Choreographed
by Dalisa Pigram and Koen Augustijnen
Directed by
Koen Augustijnen - Performed by Dalisa Pigram
Set Design
and video art by Vernon Ah Kee – Composed by Sam Serruya
Costume
design by Stephen Curtis – Lighting design by Matthew Marshall
Presented by
Marrugeku and the Canberra Theatre Centre
The
Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, 30th September 2017
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
A remark by
one of her grandfathers, Senator Pat Dodson, about the guwayi seabird that
calls a warning when the tide is turning, inspired indigenous performer, Dalisa
Pigram to spend three years in collaboration with Belgian Choreographer, Koen
Augistijnen, creating “Gudirr Gudirr”.
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| Dalisa Pigram performing 'Gudirr Gudirr" |
Confronting questions
of her own indigenous identity, Pigram focusses on major issues facing her own
family and community in Broome to sound her own warnings about the effects of
massive industrialisation on traditional lands. The loss of language, youth
suicide, and the gaps between indigenous and non-indigenous well-being are all
addressed in this compelling, beautifully realised and continually involving
dance work.
Pigram makes
imaginative use of her well-honed skills as an aerialist, dancer, gymnast, and Malay
martial arts exponent, as well as animal movement and vocalisation to engage
and fascinate as she skipped and prowled birdlike around Vernon Ah Kee’s
inspired, minimalist setting.
Throughout, she addressed the audience directly
in an intriguing combination of English and her own native Yawuru language,
providing a particular highlight with a hilarious rant in pidgin, which
featured the word “fucken”, repeated over and over, in a powerful demonstration
of the disarming effectiveness of humour to express the frustration of
perceived powerlessness.
Evocative images
of Pigram’s father and family fishing expeditions, key-words and messages were projected
on to the corrugated iron backdrop, to provide context. Among them an
extraordinary extract of comments by a West Australian Administrator, A.O.
Neville.
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| Dalisa Pigram performing "Gudirr Gudirr" |
From time to
time she wrapped herself in a fishing net hanging on one side of the stage,
transforming it into a nest in which to shelter, a means to allow her to swoop
and fly out over the audience, and a ladder on which to climb higher to meet
challenges.
A strikingly
inventive work, with an atmospheric soundtrack that includes songs sung by family
member Stephen Pigram, “Gudirr Gudirr”, like the guwayi bird which inspired it, disarmingly delivers important warnings
amidst its entertaining and meticulously performed framework. Warnings which obviously resonated
with the enthusiastic audience which greeted its only Canberra performance.
This review also appears in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au