Short Circuit 1997-1999 - A vibrant and electrifying percussion based band, with stunning visual impact as well as irresistible funky tribal and dance rhythms. As of March 1999 the band is no longer in regular performance. See below for more about the band, its music and dancers.

was TRIBAL to SPACE AGE drum and dance music.

SHORT CIRCUIT comprised three percussionists and two dancers, whose music was the joyous, funky, authentic rhythms of the peoples of West Africa and the Middle East, played on traditional instruments.

Their music was tribal, the rhythms coming from age-old traditions. Their costumes drew on shapes, ideas and styles of tribal peoples of various origins. Accompanying the music was dance by Shonah…lively leaping, twirling and shaking in an Afro/contemporary style, and by Tanya who moves with the grace and sinuosity of the belly dance tradition.

For the full UV show, the costumes and décor, while inspired by traditional tribal styles, were fully fluoro and reflective 21^st century space-age materials.

SHORT CIRCUIT performed at such places as…

Port Fairy Folk Festival ’98, the Big Bang Theory, RMIT , Deakin Uni, VUT, TECHNOFEST, loop, CHRYSALIS, LOTUS and QUINTESSENCE dance parties, the Punters Club, green magma , CERES concerts, Queenscliff Music Festival ’97, traditional Muslim weddings, the Geelong Waterfront Festival ’97 and Brunswick Music Festival ’98.

consisted of five women - three percussionists and two dancers.

ANNE HARKIN has developed a strong reputation in Australia as a Middle Eastern-style percussion performer and teacher. She appears in the recent SBS-screened documentaries "Red Light In Full Flight" and "Beating The Drum", and has made her own darabouka teaching video. Anne co-founded the HABIBIS and TA’ESH FA’ESH. Now, SHORT CIRCUIT brings together the exciting percussion of West African and the Middle Eastern traditions.

ANITA LARKIN, like Anne, plays both West African and Arabic percussion, and was a co-founder of TA’ESH FA’ESH. Originally she came from a training in classical piano, but these days finds the lure of the drums totally irresistible.

KAREN BERGER majored in voice in the improvisation department at VCA. She is particularly interested in traditional musics. In 1996 she founded the acapella group "Mother Tongue" and in ’97 sang and played percussion with the prize-winning original Celtic band, Shillelagh.

SHONAH HILL, musician/dancer, studies music full-time, majoring in voice and piano. She has extensive experience in many dance forms ranging from theatre, tap, African and flamenco to classical/jazz. In SHORT CIRCUIT she was an absolute live-wire, leaping, spinning, tumbling, and shaking in her own interpretation of Afro-contemporary dance as she explored how her body can respond to the rhythms.

TANYA LEE GRIERSON, visual artist and dancer, has had a wide range of experience - in live theatre, street performance, fire-dancing and dance in general – from traditional Latin American to Ecstatic dance. In SHORT CIRCUIT she explored gestures and rhythm through bellydance with alluring sinuosity, grace and charm.