Musical Storytime: Introducing Teddy

Introduce your children to the magic of live music and storytelling with Orchestra Victoria and The Wheeler Centre!

Introducing Teddy is a gentle story about gender, being true to yourself and being a good friend. Teddy knows in her heart that she is a girl, not a boy. Will her friends understand? Will they call her Tilly?

Set to the sounds of the clarinet, cello, and percussion instruments, and narrated by DANDROGYNY, this musical adaption by Christine Pan brings Jessica Walton’s heart-warming picture book to life.

Young audience members should bring their favourite toy to the event, they will make a special outfit for them and introduce them in style at our special pre-show Teddy Bear’s Picnic. This is the perfect opportunity for young audiences to have their passion for music and storytelling ignited, and to celebrate all of the things that make us unique.

Artists:

Orchestra Victoria

DANDROGYNY Narrator and Host

About DANDROGYNY

Daniel Newell is a performance artist, educator & graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts. Catwalking the fine-eyeliner of the pop cultural/political, Daniel’s work can be defined as creatively chaotic & cathartic. Having performed in over 20 countries, highlights include ABC’s You Can’t Ask That, Melbourne Festival, Melbourne Museum, Dance Massive, Roola Boola Childrens Arts Fest, Arts House, Sydney Opera House, Bollywood Film, SWAY, Shelley Lasica, Deanne Butterworth, Joel Bray, Rafael Bonachela & Kylie Minogue. Through dance/experimental performance art Daniel has created solid queer prominence with character DANDROGYNY. ‘Drodge’ at their core playfully calls us to notice the performed nature of hyper masculinity & its toxic implications. Recent resident at Chunky Move & Warrnambool Art Gallery, Footscray City College (Creative Workers in Schools) & Abbotsford Convent (Pivot 2): Daniel also teaches drama/embodiment for St Martins Youth & Physical Theatre at UniMelb (VCA).

About the composer:
Christine Pan is a Sydney-based composer commended for her versatility. She has composed for physics professors and engineers to dancers and orchestras. Her works are often developed from social-cultural and philosophical frameworks, that she takes great pride in meticulously researching. Her music has been played by the Goldner Quartet, Ensemble Offspring, Ensemble Terra, the Judgement of Paris and other renowned ensembles.

About the author:
Jessica Walton is a queer, disabled writer, teacher and musician living on unceded Boon Wurrung land with their wife and children. They are the author of picture book Introducing Teddy, the story of a transgender teddy bear. Illustrated by Dougal MacPherson, the book started as a self-published Kickstarter project but was published worldwide in English by Bloomsbury in 2016. It has now been translated into 9 different languages. Jess is also the author of Stars In Their Eyes, a graphic novel about a queer disabled teen with chronic pain going to her first fan con. With artwork by Aśka, this graphic novel was published by Fremantle Press in October 2021. Jess has had poems and short stories published in various anthologies, and has co-written an episode of Get Krack!n focused on disability which aired on the ABC in 2019.

This is a Programming Partnership with Orchestra Victoria, Midsumma Festival and The Wheeler Centre.