I just wanted to let you guys know that The Fromagerie will be closed after the end of February, and that The Old Flour Mill Building as it is will be no longer after March 15. We will be running a 3-night extravaganza March 1-3 to celebrate what the space was and mourn its passing. It’s called Past, Present, Future (one for each night).
Rosalind Crisp founded the space as Omeo Dance Studio in 1996, and after her move to Paris, The Fondue Set took over in late 2005 renaming it The Fromagerie. I think the closure will come as a big loss to the Sydney dance scene. The list of people who have worked in the space over those 10 years is massive. It has always served as a place where people can practice or perform works without curation or application forms. I suppose I'm also wondering about how the loss of a space like The Fromagerie impacts on the huge deal of the CarriageWorks.
The Fondue Set are going to attempt to look for another space, but we think it will be difficult to find somewhere so local, big and cheap and with a similarly lovely and supportive landlord. We will try! I was recently in Berlin (through a Goethe Institut Stipendium), where I attended a forum on studio spaces for dance in which people were lucky enough to be able to talk about an ideal. I came back full of enthusiasm for what our space could become, only to be faced with our eviction notice... This is the reality in Sydney! We will send on further information about Past, Present, Future very soon with open invitations for everyone who has ever performed there to be a part of it.
Jane Mckernan
for The Fondue Set, Sydney
RealTime issue #77 Feb-March 2007 pg. 36
© Jane Mckernan; for permission to reproduce apply to [email protected]