Directed by Joshua Bond
The Spiegeltent. Civic Square, Canberra. 13th April 2019.
Reviewed by Bill Stephens.
When the Chooky Dancers first performed in the
Canberra Multicultural Festival more than 10 years ago, they were six
wide-eyed Yolngu boys from northern Arnhem Land who had found themselves a
worldwide phenomenon as the result of a video-clip that had been uploaded on
the internet. In this clip they performed a hilarious version of “Zorba The
Greek” in which they combined traditional indigenous dance steps with modern dance
moves. Their clip attracted not only millions of viewers worldwide, but also invitations
to perform their dance around the world.
The Chooky Dancers have now morphed into Djuki Mala, surprisingly,
not six dancers as indicated in the publicity, but a highly accomplished
trio, Baykali Ganambarr, Wakara Gondarra, and Marko Garmu, who perform with disarming joie de vie, an entertaining mish-mash of tightly
choreographed dance routines, some
traditional cultural dances, others tongue-in-cheek interpretations of familiar
pop-songs, interspersed with documentary film sequences of female elders
explaining Yolngu traditions, and the history of the Chooky Dancers.
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| "Singin" in the Rain" Photo: Cam Campbell |
The zany “Zorba” dance is still there, danced much more professionally these days, and there’s a delightful mash-up of Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” incorporating brightly coloured umbrellas. There’s a Motown medley, a Bollywood dance with dancers wrapped incongruously in gold satin, and a dazzling Michael Jackson moment when one of the dancers was rewarded with excited spontaneous applause for his expert execution of Jackson’s signature moonwalk.
A slickly conceived high energy presentation, Djuki
Mala is sometimes silly, sometimes puzzling, occasionally moving, always
entertaining, definitely irresistible. It drew a standing ovation from the
large appreciative audience attracted to its first Spiegeltent show in
Canberra.
This review also appears in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au