Backbone Youth Arts presented The Pact at the World Theatre Festival at Brisbane Powerhouse. The performance performed on the 22 and 23 February was the inaugural show in a new initiative in the festival called the Youth Access Initiative which is specifically for under 18 yr old performance makers.

For the last six months members from Backbone's Performance Makers (16 - 18 yrs) term workshop have been working towards the performance which is a explores the idea of communicating and sharing with strangers. The work explores sharing a non verbal space with a stranger and involves single audience members interacting with a solo performer through various media.

Feedback includes:

"I want to thank you so much for that incredible and creative performance at the Power House. I was so inspired and moved by it. "

"I want to thank you, Megan and the other creators of this small exchange – it was a valuable and a very humanising meeting."

"incredibly charming moment of performance"

As part of the piece the audience member is invited to make a pact with the performer to nominate and undertake an action inspired by the performance.

The audience has two weeks to complete the action and email or sms in proof by way of a photo, video or simple text message. These confirmations are all then put into an online gallery on the Backbone website.

The work is short at only ten to fifteen minutes but there is an immediacy in the connection to the performer and the simple tasks undertaken together. The work represents the focus of Backbone towards contemporary performance and performance innovation.

The Pact invites the audience to co-create the moment with the performer and to be as courageous or as light as they want within the shared information that is passed between performer and audience member.