Description of Dance

Steve Wanta Jampijinpa talks about the Emu as an important teacher

The Emu is the symbol of teaching and learning. This dance focuses on clear teaching so that learning of the moves is maximised. The boys created some of the routines and had to teach each other.

Choreography

Nick (Japanangka) Power and Jenelle (Nakamarra) Saunders

2007 - Photos

2007 - Story

Description of Dance

The dance is about the emu and what the emu represents. The emu spirit can be seen in the sky, and during different seasons has different meanings. During the Milpirri season the emu searches and digs for knowledge and passes it onto the rest of the community. You can see this in the sky through the emu constellation, where the Southern Cross is his ceremonial headwear, and the Pointers (Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri) are the digging stick in his throat, digging for food/knowledge.

The girls enter the stage with the Mardu, the water carrier, which connects them with the Emu because knowledge and understanding of ngapa (water) is essential for a community to thrive. Ngapa, like the Emu, belongs to the blue group. The hand action at the beginning of the dance shows a scooping movement that reflects both digging and collecting water. This hand action comes back a couple of times in the dance, combined with other flowing, fluid, water-like movements of the hands and in the whole body. The section with the blue girls in front positions them as the teachers of the dance, passing their knowledge of the movements on to the other girls. 

The boys do ‘threading’ choreography which represents the search for knowledge as a sometimes complex and twisting path. They do ‘follow the leader’ showing the passing of knowledge down the line.

Choreography

Kelly (Napurrula) Beneforti (girls) and Aaron (Jangala) Lim (boys)

2016 - Photos

2016 - Story