Steve Jampijinpa Patrick, Milpirri Creative Director of Milpirri was in Darwin (March 2020) working with Tracks on this years performance themes. [Above] he illustrates to David the relationship between traditional kangaroo cooking techniques and the ultimate path ways of Australian dreaming lines.

He worked with Tim and David over 10 days to share a bit of Warlpiri knowledge. The next Milpirri performance will draw on values within the Yinapaka story, a place linked to the Sky Ceremony.

“Yinapaka means to slap somebody. Slapping somebody could be bad, but slapping someone could be good too. This slap is a wakeup slap - waking up to yourself. Listen and try to understand this story.” Steven Jampijinpa Patrick

Somehow the themes of each Milpirri always seem to be so relevant to our time.

Learn more about Milpirri Yinapaka, 2020.

While we are all experiencing the immediate impact of COVID-19, it is the longer term impacts and how we respond that will define the resilience of the performing arts sector. We've had to suspend some activities and postpone others but regardless of this, in 2020 Tracks makes the following promise to continue committing to:

1. Employing artists and arts workers - this year we will fulfill $43K of contracts with independent creatives, regardless of the performance outcome.
2. Developing work - because in the future we will have new shows to share with you.
3. Finding innovative ways to dance with our community - after Easter we'll be trying something new with the Grey Panthers.

Physical distancing is good and social isolation is hard, so we encourage you to #stayconnected with your friends, family, community and with us.

Stay Safe,
From the Tracks Board and Team

Please note we are working from home during this time, if you wish to contact us, email info@tracksdance.com.au 

Applications are now open to audition for the Tracks new full length work Seasons of Skin and Bark.
Register your interest here

"So much creativity, so unique. I knew going in, that I would be a part of something magical."  Global Positioning (2019) Cast member

Whether you are a dancer with performance experience or a passionate amateur who loves to groove, there could be a role for you.

We are looking for:

• Contemporary dancers with performance experience.
• A diverse range of movers - different ages, different movement styles, different cultures and different dance skills.

It's a big volunteer commitment (70 hrs of rehearsal over 10 weeks - Jun-Aug) plus show time in the Darwin Festival.
Auditions will be at the Tracks Dance Studio:
Thursday 14 May
6 - 8pm

But don't wait too long before applying.

“Inclusion possibly sums it up best.... within a team of passionate and skilled creatives whose enthusiasm and vision was infectious." Global Positioning (2019) Cast member

"The experience has challenged me in ways I could not have anticipated physically, psychologically and emotionally and piqued my curiosity into the world of the mature dancer and the significance of 'sense of place'.”  Global Positioning (2019) Cast member

Cancelled

Unfortunately delivering the Masterclass would mean unnecessary travel for a remote community resident.
Rachael is sad to forgo this opportunity but also grateful to be supported in keeping her community and home safe.

We, along with Rachael are excited to offer this masterclass in the future but in the meantime, all tickets will be refunded by Sticky Tickets.

Where: Tracks Dance Studio, Ground Floor, 8 McMinn Street, Darwin
Time: 3pm - 4.30pm
Cost: $30 (plus booking fee)
All dance levels are welcome.

Join a masterclass led by Rachael Wallis and experience an extraordinary afternoon of dancing to live music by Yirrmal.

Excited that the masterclass will be conducted to live music, Rachael says "his [Yirrmal’s] voice and bilma (clap sticks) resonates through you and actually carries the movement through our bodies and spirit.”

Open to all levels of dance experience, participants will gain insight to aboriginal culture and why dance (buŋgul) is so important.

"It’s a privilege to work with this calibre of new-generation Indigenous artists. Having both Rachael and Yirrmal in the room sharing dance, song and culture will be extraordinary - if it's the one thing you do all year, join this class!" says Tracks Company Director Adelaide Wood

About Rachael

Rachael is a versatile dancer and choreographer based in Nhulunbuy, NT. Covering both traditional and contemporary dance styles she has worked with leading Indigenous dance companies and choreographers, performing regionally, nationally and internationally. She’s performed at Olympics ceremonies, the Queens Diamond Jubilee and has directed/choreographed many community-based dance projects and festivals. As a NAISDA graduate, she has also taught at the College, danced with Bangarra and delivered remote, regional and interstate initiatives, workshops and classes.

Living in a small community of north-east Arnhem Land, where Yolŋu history is passed down through story, song and dance as a way of life, Rachael knows the importance of dance for culture and community.

About Yirrmal

New generation artist Yirrmal Marika, from Yirrkala, has made a refreshing entrance into the music scene. Inspired by his grandfather, Dr Yunupingu, former lead singer of Yothu Yindi, he fuses traditional and contemporary arrangements with class and passion. Yirrmal is an inspiring songwriter and guitarist with a beautiful voice, singing songs about his homeland and culture with feeling and depth beyond his years. Visit his page

Find out how else you can #getinvolved at Tracks!

The Choreographic program this year (2019) was co-led by dance artists and resident Tracks animateurs Kelly Beneforti and Jess Devereux. Kelly and Jess both have a long history with Tracks and are passionate about choreographic practice. They sat down to interview each other about the program and what it's been like to co-facilitate together.

What have you valued and enjoyed about co-facilitating the Choreographic Program this year?

Jess: We were armed with double the energy, positivity and experience heading into the studio for this year’s program, which filled me with confidence and joy to co-facilitate with Kelly. Getting to know Kelly’s unique perspective more deeply as a dance artist, developing our process together, and hosting people in the studio was a great experience. She has a calming presence and a lovely, considered approach to preparing each workshop, which I adore and have learnt a lot from. I particularly enjoyed dreaming up the program together, scribbling on big sheets of butchers paper, creating themes for the workshops (Body, Site, Music, Devised work, etc) and offering up ideas and thoughts to each other. Our points of difference have felt like a strength, in the way we each work with the participants in the studio. There’s a great sense of fun, support and ease that comes with co-facilitating. I really enjoyed the rigour of Kelly’s warm ups, her patience and her explanation of the history around the YES manifesto. We developed our own ‘Yes manifesto’* with the participants, which became a guiding set of values and source of inspiration for the duration of the program.

Kelly: For me, the true joy of this program is not the showings at the end, but the time spent in the studio each week, accumulating experience, discoveries and creative relationships. I have valued and enjoyed so much sharing this time with Jess - learning from and bouncing off each other, deepening our artistic connection, and just being able to talk about what’s happening in the room each week. As a facilitator, I have been inspired by how she is led by her intuition, her curiosity, a sense of playfulness and a constant energy and readiness for dance and the craft of choreography.

When it comes to choreography, what are you passionate about and why? How have you shared this with the participants?

Kelly: I’m really passionate about the dialogue between the intellect of the body and the intellect of the mind in the practice of choreography. It interests me because it seems the norm in the Western world to view the two as distinct and so I see dance as a significant art-form because it deals with the relationship between how we use our bodies and our minds to think, explore, experiment, and remember. I’ve shared this with the participants through investigations that involve an interplay between moving, discussion and writing, through using imagery and imagined states to move from, and through provoking questions around what it means to have an idea or concept and what it means to feel in your own body and see in other bodies the physical practice or exploration of the idea, which might reveal different or concurrent ideas.

Jess: I am all about the joy of moving, and intuition, and the individual. Highlighting what makes a person unique, and the process of chance in choreography, using your instincts. I also love the physical embodiment of dance, particularly in improvisation, and the way different moods, energies and choreographies can intersect and highlight the chaos of the human condition. I love that we don’t always have to talk when it comes to choreography... that a clarity and confidence of expression can be found through moving the body. Which I find freeing. I love seeing that fullness and confidence bloom in others. A kind of ‘plumping’ of creative expression. Choreographically, I really value work that spans across artforms. I’m passionate about the relationship between sound and movement. I have shared these passions with the group by asking open-ended questions, giving annoying open-ended answers (haha!) and by drawing on all sorts of props and costumes and strange, jarring playlists to inspire movement. I’ve encouraged the artists to warm-up via dancing. To embrace and harness any nervous energy, to practice performing, and to be super generous when they work with each other as collaborators.

What has it been like to have a diversity of practitioners in the room from many art forms?

Jess: It’s been really eye-opening and cool. I have a huge amount of gratitude for the diversity of practice in the room this year. In its’ humble beginnings, Tracks choreographic program was a youth development project, but I love that it quickly grew into a program for all ages, experiences and disciplines. I’ve enjoyed seeing the artists get inspired by each other this year. One participant has been so moved by the willingness of some who’ve faced their fears of dancing in front of others, that they enrolled themselves in a local acting course in order to bust themselves out of their own comfort zone creatively! I’ve enjoyed the varying perspectives on ways to look at dance and make dance, from Ayurvedic perspectives, storytelling, dramatic arts, dance in the ageing body, etc. The diversity of practitioners has enriched the conversations and pushed me into new ways of thinking.

Kelly: One of my favourite aspects of the program is the way that the participants learn from each other as much as from Jess and I, and we from them. Having a diversity of practitioners in the program this year has broadened the artistic expertise that we have all benefited from. How lucky we are!

Why is the program unique in Darwin?

Kelly: I think the program is unique here in Darwin because it makes an ongoing commitment (across 10 years now) to the development of emerging dance and choreographic artists with their personal growth as the central driving force. There are so many other benefits that come out of the program but it’s because of the artists that these outward flowing ripples occur.

Jess: The program is unique because it fosters creative expression and articulate dance artists to extend their skills as choreographers in Darwin. It is incredibly unique on a national scale~ in it current form, the program has been offered free of charge to participants, and each time, it runs for three months which allows the participants to take a deep dive into choreography through intensives, and a slow burn approach to developing their artistry, supported by the expertise of the Tracks dance animateurs. I don’t know of any other programs quite like it in Australia. Each program becomes a kind of hothouse of local Darwin creatives, which I love.

*Our YES Manifesto
Yes to bring everything with you
Yes to discomfort
Yes to accepting / receiving offers
Yes to to open hearted-ness
Yes to freedom
Yes to trust
Yes to telling your story
Yes to being bold
Yes to being physical
Yes to noticing habits
Yes to group acceptance
Yes to self acceptance
Yes to aesthetic or non aesthetic
Yes to falling short of expectations
Yes to dangerous ideas
Yes to observing
Yes to singing with your body
Yes to collaboration

Read more about the 2019 Choreographic Program
Showings & Artist Talks - Nov 23 & 24