July 2023

Visit to CDU Art Gallery During their first week in Darwin, Laura and Liz visited the Art Gallery at Charles Darwin University to see the Gurindji Freedom Banners exhibition.  “The 10 iconic banners tell the Gurindji account of when Vincent Jurlama Lingiari AM went on strike with Gurindji, Ngarinyman, Mudburra, Bilinarra and Warlpiri workers from Wave Hill Station, located in the Victoria River District on the northern edge of the Tanami Desert.” CDU website.  The banners are bold and striking images that speak powerfully of this important historic event and the courage and culture of the Gurindji people. One banner depicting two women dancing, and another which has been missing for several years showing two men performing celebratory ceremonial dance, reflect the importance of dance within First Nations Australian cultures. 

Invitations to the performance sent out With the opening night fast approaching, NT Dance Company have sent out invitations welcoming significant guests to join us for the VIP reception and premiere performance.  Publicity It is exciting to see the performance being publicised widely, for example by NT Listing Guide ‘Off The Leash‘. 

Blak Dance promotes The Other Side of Me Laura and Liz recently had the pleasure of meeting Blak Dance Co-CEO Merindah Donnelly for lunch in Manchester while she was visiting the UK for a conference.  Established in 2005 as a direct outcome of the watershed National Indigenous Dance Forum, BlakDance is a national industry organisation for First Nation contemporary dancers and choreographers. Blak Dance support our project and are promoting The Other Side of Me via their enewsletter. 

Rehearsals move to the Darwin Entertain Centre Studio Theatre On Sunday 23rd July rehearsals continued in the dance studio .  The following day saw us relocate to Darwin Entertainment Centre’s Studio Theatre.  Pictures above from left to right: Liz, Arian, guest artist Banula Marika, Chandler, Gary, Noelle, Alex, Laura’s son Gabriel, and Laura. The move to the theatre is a significant transition allowing Gary and the creative team to gain more insight into how the audience will experience the work.  Being in the performance space also enabled Gary and the dancers to continue devising a section of the choreography for the latter stages of the work. Here the dancers use the back wall as a surface to move in contact with creating arresting body shapes and dramatic lifts. 

The Creative Team comes together The full creative team for the production started coming together in June 2023.  A Zoom conversation, brought Laura and Liz together with NT Dance Company Artistic Gary Lang, Company Manager Erica McCallum, and Producer Elizabeth Rogers. Liz and Laura were delighted to meet for the first time Rehearsal Director Noelle Shader, Costume Designer Jennifer Irwin, Lighting Designer Joe Mercurio, and Sound Designer Arian Ganambarr-Pearson.   Laura and Liz arrive in Darwin The flight from Newcastle, UK, to Darwin, Australia, was about 17 hours. We were into rehearsals the next day.  Rehearsals in Darwin After their arrival in Darwin July 2023, Laura and Liz joined members of the creative team in rehearsals. Pictured here, Liz leading warm-up class for the dancers and Laura working with the dancers on her script for the opening of the performance.  The amazing dancers for the production are Alexander Abbot and Chandler Connell pictured here with Rehearsal Director Noelle Shader.  The production’s Cultural Consultants Jesse Norris and Josephine Crawshaw have both attended rehearsals to observe a run-through of the work-in-progress and offer their thoughts.  Josephine Crawshaw is a Gurindji Elder, descendent of the Stolen Generations, and a long-term advocate and activist for the recognition of the sovereign rights of First Nations Peoples. Jesse Norris spoke to the team at length about his life story including his encounters with injustice and the value of culture, Country and dance both within his childhood and his adult experience within the criminal justice system in Australia.  Other guests invited to watch rehearsals and offer feedback have included Kate Fell Artistic, Director of Darwin Festival, and Dr Wendy Ludwig, Kungarakan and Gurindji woman and Artistic Director of Garramlang Festival, as well as other dancers from NT Dance Company and staff from Darwin Entertainment Centre and Tracks Dance Company. Creative elements coming together On Sunday 23rd July Sound Designer Arian Ganambarr-Pearson arrived in town to work with Gary and the Creative Team in the studio. It was exciting to see Gary, Arian and the dancer working together to refine how the sound and the choreography come together. On the same day photos of the costume in-development arrived from Costume Designer Jennifer Irwin. 

Animator Chloe Rodham joins the creative team Laura and Liz are delighted to have Northumbria University colleague Chloe Rodham join of the creative team for the production. Chloe Rodham is an animator and educator based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK. Her practice is in traditional and digital animation, experimenting with a variety of mediums to tell stories. Chloe is creating animations for The Other Side of Me to be projected on to the theatre floor and back walls. Her moving images will travel across the dancer’s bodies.

Darwin is building up to the Festival On arrival, Liz and Laura were delighted to see the city of Darwin adorned with flags and posters advertising the Darwin Festival.  The publicity for the performances of The Other Side of Me really stand out within the Festival brochure and the information on the Festival website communicates the significance of the production really well.  An information sheet with further details has been prepared to be shared with ticket holders. NT Dance Company Manager Erica McCallum said the information sheet will “pre-inform our audience of the incredible depth of this collaboration and why the story has travelled to Darwin from the UK”.