UPDATE! THE TRUTH REVEALED! IT WAS AN APRIL FOOL’S DAY JOKE… CHECK OUT THE FOLLOW-UP STORY HERE.

There’s no denying that ‘submersive audiovisual environments’ are taking the global dance scene by storm at the moment, with everyone from Daft Punk (‘The Pyramid’) to Etienne De Crecy (‘The Cube’) and even Godskitchen (‘The Boombox’) all serving up their own unique take on the concept. Now it’s Australia’s turn to step up to the plate, with Goodwill revealing his plans for ‘The Circle’ exclusively to inthemix!

“I’ve always wanted to tour an immersive stage setup,” Goodwill told inthemix, clearly excited by his new project. “Because of the nature of the Australian market it just wasn’t realistic budget wise to tour a 3D shape in the past. But after seeing The Cube at the recent Future Music Festival I ran home and started working on my own idea.”

Although Goodwill’s not aiming to reinvent the wheel with ‘The Circle’ (pun intended!), he is certainly aware the venture may dredge up some controversy with chinstrokers. “The first guy to DJ didn’t tell everyone off for being influenced by him,” he reasons. “It’s just progression. Pretty soon it will be as common as the turntable. And there are heaps of shapes to choose from; squares, triangle, oblongs, the list goes on and on.”

For all its similarities to those in Europe, there’s one thing about Goodwill’s setup that’ll see it stand out from the pack. Instead of being a 3D structure, he’s gone for a 2D shape. Interestingly, this has been done for practicality rather than artistry. “After scoping out the setup we realised pretty quickly that the luggage carousels at most regional centres just won’t cope with the size of a 3D shape. Scaling it down also means it will fit into most DJ booths without a hassle.”

So there you have it; ‘The Circle’ coming to a club or festival stage near you very soon! “Surprisingly it fits almost anywhere, but you’ll just have to wait to see it in full swing before you are blown away by it,” Goodwill assures us. “The designers working with me on this are top notch and this could really set us up for a massive year, with the potential of taking the concept to Europe over the summer.”

Locally, where might we see ‘The Circle’ popping up? We put the feelers out and found there’s more than a few promoters interested in booking the show. “Goodwill’s creativity astounds me… He’s taking it to the next level,” wrote Brett Robinson of Future Entertainment. “Dance music started out with round records, then people got pretty ambitious with pyramids and so on, now it’s good to see someone taking it back to basics and bringing the evolution full circle,” said John Wall of Fuzzy.

However they’re not the only ones keen to learn more, with the Big Day Out’s Boiler Room chief Ben Suthers already keen to sign Goodwill on for next year’s tour. “No mere luggage carousel is going to get in the way of me helping Goodwill develop an exclusive large format version of his ‘Circle’ environment for his Big Day Out 2010 Boiler Room closing set,” Suthers revealed. “I just hope we get to announce it before Future Entertainment leak it to the forums!”

UPDATE! THE TRUTH REVEALED! IT WAS AN APRIL FOOL’S DAY JOKE… CHECK OUT THE FOLLOW-UP STORY HERE.