The 2022 OzAsia Festival is entering its final week of festivities, and there are still many wonderful productions to see. Gudirr Gudirr is one of these brilliant shows, running from November 3 to Sunday November 6 at the Space Theatre.
The guwayi bird calls a warning to signal when the tide is turning – miss the call, and you risk drowning. For thousands of years, this call has guided Aboriginal people of the northwest region of Australia and kept them safe from harm. Performed by Asian Indigenous artist Dalisa Pigram, Gudirr Gudirr reaches into Australia’s history and asks an important question: what does it take to decolonise the minds of Aboriginal people? How do we take a broken past, shift through a fragile present, and create a brighter future?
Ahead of the shows this week, Dalisa caught up with me to talk about the show and her career as a dancer and choreographer.
“My earliest interests were sparked by connections to my culture and family. Growing up in a place enriched with culture, like Broome, dance, music, and storytelling seemed to be part of everyday life. My interests grew and developed when I began to see and feel the potential that movement languages can carry culture and our stories into the future so they aren’t lost. My choreographic process allows me to draw from all the dance, cultural and movement languages that live within my body. I love to work with other artists to generate and develop choreography that comes from us all in this way, and I enjoy shaping those movements into the story we want to tell together.”
Gudirr Gudirr has earned Dalisa an Australian Dance Award and a Green Room Award. It must be a wonderful feeling to be recognised with awards such as these for the work she has created and performed.
“I often think about how dance can mean different things to different people. Often I am reluctant to even call myself a ‘dancer’ and whether the dance I make measures up to other forms equally, but I am reminded that my unique way of moving comes from a deep connection to who I am culturally, including all aspects of my mixed heritage, and that in Marrugeku all forms of movement are equally treated with respect and care. To be recognised with such awards makes me feel that on a wider level the dance we make does measure up and is being valued by the wider sector, and for that I’m proud that the work of Marrugeku is recognised and acknowledged.”
Dalisa spoke to me about where the concept for Gudirr Gudirr originated and about the creative process behind creating the choreography.
“While thinking of starting points for the many issues and subject matters I wanted to explore, I had a conversation over a cup of tea with my grandfather Patrick Dodson (grandmother’s brother and cultural dramaturg co-concept for Gudirr Gudirr). He listened to my concerns for our community in the Kimberley and its youth and suggested that I start with a little bird called Guwayi – also known as Gudirr Gudirr. We discussed how that little shore bird calls to tell us when the tide is about to turn while fishing or enjoying time near the ocean and how the function of that little bird is to warn us to get to higher ground. We then went on to think about how metaphorically the tide is turning for our community in many ways and my grandfather likened the work I do within my community: how I teach our Yawuru language at a local primary school, and the work we do in Marrugeku. That work is akin to that little bird Gudirr Gudirr. We worked then with Koen Augustijnen (Director and co-choreographer of Gudirr Gudirr) to develop the choreography through task-based improvisational starting points, creating the movement language and vocabulary we wanted to use to communicate the focus points of the conceptual ideas. The tasks Koen gave to me to explore ranged from direct links to my concerns, like suicide rates in our young people, but also tasks which were searching for the nuance in movement needed to convey feelings of restlessness or breaking with the past. We also worked further with an amazing team of artists: Rachael Swain (co artistic director of Marrugeku and dramaturg for Gudirr Gudirr), Vernon Ah Kee (set design and video artist), Sam Serruys (composer and sound design), and Stephen Curtis (costume designer). Together these elements further enhance all aspects of the performance language to match the choreography.”
The OzAsia Festival once again this year has presented a brilliant program that has opened many conversations around cultural awareness.
“Festivals like OzAsia are a chance to celebrate the amazing stories that exist within our communities. Some of these stories carry pain and some celebrate the diversity of the cultural fabric that we all should be so proud to include as part of our national identity. Everyone has a story and I am grateful for the chance to share mine on platforms like OzAsia Festival to open dialogue for similar stories and experiences to be shared.”
Gudirr Gudirr runs Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 November, 8pm at the Space Theatre. Tickets and further information can be found at https://ozasia.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/gudirr-gudirr .
Interviewed by: Ben Stefanoff
Photo credit: Heidrun Lohr
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