Deeply personal, engaging, and poignant, Glass Child is a remarkable new dance theatre piece starring Kayah and Maitreyah Guenther. It tells their story with love and understanding, for Maitreyah’s experiences as Kayah’s younger sister are tinged with sadness.

Maitreyah is the ‘Glass Child’, a sibling of someone with special needs, who is ‘looked through’ and here on stage at HOTA, she shares with us how she has had to deal with other peoples’ perceptions of Kayah’s difference.

“It’s a rare thing to be able to be honest and not sugar coat personal experiences. It has been one of our greatest healings and Joy to have the opportunity to do this with The Farm”, says Maitreyah.

Maitreyah and Kayah have been dancing together their whole lives, and their energy and spontaneity has an eye-opening impact. We sit spellbound as the story unfolds, gasping with the bravery of the performance. A visual interlude of Kayah’s illustrated poetry provides insight into his feelings of loss, anger, and grief. It’s funny, too, and sometimes absurd, beautifully choreographed with a great score by Anna Whittaker.

We see on screen, in some wonderful childhood videos, that Kayah and Maitreyah’s parents are heroes. We can tell, this loving family from Murwillumbah are co-creators of this work, with Gavin Webber and Kate Harman from The Farm, who have been working with these young performers for almost ten years. Later, at the Exhibitionist Bar, we celebrate their vision, to take Glass Child on the road to regional Queensland, then tour nationally and internationally, to share this important story of love and hope with new audiences.

“This show is our passion and our fight back and believing in ourselves. What’s next? We would love to travel the world with Glass Child”, says Kayah.

For more information, including how to support this project, please check out thefarm.company/glass-child