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Welcome to The New Fortnightly Weekender. A community newspaper distributed in the Adelaide Hills, The Weekender provides news and information about local people and local happenings.
On this site you'll find all the things that make The Weekender such a great read in print, along with extra pictures, stories and an archive of previous issues. There's also contact details, information on how to advertise in The Weekender and how you can share your stories with the local community. Enjoy!
Firey tragedy revisited
January 29th, 2010
Bridgewater resident Katrina Lazaroff was just three years old and living in Longwood when the 1980 Ash Wednesday bush fires spread through the Adelaide Hills. Her parent’s newly renovated house was destroyed in the blaze.
Her family rebuilt their lives at Pomona Road, Stirling, and luckily their home was not affected by the 1983 Ash Wednesday bush fires, though Katrina says she remembers the car was packed and ready to go, should the fire front approach their property.
"We were lucky," Katrina said.
"Many hills residents were badly affected by the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires."
Drawing on her family's experiences, as well as those of current neighbours and others in the hills, Katrina has written and choreographed a documentary style dance piece, which touches on the issues the family faced during the bush fire periods. Titled Pomona Road, the piece uses spoken word, recordings, projections and dance to convey the story.
"I started working on the show in Perth in 2006," Katrina said.
"I have a personal and social interest in how people rebuild and move on with their lives after such trauma. I had choreographed and performed two pieces, Pomona Road part 1 and part 2, which both looked at different relationships within a family. In 2007 I decided to draw upon my experiences of the bush fire and began choreographing this piece. Since then the subject has become very topical with the devastating fires in Victoria last year and the subsequent changes to fire safety messages."
Katrina's background in dance began when she was seven years old when she was enrolled at Aldgate Ballet School. After finishing high school she went on to study dance at the University of Adelaide, then spent a year overseas studying her craft, then completed an honours degree in dance at the Western Australian academy of Performing Arts in 2001.
"I have been in paid work since 1997, so as a dancer I am one of the few who has fought their way through to making a living from the art form," Katrina said.
Katrina has worked with Leigh Warren & Dancers as a rehearsal director and choreographic assistant. She has worked as a dancer with Buzz Dance Theatre, Strut Dance WA, Diwali Dance House and with numerous national and international choreographers. Katrina has also worked as a choreographer with Perth Theatre Company, Steps Youth Dance Company and for Artrage WA.
In 2007 she performed in Drover’s Wives with Steamworks Productions touring to the Shanghai International Arts Festival and Beijing International Dance Festival.
"Drover's Wives is an amazing, quintessential Australian performance, and to perform it in China and share the Australian way of life with others was fantastic," Katrina said.
"I really enjoy traveling and touring with shows. You meet so many amazing people, particularly with regional tours. You are showing people things which they have never seen before, and you might even change someone's life. It is very inspiring to be able to touch someone in that way and bring something different into their world. I have also worked extensively teaching dance to a wide cross section of people including dance instructors, tertiary dance students and indigenous youth."
Most recently Katrina worked as the Artistic Director of the Youth Dance Festival with Ausdance ACT, choreographed for the SA Youth Dance Ensemble and worked with Restless Dance Company as a choreographic mentor.
"Currently I teach technique class for Australian Dance Theatre and run my own classes at Ausdance SA," Katrina said.
Katrina says the hills community, and particularly those who were affected by the Ash Wednesday bush fires, will enjoy the performance of Pomona Road and be able to identify with the characters and their experiences.
Pomona Road will be performed at the Adelaide Festival Centre, April 21st – 24th 2010. .
The New Fortnightly Adelaide Hills Weekender
The New Fortnightly Weekender aims to provide the best print medium for our clients to achieve the maximum exposure for their messages to our readers and their potential clients within our targeted area.
The New Fortnightly Weekender is an independent, innovative, good-news paper serving the Adelaide Hills and Mt Barker council areas. Founded in 1992, the paper is the leader in providing up-to-date, relevant lifestyle content. It seeks to maximise it's appeal and relevance to readers and consumers on behalf of it's advertisters.