Cronulla professional skateboarder, Ryder Lawson, is appearing in a groundbreaking show called SKATE which is being performed at the Cutaway in Barangaroo.
SKATE is an innovative theatre spectacle by Big hART which fuses skateboarding, percussion and projection.
The show takes audiences on a sensory journey with the soundscape created purely by the sounds and rhythms of skateboards.
Think STOMP on wheels.
Lawson, 22, has travelled the world for skateboarding - from China to Japan and the US - and last year he took out the top title in the Australian Skateboarding League.
Over the past few months he has been working with Big hART as a cast member for SKATE.
The cast of talented young male and female skateboarders perform jaw-dropping feats and driving infectious rhythms with their skateboards against an ever-changing architecture of original projections.
Big hART is the first art residency the Cutaway has hosted, which has given Big hART the creative freedom and flexibility to hothouse a cutting-edge new work free from the usual tight production timelines which has engaged with Sydney's skateboarding community.
With a cast of young people aged 18-26, Big hART's SKATE backs young people to create a better world, with all profits from the production going to support disadvantaged communities.
Close to 500 skateboarders have engaged with the project, coming from across Sydney as well as Townsville, Brisbane, Melbourne, Wollongong and Newcastle to skate on the polished concrete wonderland of the Cutaway, which is the size of 30 tennis courts.
Open skate events make the Cutaway accessible to skateboarders of all ages, levels and persuasions.
Pre-schoolers, aging hipsters and young people from all walks of life have been dropping into the Cutaway for the free weekly events, with industry touting it as 'Sydney's hidden skatepark'.
July is the public's last opportunity to engage with the experimental phase of SKATE at the Cutaway - with all events free and open to the public.
The production company is working on taking SKATE to Tokyo next year, the year that skateboarding debuts at the Olympics.
Audiences are invited to preview the developing show at transition events on July 6, 18, 19 and 20 (finale) from 6pm to 7.30pm at the Cutaway.
Details: skate.bighart.org
