Communitas

Overview

The next dancefloor filler from 'Love Tonight' favourites SHOUSE is on its way, but it needs your help in the best possible fashion: by taking part in a huge music party that'll fill Melbourne's St Paul's Cathedral for RISING 2024. For one of the Victorian capital's major annual arts festival's big commission for this year, Ed Service and Jack Madin are overseeing Communitas — where hundreds of people will make tunes, then a single will be released.

Free to attend, Communitas wants its participants to form a choir; however, not only using their voices but dancing and making sound vibrations is on the agenda. Think of it as a huge gathering that's also a jam and a ritual, composing collectively and spontaneously as everyone parties and communes. There's no audience here, just folks joining in, connecting and chasing shared joy.

The date to pop in your diary: Saturday, June 15, for what's certain to be a standout event on the full RISING lineup. The entire program of art, music, installations and performances for the fest's third year runs from Saturday, June 1–Sunday, June 16.

Jon Madin is creating handmade instruments for participants to use, while Deep Soulful Sweats is in charge of the choreography. While the end result is something to experience, the single that springs will give everyone who is there a songwriting credit as it aims to share the fun beyond Communitas' one massive night.