Unapologetic queerness takes to the stage with Halftime Show – and it’s nothing like you’ve seen before
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A wonderfully weird and unsanitised performance night featuring some of the hottest queer artists in the ACT? This isn’t anything like you’ve seen before in Canberra – and it’s even bedtime-friendly.
Born from the minds behind Canberra’s only queer art and sport collective CLUBSCORE, Halftime Show is a brand-new project celebrating wild, unbridled, unapologetic queerness, featuring performances that promise to bring heat, humour, candour, courage, rage, love, and passion to the stage.
Following CLUBSCORE’s groundbreaking Fantasy Museum of Trans Sporting Excellence and Portal to Other Dimension which made its debut as part of Uncharted Territory in 2023, the project has once again been co-created by Zev Aviv and Ketura Budd and they say that Halftime Show is not only a performance – it’ll create a physical space where the trans and gender diverse community can gather.
“Seeing just a tiny handful of the amazing performance art that Canberra artists are making inspired us to create Halftime Show. We wanted to offer queer artists a chance to luxuriate in their weirdness,” says Ketura.
“Canberra has a diverse and lively queer performance scene and we wanted to make more space for artists to do long-form pieces as well as venturing outside the worlds of drag and burlesque.”
A combination of dance, music, and performance, Halftime Show will treat audiences to five sensation performances before the floor becomes theirs to dance on. And with two shows coming up (one this Friday 17 May and one on Friday 21 June), Ketura says each show has a unique line-up filled with acts that don’t fit into a neat category.
“CLUBSCORE believes there are five main elements representing sport and queerness –Spectacle, Sacrifice, Contest, Luck, and Chaos. At the offering on Friday 17 May, there will be five performers exploring SPECTACLE and what it means to them,” they explain.
“These artists have backgrounds in dance, music, drag, magic, butoh, sport, and visual art. What aspects they use and investigate is part of the surprise! However, people can expect to be excited, confused, surprised, amused, delighted, and invigorated… It’s a ritual, and a game but mostly a fun night out!”
Finishing at 9.30 pm (so you’ll be in bed well and truly before midnight), the concept behind the project and its name is to give the attendees and performers the chance to rest and reset.
“Halftime Show is the pause, rest, and reset that happens in between two halves of a game. In this case, the game is queer existence,” explains Ketura.
“Halftime Show will give queer folk on stage and in the audience a chance to gather to do all of those things before being sent back out on the pitch, which is real life.”
“The performances and rituals will give the audience stuff to talk about and bond over, and maybe to see their selves, feelings, and stories reflected on stage. Plus, we get to have a little dance together at the end!”
Not recommended for children under the age of 15 (there is some nudity and strong themes), ticket costs for Halftime Show are ‘pay what you can afford’ – whether that’s nothing or $45.
Why? Because CLUBSCORE doesn’t want money to be a barrier to seeing art and creating a safe space for trans and gender-diverse people to connect.
“We want the space we create to be accessible to every member of our community – we think everyone should be able to come and enjoy the experience, regardless of how much money they have,” says Ketura.
“We are lucky enough to be supported by Capital of Equality funding and Belco Arts, which means all money from ticket sales will go to putting on more events like this in the future!”
THE ESSENTIALS
What: Halftime Show
When: Friday 17 May, and Friday 21 July, 6 pm – 9.30 pm.
Where: The Rehearsal Room, Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen.
Tickets + more information: clubscore.org/halftime-show
Feature image: Ravi Oli.
