Bringing an element of decadence and indulgence to a range of art forms, the Melbourne International Arts Festival stands out as one of the seminal cultural events of the year.

From dance to theatre, burlesque to cabaret, comedy to visual art, music to conversations; the festival brings together artists from all over the world who are changing the face of performance and challenging accepted notions of their art forms.

And then of course there’s the Spiegeltent.  Once it takes up its post next door to the Arts Centre the entire city takes on a vaudevillian feel and anything seems possible.

Here are some hot tips to get you started…

Shaun Parker: This Show is About People
Director, writer, choreographer, designer and performer Shaun Parker brings to the Festival the world premiere of This Show is About People. Part dance, part theatre the show is a collaborative undertaking between Shaun Parker and musical directors Mara and Llew Kiek. Through compelling music and movement investigates the innate need within us al to belong to something. Ten individuals inhabit a common space. They have different lives and different stories. They are people in transit.
The CUB Malthouse – Merlyn Theatre
www.melbournefestival.com.au 

Kinky
Mexico’s electro-pop quintet Kinky will be making its Australian debut with a show that mixes rock, electronica, hip hop, Latin rhythm and some pots & pans with lyrics influenced by the superficiality of day to day exchanges. Described by Rolling Stone Magazine as “as feverishly danceable as a night in Ibiza.”
Beck’s Bar @ Meat Market October 20 & 21.
www.melbournefestival.com

Barry Kosky: The Tell-Tale Heart
Kosky brings to the Malthouse Workshop his production of The Tell-Tale Heart. Together with Austrian actor and singer Martin Niedermair, Kosky has created a thrilling voyage into the morbid and fascinating world of the American author Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is credited with the creation of the detective genre, but is better known for his macabre tales of murder and grisly retribution. The Tell-Tale Heart is a classic of the horror genre and a grandiose psychological portrait.
The Malthouse Wrokshop until October 20.
www.melborunefestival.com

Chnuky Move: Glow
The award-winning fusion of digital technology and human movement, Glow, returns ti Melbourne. Glow is an intimate, interactive solo performance in which the motion of the human body is used to trigger and control music, lighting and animation.
Chunky Move, Studio 1 until October 27.
www.melbournefestival.com

Sizwe Banzi Is Dead
This is the second of three Statement Plays created by South African writer Athol Fugard with actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona. These plays are based on the everyday life of an urban black community in South Africa during Apartheid. Directed by the acclaimed Peter Brock, Sizwe Banzi is Dead is a morality plat that reveals the role of theatre in a political situation of repression. Focusing on themes connected with identity, humanity, truth and survival – it’s a humorous production of beautiful simplicity.
CUB Malthouse until October 27.
www.melbournefestival.com

Meow Meow: Beyond Beyond the Glamour The Remix
Fresh from her appearance at David Bowie’s High Line Festival in New York, international singing sensation and sequined sex bomb waiting to detonate, Meow Meow returns to Melbourne with the show that had Spiegeltent audiences crying out for more in 2005. Stranded somewhere between the Middle Ages, 1930’s Shanghai show tunes, 60’s French pop, witty, wicked Weimar and post-punk trash, Beyond Beyond Glamour the Remix is an explosive cocktail of kamikaze cabaret, performance art exotica, sequins, razor blades, opera ‘brut’ and karaoke splendour.
The Famous Spiegeltent until October 21.
www.melbournefestival.com

Croque Monsier…
Is a band of six Melbourne musicians experienced in the art of old world, burlesque, klezmer, circus, jazz, tango and Eastern European music. For the past seven years they have fulfilled their own awaited desire to create dynamically spirited street music that has all but been forgotten in recent times.
The Famous Spiegeltent until October 22.
www.melbournefestival.com

David Broza in Concert (with Badi Assad)
David Broza is an icon of Israeli music. Transcending national and artistic boundaries, this guitarist-composer, with his flamenco-salsa tinged folk rock melodies and keen relent for breathing sensual snippets of poetry to life, is a formidable musical force. For the Festival he’s performing for one night only with special guest, Brazilian guitarist Badi Assad.
The Arts Centre, Hamer Hall on Saturday October 20.
www.melbournefestival.com

Teatre Lliure: European House
One of Spain’s leading theatre companies, Teatre Lliure makes its Australian debut with European House, offering an original, contemporary vision of what might lead a modern-day Hamlet to his end.
The Arts Centre, Playhouse until October 27.
www.melbournefestival.com

We Don’t Dance For No Reason
Inspired by the stunning Papuan choral tradition of Peroveta Anedia (prophet songs), exciting young jazz talent Aaron Choulai undertakes an extraordinary cross-cultural musical journey. We Don’t Dance For No Reason combines the talents of a 16 voice Tatana Village Choir from Papua New Guinea and Melbourne’s hottest young jazz ensemble VADA for a very special concert experience.
Arts House, Meat Market until October 27.
www.melbournefestival.com

Melbourne International Arts Festival 11 to 27 October, 2007.