Launching "Awakened": The Night Our Studios Became a World

On Saturday evening, around 100 people walked through the doors of Tamworth City Dance Academy and into something they weren't quite expecting. What greeted them wasn't a presentation, a slideshow, or a speech. It was a whole new world.

Welcome to the launch of Awakened — TCDA's major production for 2026, coming to TRECC on Saturday 5 December.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3kNPHAhGF4

A Different Kind of Launch

For many years, TCDA's annual production was part of the Tamworth Capitol Theatre season, a wonderful program that serves our broader arts community. But as TCDA has grown, so too has our ambition for how we bring our shows to life. This year, we made the decision to step out and create our own event with a launch that was entirely ours, built around our students, our vision, and our space.

What Miss Lily and Miss Jaydah built on Saturday night was extraordinary. Rather than a single performance in a traditional setting, they designed a room-by-room immersive experience that transformed every corner of our studio into a piece of the Awakened world. Guests didn't watch the show from a distance. They walked through it.

Room by Room

It began in the front studio with three performers dressed as broken porcelain dolls, cycled through the space: one suspended on aerial straps, the others posed amongst life-sized blocks and playroom props, all shrouded in atmospheric smoke. The effect was immediately arresting.

Moving through the central corridor, guests encountered six performers dressed as the robotic M3gan — eerily still one moment, interacting directly with the crowd the next, moving fluidly through the entire studio space across the evening. The effect was unsettling in exactly the right way.

The student area featured our scaffold wrapped in fabric, creating silhouettes of performers visible through the screen while another dancer engaged with enormous toy blocks in front, providing theatre within theatre.

The main studio housed three aerialists on silks and lyra in full creepy clown costume, while a fourth performed as a puppet with wrist and ankle straps making every movement feel controlled by an unseen hand above. It was one of the most striking aerial images we've ever created in this space.

In the barre room, four ballerinas performed at the barre and in centre as delicate music box dancers, while a fifth emerged from a life-sized toy box before disappearing again.

The back studio offered something unexpected: a performer on a throne in front of a sea of fairy lights, dressed as a white fairy. Guests were invited to pick up a wand and have their photograph taken. It was warm, interactive, and the perfect counterpoint to the creepier rooms that preceded it.

The Finale

After forty minutes of moving through the world of Awakened, the M3gans gently ushered everyone back to the front studio. What followed was a powerful contemporary finale, with all performers together, filling the space in a way that made the scale of this production absolutely clear.

Then Paul and Kellie stepped forward, thanked everyone for being part of this moment, and shared the news: Awakened tickets are now on sale.

The Space Transformed

None of this would have been possible without the LED lighting that has been a recent addition to our studio. Every room was bathed in colour that was shifting, atmospheric and theatrical. Our studios are extraordinary spaces for dance. On Saturday night, they became something else entirely.

Sam Gardner, TCDA dance mum, and one of this year's Dance for Cancer Stars alongside her daughter Mia, was also in the room, raising funds with her signature lolly jar competition. The warmth of the TCDA community was present even in the midst of all the theatrical creepiness.

A Taste — Not the Whole Show

One thing we want to be clear about: the launch was atmospheric and immersive, and yes, deliberately a little eerie. But Awakened itself will be none of these things. The production explores a full spectrum of emotion and style — whimsical, comical, dramatic, lyrical. The launch gave guests a sense of the world we're building. December will give them the full story.

Over 200 tickets sold on day one of public sales. Awakened is shaping up to be a very special evening.

Awakened — Saturday 5 December 2026, TRECC Tamworth. Tickets available now through Tamworth Regional Council from the Capitol Theatre Box Office, online or over the phone