Presented by Brown’s Mart Community Arts and Lajamanu Community. The development of the performance utilising circus skills, dance and visuals incorporating the Walpiri culture and dreamings. The work developed around the image of Goannas and hunting. Tim Newth worked with elders to design a cloth that covered a mini-trampoline and crash mat constructing a giant goanna. Sarah Calver supported this by creating dances around hunting and stick work. Whilst Robyn Laurie developed acrobatic routines with the cast.

Performances at Lajamanu and Barunga Sports Festival, Bagot Reserve Darwin, NAIDOC Ball Darwin, Yuendumu, Alice Springs, Willowra and Ti-Tree.

PHOTO: Tim Newth

The 1989 Lajamanu project marked the beginning of things to come. It acted not only as a role model for other communities but enabled people within Lajamanu to understand us as artists and the processes involved in projects like this. As a result the 1990 project had a different starting point and the support, understanding, and input from the community itself was much more noticeable and welcome.

The first block of our residency was spent mainly researching ideas, images and stories for the project as well as offering workshops in a variety of areas: dance, creative movement, circus and acrobatic skills. These initial workshops were offered to each class within the school and also extended to community groups after school hours.

With the prospect of performing at the 1990 Barunga Sports and Cultural Festival only three weeks after our project commenced rehearsals began. The three pieces chosen were 1) the girls’ Dance - Mountain O’ Things, 2) the African Dance and 3) the Rap - an extended version with acrobatic routines integrated with dance.

The workshops were shared between myself and co-worker Robyn Laurie and took on one of the following formats:

1) pure dance/movement workshops
2) straight acrobatic/circus skills workshop
3) a split workshop: half dance and half acrobatics

Regular correspondence with the organisers of the Festival enthused everyone and receiving confirmation that we were written into the program, gave an extra boost to our dance group. The community performance prior to our departure for Barunga was exceptional and the crowd really showed their support and happiness through their responses. The kids exuded a lot of energy, projection, and pride that night, and responded to the audiences reaction by doing an encore. Once again this group of talented youth showed us how to do it well!

Barunga was truly a Festival this year with up to 3,000 people attended. People from all over the NT were there and the exposure our dance group got was overwhelming. - not to mention positive feedback and applause the group received after each show. Family members present at the festival gave a lot of support and acknowledgment to the group for all their efforts.

Many organisations and other communities were able to see the work and a lot of interest in work similar to this arose. The NAIDOC organisers were so impressed, we were approached to perform at the 1990 NAIDOC Festival in Darwin.

The dance group, like the Lajamanu community, were very proud of the overall achievements at the Festival and the trip home was one of pleasant exhaustion.

Once back in Lajamanu the main focus of our work was the project and the following two weeks of workshops were dedicated to mainly acrobatics and circus skills. In no time at all a group of boys mastered the unicycles and we selected a group of 20 kids to work with every day - the final selection of our touring group would come out of this group.

However, time in the ‘city’ flew by and in no time at all I was back amidst the community way of living. With only 4.5 weeks before our scheduled tour, our focus and energy became more and more consistent with the development of ‘the show’.

Days out hunting with the women for goanna led to the development of a hunting dance I choreographed with the girls using sticks which led into a stick dance with the boys, followed on by a Papua New Guinea stick dance and finishing with a Filipino stick rhythm dance. The traditional owner of the goanna dreaming dance was invited, to see that I had not done the wrong thing, so to speak. Gladys Napangardi (my skin mother), didn’t seem bothered by any aspect of the dance, so it remained as I had choreographed it. The rest of the show was a culmination of our work. (See scenario)

This program was seen as a development on last year’s and a lot of people were once again impressed by the skills learnt and performed. The group’s confidence and the dynamics of the various acts became more concrete as time went by.

The first tour to the Katherine and Darwin region was very successful and the NAIDOC performances in Darwin were truly inspirational to us, the artists, and the various audiences.

With a strong sense of achievement from our first tour the need to perform to other Warlpiri communities and the central region led to the development of a second tour. Letters of support for the second tour emphasised the need to visit these areas so with the support of the Lajamanu Community Council and school we organised for the second tour to go ahead in October.

Returning to Lajamanu in October I felt once again at home and it was a good feeling to be back amongst people that reflected everything around them. The heat had become more intense due to the change in seasons and the politics of the community were still unsettled but everyone was pleased to see us back. Unfortunately due to ‘business’ and other family matters not all of our troupe were available for the tour.

However, at the end of our rehearsal week, the group had started to feel whole again and the gaps created by our missing members were filled in and the performance began to take shape again.

It was hot work but once again the group was fairly dedicated and I knew inside that the best was yet to come - the show always comes alive in front of an audience.

On the Saturday we departed for Yuendumu.

We then headed on down the corrugated track to Alice Springs - this 3.5 hour trip turned into a marathon 6 hour trip due to mechanical problems with the bus! However, we reached our destination and were shown to our camping area at Yirrara College - in no time at all we had a fire going and the Yapa women with us were soon busy cooking the goannas we managed to get along the way.

It was exciting driving in the bus and suddenly coming to a halt if someone saw a goanna - we would all give chase and then having followed it to its hole one of the women would start digging.

Then were then on our way to Willowra - ‘Ku-ku Land’ to our mob and anything that happened out of the ordinary whilst on our journey confirmed that this was ‘Ku-Ku” country (ghost/monster/boogie monster country).

Willowra had been a wonderful experience the year prior but this year relationships between the two Warlpiri communities seemed estranged and trouble came of it. Unfortunately there was little anyone could do as it was a tribal fight that had not been finished, but memories of trying to take a dance arm-up amidst screams of women with their fighting sticks are quite mixed - both funny and serious aspects are quite vivid and I feel words could not do justice to the scene that surrounded and invaded us. The performance there was a mixed one and I cannot blame the troupe for being unsettled at the start.

Our homeward journey was a long one but as usual an interesting one as Japangardi (my skin uncle and driver of the school bus) told us stories of the land and special gifts/dreamings that his family had. He spoke of his respect - for the land and how one should travel through the land that is not of their people but of other clans. Like Japangardi his words had true meaning and his faith in mankind is unquestionable. The Yapa adults on tour with us were an exceptional help and contributed in many ways - it made our time on the road not only easier but happier and we all gained from our experiences and time together.

The development on last year’s project was evident throughout our residency. I feel the importance of this kind of project and its need for further continual development is often overlooked by city dwellers.

The Lajamanu people already talk of being able to eventually create their own performances for tour, and that is the main aim of extending these projects each year. I hope the people continue to believe in the strength these performances instil, not only amongst Warlpiri people, but to others living in the NT.

The enthusiasm, dedication and support of the Lajamanu people is positive and I feel assured that in the years to come this type of performance will be 100% Warlpiri as they have shown me and others what is possible - and being a strong people there will be no stopping them. I am more than proud to be associated with this desert tribe and will always feel a special warmth in my heart for Lajamanu - its land and its people.

Sarah Calver

Choreographer

Sarah Calver

Visual Artist

Tim Newth

Circus Skills

Robyn Laurie

Composer

Nick Krieg