Tobias Manderson-Galvin, a young man with great aspirations and an even greater name, has recently been granted the prestigious honour of Canberra Youth Theatre’s Open House residency to produce an original work, An Afternoon with the Faun. CYT runs Open House twice per year and the program invites young, independent and hopeful artists to develop a theatrical project. The residency lasts a fortnight and gives artists the opportunity and capabilities to expand their skills-set and ideas creatively and technically.

A performance artist, radio-host and rapper, Manderson-Galvin is an active young artist juggling several different projects, including his own established theatre company Sample Theatre. “I’ve worked my fair share of different jobs in the past: from working in call centres to door to sales,” says the artist. “Since then, I’ve realised that I have a different calling.”

In Manderson-Galvin’s case, he has chosen a challenging work of modern literature to base his production on. L'après-midi d'un faune, or The Afternoon of a Faun is a seminal work in the history of French symbolist literature.

“Mallarmé’s script to Afternoon of a Faun was brought to me one afternoon by my good friend Matthew Laurentin,” explains Manderson-Galvin. “He said, ‘Tobi, this needs your special treatment.’ I liked it because it was a myth in our society that was well known but also still a bit obscure. It seemed worth tackling. I was afraid the poem was too eerie and sleazy at first, and had to think about how to adapt it into play format without it being massively sexy. I was afraid it would go too far.”

Vanguard in style, Manderson-Galvin is also a perfectionist in his work. “I’ve written a number of different scripts of the play, which most of them have been thrown into the bin. I am sewing the beast together at the moment, working late nights, almost running blind.” Manderson-Galvin hopes that the resulting production will be “something between a Bill Hicks and Matthew Barney creation.”

Nonchalant about charting new territories, the artist looks forward to new and exciting challenges Canberra might herald. “I’m excited about getting started in Canberra. I’ve heard its pretty cold at this time of year, so I might start up my love affair with whiskey again… When I first get there, I’ll need to grab three people who have never heard of the play before and throw them into action. They’ll also probably be people who I’ve never heard of either.” He adds in frank summary: “After this Canberra escapade, if I don’t become a womaniser or alcoholic, I would have failed my mission."

An Afternoon with the Faun, part of CYT’s Open House initiative, plays at C Block Theatre, Gorman House, on July 4 at 7pm.

Flamenco is arguably the most emotive of dance styles: not a single part of the body left expressionless, from the furrowed brow to the pointed toe. Canberra audiences can experience the emotions of flamenco with Noche Flamenca, touring to the Canberra Theatre on Friday July 3.

Noche Flamenca’s lead dancer Soledad Barrio has stunned and endeared audiences worldwide with the unique architecture of her style. Her siguiriya, or solo, demonstrates her singular ability to weave rhythm and passion into a story that defines flamenco for the stage.

Barrio’s slow, deliberate walk around the circumference of the stage is the opportunity to witness a master dancer in action. The New York Times in 2007 raved:  “I have encountered many dance companies, and many more individual dancers. Of these there has been none I have been so glad to discover as Noche Flamenca and, above all, its lead dancer, Soledad Barrio. I can think of no current dancer in the world as marvellous as she.”

Barrio has the ideal collaborator: husband and choreographer Martin Santangelo. Santangelo has choreographed some of the work in Noche Flamenca with characters specifically designed for Barrio. The two formed Noche Flamenca in 1993 in Madrid, and they soon became a globetrotting phenomenon.

Santangelo has credited flamenco with the ability to break through oppression, to somehow elevate the spirit of the community, regardless of the economic, social, spiritual or physical hardships it faces. This philosophy, along with the pure talent and passion of all the artists involved, has won the favour of true flamenco fans the world over. Critics have universally praised Santangelo’s ability to unify music, dance and song. Santangelo recalls his early introduction to flamenco.

“Growing up in New York City, two friends of my mother and father were flamenco dancers and they were living with us, starting when I was 4 years old. They lived with us for five years. The male turned out to be Mario Maya - the biggest dancer and choreographer of flamenco. I was able to witness the best in my living room at such an impressionable age.”

Both Santangelo and Barrio have been delighted with the enthusiastic response they receive worldwide. “Flamenco has always has been popular, for the last 150 years. Flamenco comes from 28 different cultures, so it's pretty wide open. Each audience is different night by night [and] they respond differently based on how well we perform.”

Flamenco, rising phoenix-like from the flames of the repressive Spanish Inquisition, has a dynamic history and tradition that incorporates much more than simply physical movement and music.

``Flamenco is like one of those very extreme desperate screams of humanity,” says Santangelo. “It's like Greek tragedy and Greek comedy and it gets to the essence of what it means to be human, to really laugh or cry.”

Noche Flamenca plays at the Canberra Theatre on Friday July 3 @ 8pm. Tix $75/$65. Info and bookings call 6275 2700 or visit the CTC website.