BUZZ Dance Theatre

What kind of treasure do you look for in a dancer? 

"Somebody who can tell a story. It is not about how high they can kick their leg!" Cadi McCarthy, Artistic director of BUZZ Dance Theatre.

In the current issue of BIG we interview the artistic director of Buzz Dance Theatre, Cadi McCarthy who is now days away from giving birth to 'twins' - one a real live baby and the other a new dance production called "Fragile". The BIG boys - senior ed and his sidekick - will be at the Perth opening on Saturday night and are looking forward to the puppetry and animation aspect of the dance. Fragile deals with issues of bullying and how game play can help to find a positive way forward and features dancer Peter Fares who shares a bit of his BIG life as a dancer here:

Peter Fares, photo by James Welsby

First ever dance? Breakdance/hip hop routine in the middle of a Wildcats (Basketball) game in front of a huge crowd!

When did you know you wanted to be a dancer? I was in year 10 at Rossmoyne Senior High School and saw all kids having heaps of fun. Charise Parnell used to have session for boys at lunchtime and we ended up performing what we made.  Then I did one year of Business at uni while dancing with Steps Youth Dance Company before moving to study dance at WAAPA.

If you could grow up again and be something different what would it be? A visual artist even though I am really bad at drawing!

How do you manage your Dancing days? I am very good with how I plan my lifestyle as a dancer. I always make time to do my own thing. Lots of dancers keep their mind on dance 24/7 but I back away for a bit and enjoy the holidays!

What do you treasure most in your life? Friends and family and especially my mum.

See Peter perform in Fragile from June 16. We can't wait!

Bravery is being a strong person in your mind.

Imagination is experience.

Generosity is love. 

SUBSCRIBE to BIG Kids Magazine - Featuring kids and artists side by side!

The BIG Force - LAST DAYS to submit to Game On!

The littlest BIG boy is home sick with a 'massive virus' as he says. He is going through a serious Star Wars stage in great hope of meeting a scientist who will make him a light sabre that can go through things and we thought to blog this gorgeous contribution today just for him x

We have had a wave of responses in the last few days and a couple of requests for a day long extension. SUNDAY night is the definitive GAME OVER for contributions so SUBMIT now.

May The Force Be With You!

This awesome game was invented by Trinity, age 9, Annabelle, age 7 and Joanna from Kansas, USA

You can now pre-purchase Game On! and SUBSCRIBE to Issues 2 and 3 HERE Please tell your friends :)

Dub Leffler shares a secret story in the making!

We think Dub Leffler is one of Australia's most inspired writer/illustrator/artists. A BIG claim indeed! When the wonderful team at Magabala books (the oldest independent Indigenous publishing house in Australia and most remote in the world!) sent us the early release of his book Once There Was a Boy, it was love at first sight. Tha Thump. When senior editor Luca (now age 9!) took it into his class the next day it received rave reviews with his teacher saying it was the best book she had read 'forever'. When Lilly read it to Twyla (age 3) after meeting Dub at the launch in Sydney, her response was  'Hey mum they have different colours on them and they love each other".  It is a book of great beauty and sensitivity and an unforgettable story of love so much needed in the world. Dub was one of thirteen children and is descended from the Bigambul and Mandandanji people of south-west Queensland. After receiving accolades from near and far including the Bologna book fair Dub is busy working on a new book and most wonderfully he contributed an original and responsive version of his secret work in process for the Treasure pages. Shhhhh....

The Magician and the Magical Fish 

The only Photograph of Hans Fanta in existence! by Dub Leffler   

Once, while floating,

Looking down into the sea …

I saw,

Sitting on the sea bed,

A Magical man with a strange hat on his head …

Smiling up at me …

He held in his hands a gold, sparkling fish …

And painted on its scales …

A Treasure Map …

OH! Then SWISHHH!!

Went the fish and shed all its scales,

And the Magical man let go of its tail!

Darting away, did the fish followed by that

Mystical enchanter …

His name,

The Magician,

Hans …

Hans Fanta.

Sandy Savas Ocean Maps

Almost every day we receive the most beautiful responses to BIG prompts and provocations from children and artists all over the world. Some time ago art teacher Sandy Savas, from a small town in California, sent in a response by her students to our very own Grumpilina and Grumpilotta. More recently her students responded to our Treasure Call with these gorgeous ocean maps sent all the way from the other side of the Pacific ocean. 

We would so love to be able to print every contribution in the BIG pages and we spend many late nights finding ways to expand space so that more of the beautiful work we receive will fit. You will find these underwater worlds hidden in the next issue of BIG Kids Magazine but they are far smaller than the oceans they map. 

Subscribe here to locate these watery works in the soon to be released Treasure Maps pages.

My treasure is flowers. They are really pretty. I had to go through buildings and I rode the hawk and go through a path of stars and then I went down and crossed the street. The truck waited for me. Then I stepped over a puppy and then I was at the flowers. It made me happy they are so beautiful. I love my treasure.

Zara , age 5

Luca, age 7

I am searching for a candy tree because I crave sweets. Sweets are delicious. I often find myself wanting more. I had to cross flames from a burning house that caught so long ago but because the fire was so big, it never burns out. Then I climbed over big rock and got a  few cuts but they were just little and I’m ok. I had to cross water next where I nearly drowned because the water was so deep but a dolphin came and saved me. Then I had to climb through thorns and got cut again. The cactus has little thorns .It was stuck in my hand. I ran into a pile of snakes they didn’t scare me, past red ants and electric eels, thru a cave, past medusa and finally found my candy tree. I had a good journey, lots of dangers but I’m ok. When I finally reached my treasure candy tree I was happy.

Hadley, age 7

Halleluja, age 6

My treasure is a diamond because I have a crystal collection, but I don’t have a diamond. I love crystals-they make me feel good. If I find my treasure, a  diamond, I’ll add it to my crystal collection. I had to cross a desert and some islands to find my treasure. I started my journey by crossing the ocean. I saw a giant squid. When I got to the island it was so blank it only had rocks and cactus. I was really hot eventually, I had to find fresh water to drink. That island was really long, I traveled the whole thing and I got loads of cactus thorns on me-they didn’t hurt. Then I traveled to the next island. There were rocks and cactus  and this island had a palm tree. I saw a coyote on this island. Then I crossed to the next island and it was kind of shaped like a snake and all it had on it was a cactus so I went to the next island where I found my treasure. I found a diamond. It made me feel really good because I’ve always wanted a diamond.

Luca, age 7

Oceana, age 7

Ruby is searching for a rainbow because she wants to climb it. She wants to get to the other side to find her treasure. She is searching for art. She loves art., her terrain is the ocean. She passes by dolphins, a treasure chest, pearls and fish on her journey to her treasure. I love the ocean.

Ruby, age 7

My treasure is a mermaid because I like them and they make me feel really happy. I had a journey to find my mermaid. I had to go through coral, it was so pretty. The school of silver fish were pretty. And the electric eels were gorgeous but they were dangerous. I went through a cave that was really dark but I liked it because there were pretty and nice animals in it, one was a fish dog and a cat fish. Then I saw a clown fish it was really pretty too. Then I saw the mermaid I was looking for. It made me feel really great because I love mermaids. They are really pretty.

Triana, age 5

Side by Side. Brothers Tom and James

Tom and James are brothers who have been working side by side since the beginning of their lives. James was born in 1977 and Tom was born in 1981 with Downs Syndrome. We are thrilled to have their collaborative work in the pages of the upcoming Treasure Maps edition of BIG Kids Magazine due to be launched April 1st. If you have not yet subscribed you can pre-purchase your copy HERE. 

 James tells us a little bit about their extraordinary shared practice:

Once we start drawing together it is a simultaneous work, reaching over each other, we often hand each other different pens or take over finishing shapes that the another has started. We are starting to learn each other's symbols and sometimes it feels like our set of codes is building into a strong language which we can both utilize across the page. We often make jokes while we draw. Tom will say what he has drawn and I'll respond to that, or i'll ask him what the drawing is about and he'll tell a great little story. I love this idea that he has a whole set of personal codes that an outsider can't necessarily see.

It wasn't until recently that we formalized the process of making works that were ready for exhibition. This was the first time we took our casual collaborative art making really seriously.

I like that Tom really loosens me up. Drawing all day as a career, I often get a bit tight in my work, so it's great to draw without thinking, to really free everything up. I think Tom really appreciates the encouragement and understanding he gets from it, he obviously loves creating things and is proud of the finished projects, but he has trouble starting major works by himself. I think I bring a bit of well needed discipline, so we can make large scale interesting work together. Tom gets on obsessive tangents and will draw one particular thing for a while whereas I'd rather he keep it moving. But we are both interested in obsession so I love that side of him also.

 I think we evenly pull the works in different directions.

 Visit Tom and James Draw to see more of their gorgeous side by side work and you can find out more about James and his diverse creative worlds here.

Acrylic, collage, pencil, ink and pen on paper. Tom&James 2011

 Tom&James 2011

Tom&James 2011

A BIG smile from Moscow to here and back

"It is so so strange...we are sitting here in the middle of the winter (-20 Degrees Celsius outside) with 63 pages of beauty from another continent in our hands. We even couldn't imagine distance which he has overcome. It is impossible to measure it with the cycling walk... How many elephants and whales should join hands to get the distance from Moscow to Australia?

Oh! The Big Kids Magazine, we enjoy every story, every picture and letter and every spot of colour on it's pages.

The Big Kids Magazine looks so much like us that it seems to us that we  saw it in a dream...or that you, Lilly and Jo invented us."


We have a little bit fallen in love with two creatives living on the Island of the Blue Sun in Russia, Ilya and Margarita (and baby Zoe), known as Zilasaule. They are very special BIG contributors and we cannot wait to share their work with you in the Treasure Maps edition and beyond. Their response to seeing BIG kids Magazine was so beautiful we had to share some of it here. It is these connections and moments that make the late-night work of magazine-making fill with renewed rigour and easy endurance. Thank you xx

We are Ilya and Margarita(or Zilasaule). We collaborate since 2005 on illustration and book design. We use different colors, pencils, photo-cameras, computers and other objects during the process depending on their suitability for defined aims. The style weaves itself with text into organic piece in every our book".

Kids Art Exhibitions - Lilla a

1. Jean-Claude le Parisien, by Elia 9 years. 2. Paco Ray-Ban, by Jeff 39 years

These very fabulous robots from around the world feature in the latest exhibition now open on the gorgeous creative blog Lilla a, and we are very excited that the next exhibition will  be in collaboration with BIG Kids Magazine!

 1. R1 by Jaś (3,5), Antoni (6,5) and Mom. 2.Robot Brummi-Brum by Annika, 9years.

We first connected with Anna from Lilla a ("the small a") early in the BIG journey when we fell in love with this Bird House Exhibition, and her approach as a designer and mother to creating projects that can be done side by side with your children on their terms!

Bravery is being just a little bit scared
Imagination is a whole world
Generosity is the little hand giving you half of his last biscuit 

(Anna)

Subscribe now to hold BIG Kids Magazine in your hands!