May 2023

February 2020 Arts Council England (ACE) funding secured. Choreographer Gary Lang and dancer Glen Thomas arrived in the UK to begin creating The Other Side of Me with Black British dancer Arran Green. Premiere performances were scheduled to take place at Northern Stage. Rehearsals commenced at Dance City and a sharing of work-in-progress was attended by interim Artistic Director, interim Creative Producer, and invited guests. Gary also taught a workshop for Dance City’s open professional class programme. Gary, Glen, Arran, Laura and Liz spend a day at Aycliffe Secure Centre engaging the young people in dance workshops where they learnt and performed sessions of the choreographic work-in-progress. The start of Covid-19 led to venues, including Northern Stage, closing. Gary and Glen immediately returned to Australia. A workshop for dancer and writers that we were planning to deliver in partnership with Dance City and New Writing North was cancelled. Gary was also due to deliver a talk as part of the Northumbria University Vice Chancellor’s speaker programme.

In 2017 Laura undertook two weeks intensive research in Australia: building networks with indigenous dance practitioners and attending performances, including Banagarra Dance Theatre, Sydney Opera House and the Laura Dance Festival, Cape York. The biannual Laura Dance Festival, then in its 35th year, offered insights into the cultural importance of dance and song to Indigenous Australians and Torres Straits Islanders. The three-day festival takes place on the Ang-Gnarra Festival Grounds, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, a traditional Bora ground respected as a sacred site to Aboriginal people for thousands of years. The Laura Festival attracted 9,000 people from across Australia and beyond – China, France and the U.K. Over 20 different groups met to celebrate Indigenous dance and to compete in heats. Spectators experienced traditional Australian and Torres Strait Islander dance in a rich display of skills. As well as engaging with Elders, and browsing stalls of Indigenous artwork, and there were opportunities to join in with dance groups; physically taking part enabled those attending to embody dreamtime stories connecting our present with a living past. The role of dance remains integral to Indigenous Australia, as one Elder said, ‘Dance is part of our lives. We need dance for strengthening communities and sharing our culture with dignity and pride’.