“I remember when I was 8 watching SBS through the crack of my bedroom door. I could see two women getting it on. It was a dangerous and exciting image, and I knew I should forget it… but instead I took it to bed with me. I remember promising myself each time: ‘this is the last time I’ll do this.’ I also remember not believing it, not a even a little bit.”

Woven together from intersecting stories of the queer experience, a performer tells a relational story that emerges from the intimacy and surprising universality of the queer experience growing up. In doing so, NEW BALANCE examines and constellates the moments that helped to form us and hurt us in equal measure.

What are the points of connection that the queer community have that straight people cannot? What formulates these points of connection? What makes them special? Moreover, how can we be truly self-reflexive within a community that is progressing, but still under attack? In tackling these questions, NEW BALANCE aims to create a space of accountability and recognition.

From the winners of the inaugural Midsumma & Melbourne Fringe Queer Development Award (Intoxication), NEW BALANCE was developed with mentorship from Nicola Gunn and Brunswick Mechanics Institute.

As part of the initial presentation of NEW BALANCE, we want to compile an array of anecdotes from the LGBTQ experience to weave into the show. We’re particularly interested in stories that intersect between the queer experience and the social model of disability. You can tell us as little or as much as you want, it can (and perhaps should) be totally anonymous, and ideally not require much set-up or back story.