Dance, music, photography and comedy feature in HELEN MUSA’s latest Arts in the City column. 

The Australian Dance Theatre’s Marrow, created by Canberra-raised artistic director, Daniel Riley, will be at The Playhouse July 31-August 1. Described as “existing part-way between rave and ritual”, Marrow sees ensemble members using handheld smoke machines to shape the performance, smoke itself becoming a seventh dancer. 

Are You Pulling My Leg is a show featuring a line-up of Australian comedians with disability or chronic illness, including Madeleine Stewart, who was inspired to pursue comedy after seeing a show by Adam Hills of The Last Leg fame. The Q, Queanbeyan, August 2.

Ngunnawal artist and educator Alinta Barlow, known for her work in reviving Ngunnawal language, has been selected to participate in the 2025 Canberra Pōneke Indigenous Artist Exchange, a four-week international residency in Wellington, NZ. 

CityNews Artist of the Year 2024 Hilary Wardhaugh has been selected into the National Photographic Portrait Prize, the Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize, the Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize and the Olive Cotton Portrait Prize. She also has a show at ANCA Gallery in Dickson called You Cannot Trust an Open Sky.

Using Forum Theatre, an interactive model that allows audiences to explore real-world dilemmas, Rebus Theatre’s Sammy Moynihan is staging a new show, Stages of Empathy. Ralph Wilson Theatre, Gorman Arts Centre, on July 31. 

Canberra writer Maura Pierlot will be in conversation with Barbie Robinson about her new young adult novel, The Lies We Tell Ourselves. The Book Cow, Kingston, July 31.

Original music works by local composers Laura Harris, Madi Creecy, Lee Francis Evatt and Kian Macleod will take the stage at Smith’s Alternative, Civic, in its second Composer + Performer Night, July 27.