Interactions - Ethnic Communities Council
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Lake Leanyer, Darwin
July 12, 1998
Interactions was an Ethnic Communities Council project. They approached Tracks to provide overall direction and structure, and to find ways that newly formed or inexperienced cultural groups could find the confidence to present their own ideas. The project involved research, workshopping, creating, rehearsing and performing a full-length work.
Interactions was a cross-cultural, cross-artform work that brought together performers from different cultures (over 20 cultures represented) and art forms. It explored how diverse traditions interact with each other to create new art forms while maintaining their own integrity. Interactions showed that different traditions and cultural expressions do have a place in contemporary Darwin. In Interactions, the diverse communities in Darwin came together and joyously celebrated their journeys, backgrounds and meeting points.
Performed on July 12 at Lake Leanyer, a recreational reserve in the northern suburbs of Darwin.
Cultures represented: PNG, East Timorese, Tiwi Islander Aboriginal, other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Tongan, Fijian, Chilean, Brazilian, Maori, Vietnamese, Filipino, Sri Lankan, Indian, Indonesian, Hungarian, and Israeli.
Scenario
- Everyone in their own place - establishing place
- This Land - the call of the Conch
- The Spirit Awakens
- Land and Water - people travelling over land and water
- Ancestors make gifts for the future, passing on
- Reasons for leaving your homelands
- Travel Testimonies
- Sorrow and Healing
- Weaving - bringing together and exchanging
- Freeing the spirit, finding shared rhythms
Creative Personnel
Directors: Alice Casimiro Branco (East Timor), Paia Ingram (Papua New Guinea), Tim Newth, David McMicken, Airi Ingram (Papua New Guinea/Australia)
Key Musicians: Ramkumar Konesh (Sri Lanka), Aiva Kadiva (PNG), Vinod Kulkarini (India), Phil Eaton (Fiji), Airi Ingram (PNG/Australia), Dulce Munn (East Timor), Mark Smith (Australia), Alice Casimiro Branco (East Timor)
Performance Groups
Core Performers: Tau Ingram (Papua New Guinea), Rukshana Ramachandran (Sri Lanka), Adeliea Pereira (East Timor), Stanley Stanislaus (Indigenous/Australian)
Performers representing over 20 Darwin cultures and communities.
Tracks Dance 1998
Co-Artistic Directors: Sarah Calver, David McMicken, Tim Newth
Administrator: Liann Stevenson, Joelene Paterson, Bong Ramillo
[under Ausdance NT]
Photos
Statements from Key Artists
"I am very excited to be working on this unique project. I look forward to working with the other four artists, as well as the many artists and performers from other different communities. I will be learning a lot from everyone." Paia Ingram.
"This is the first time the ethnic communities have come together to create a new work. Everyone is very excited about the idea of using our music & dance together to come up with a new style of Music/Dance theatre." Airi Ingram
"What people will experience at Lake Leanyer is a powerful single voice, yet this is a highly textured weaving housing the voices of many. To be involved in this performance provided me with both challenges and a growth of spirit." Tim Newth
"The research into the way that different cultures co-exist in Darwin is highly significant. That these groups can work together to determine their own cultural development is of utmost importance, both to themselves as well as to the wider Darwin population." David McMicken
Explore Further
Responses
"How refreshing it is to see such different cultures being represented without it being a 'concert' format - loved it." Audience member