Image Credit: Sam James

Jurrungu Ngan-ga / Straight Talk

Marrugeku

Jurrungu Ngan-ga / Straight Talk deploys Marrugeku’s renowned culturally and community informed dance theatre to address local and global issues of the fear of cultural difference. Inspired by Yawuru leader Patrick Dodson’s proposal: “because we lack the ability to straight talk to one another about cultural difference, fear grows in each generation, holding community and society back in multiple ways”, Jurrungu Ngan-ga addresses alarming statistics which reveal Aboriginal Australians as proportionately the most incarcerated peoples in the world and responds to firsthand descriptions of life inside the Manus Island detention centre.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Through choreography, voice, cultural perspectives and installation art Marrugeku investigates that which we wish to lock away, to put behind walls and to isolate. Featuring an outstanding cast who draw on their intersecting experiences within multiple marginalised communities (Aboriginal, immigrant, refugee and transgender), Jurrungu Ngan-ga creates a searing and at times humorous portrayal of the fear of fear itself.

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Marrugeku is an unparalleled presence in Australia today, dedicated to First Nation and settler Australians working together to develop new dance languages that are restless, transformative and unwavering. Marrugeku is led by co-artistic directors: choreographer/dancer Dalisa Pigram and director/dramaturg Rachael Swain. Working together for 24 years, they co-conceive and facilitate Marrugeku’s productions and research laboratories, introducing audiences to the unique and potent structures of Aboriginal knowledge systems and the compelling experience of intercultural performance.

 

Working from our bicoastal operations in the remote town of Broome, Western Australia and the urban centre of Carriageworks, Sydney, Marrugeku harnesses the dynamic of performance exchange drawn from remote, urban, intercultural and trans-Indigenous approaches to expand the possibilities of contemporary dance.