“A chord was struck on first hearing John Williamson’s version of Ted Egan’s song The Drover’s Boy. The strength of that feeling still remains and has become core to this piece. Wounds of the people and the land do not heal by being ignored”
Tim Newth

Rode with the drover side by side
Faithful wife but never a bride
Bred his sons for the cattle run
Don’t weep for the Drover’s boy
Don’t mourn for the Drover’s boy
But don’t forget the Drovers Boy
Ted Egan (The Drover’s Boy)

SILENT THOUGHT explores black and white relationships in outback Australia. The story alludes to a young Aboriginal woman who is both ‘stockman’ and bed mate to a drover in the North.

The ‘stockman’ was taken away from family, dominated and broken like an animal, all the while satisfying the sexual desire of the drover. The relationship was hazardous, ambiguous and dangerous. It exposed the hidden dilemma of a man showing affection when he should not, all the more poignant when she/he dies.

Conceived and Directed

Tim Newth

Choreography Assisted by the dancers

Sarah Calver and David McMicken

Media Response

"It is a very sensual piece, its eroticism is understated and true to the shyness of one and the awkwardness of the other there. There is very little eye contact between the ‘tall white man and the slim black boy who never had much to say'."
Real Time magazine

Choreographer

Sarah Calver

Dancers

Sarah Calver, Lisa Campbell, Berenice Franklin, Helen Haritos, Sandy Stewart

Choreographed as a sequel to Different From Every Angle (1992) AS I AM uses contemporary dance language combined with sign language, gestures, phrases and poetry whilst exploring songlines of the five women. The paths they travel are directly linked to the land and their own inner landscapes.

Sections: My Silence, travelling songline, it’s all too much, quack, crystal Ship, pullin’ back the reins, Tribal dance, Slip of the tongue, Ostermanana, This women’s work.

Choreography

David McMicken with the cast

Dancers

Sarah Calver, Lisa Campbell, Berenice Franklin

Darwin Dance Mob

Moira Stronach, Linda Barry, Nicolene Rubin, Lucinda Murrell, Brolga, Ingred Uplin

A marginal interest in Chaos Theory led David to look more closely at the patterns as revealed by nature such as coast lines, weather patterns and other seemingly random designs which on closer viewing reveal complex patterns, such as the design of leaves on branches or rock formations. Magnification of these patterns reveals new details that repeat in similar patterns- almost repeat but never quite do.

In chaos theory, Fractal geometry, a fractal suggests both fractured and fractional. Fractal geometry records images of movement in space as it focuses on broken, wrinkled, uneven shapes.

CHAOS tries to make some sense of order out of seeming random connections.