

“So the environment is literally folded into the process of how Amber and I create works like RED.

“It feels as though the more that we can see sameness in others, the more we can recognise our shared kind of common humanity, the more we can look after one another, we can look after the earth and hopefully find a way through the ecological crisis that we’re all currently facing.

“And the performers that we’re working with, Marlo Benjamin and Michael Smith deeply embody this sense of life and beauty within the experience.”

He said it highlights the importance of work of regional companies to the performance landscape.

“We’re deeply committed to the stories and the conversations and the way of life in regional Australia, it feels as though these are vital stories for the rest of the country to have access to and be exposed to really important voices to represent again, the biodiversity of life on this continent that we’re collectively acknowledging of Australia,” he said.

“Art – particularly live performance – has this incredible capacity to shift the narratives of our time and to contribute to a deeper understanding and a collective awakening as we’re facing these incredible challenges right across the planet. And hopefully it plays this very beautiful role in bringing us together so we can conquer those challenges with a sense of community, a deep sense of community right across the world.”