The Australian dance world is slowly getting bigger thanks to the work of Efren Pamilacan and City Sessions, one of Melbourne’s biggest events for tripping the light fantastic.
City Sessions is a display of a vast array of dance styles, featuring some of Australia’s most talented performers competing in battles, and performing their own pieces for the Sidney Myer Music Bowl audience.
What you need to know
- City Sessions is Melbourne’s premier dance event
- It’s at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl as part of Live at the Bowl
- It’s happening on Saturday February 5 at 5pm. Tickets are $15
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
It’s been happening since 2012 and has come a long way, with Pamilacan (the City Sessions mastermind) constantly innovating to create a space for all types of dancers to express themselves.
“City Sessions has been an event that I’ve been running for 10 years now,” Efren says. “It started off in 2012 with very humble beginnings: some speakers at the front of Fed Square and a Facebook event.
“Everyone came through from whatever background, and the music that we played tended to be what was very new and experimental.
“It’s based on their ability to freestyle to music that people may not be so familiar with, then the crowd would vote who would win. It was just a bit of fun during those times, that kept getting bigger and bigger.”
The most startling difference between 2012 and 2022 is the venue, the mammoth Sidney Myer Music Bowl providing the perfect symbolism of how far Efren and his team have come in a decade.
This annual event has helped bring dance to more corners of the city, and Efren has seen it change a great deal over the last decade or so, with more people becoming involved, and more wanting to perform.
“In the last 10 years, you can really see this intergenerational timeline happening, where it started off with people that I knew, and the people that I danced with,” Efren says, “since then, it’s grown heaps, and now it’s people that my peers used to train up, and now they’re the ones that are starring.
“I think it’s a really interesting thing, because I’ll look at the line-up, look at the people who are participating, and be like ‘Well, I don’t know, like, 80% of you anymore’, which when you think about it, is actually great.”
When you head to City Sessions, be prepared to catch some of the best dancers you’ve ever seen. Efren notes that this is the first time they’ve had talented dancers from interstate perform, as a result of the prelims where duos got to compete for a place.
“We have people from Sydney and people from Queensland after an event previous to this, where over 120 entries came through, and we brought them down to a top four.”
“One in particular that’s worth mentioning is this duo named Bev and Tiff.”
The talented Bev and Tiff are travelling down to the event from Sydney, after competing in the prelims and acing all elements. There are three genres on show at City Sessions: funk, hip hop and house, each of which Bev and Tiff excelled at, showing how talented they are. They’re the perfect example of Australia’s next generation of modern, dynamic dance pairings, and will be a major drawcard when they perform in each genre during the show this weekend.
“They actually entered all three music genres and made it to the top four in all three of them, I’m really hoping they come through for at least one of them,” Efren adds.
“They’ll perform in each music genre. We’ll have live music to support that, there’ll be two DJs; DJ Smilez will be handling hip hop, Mothafunk will be doing house, and Cookin’ on 3 Burners will be handling funk.”
The show will also include guest performances from a number of well-known groups from Australia; Brothers in Arms, Booyakasha, Burn City Krump, House of Devine and KSTAR, to name a few. Each come with their own positive message and an aim to spread the good vibrations through their dancing.
When you see an event carefully pair talented musicians and DJs with amazing dancers, it really shows the power of the art form. Efren notes that it appeals to all types of people, whether you’re a dance fan or not, you’ll get something out of attending City Sessions, and you’ll get to experience how dance is an instrument in and of itself.
“Dance is almost like this second instrument for interpretation,” he says, “almost like how someone on vocals would riff off the sounds that they’re experiencing in a jam. I think that’s the thing that’s really powerful with dance, it’s almost like this vessel for interpreting what the performer is experiencing.
“I hope that it also encourages people to just take up dance. Just to be around it and just learn more about the many different forms that are in this particular industry, that has a multitude of different forms within.”
City Sessions is happening this Saturday February 5 at Sidney Myer Music Bowl, grab your tickets here.
