Join us for an in-person screening of the 5 Indigi-Dance on Screen video works by Jeanette Kotowich, Ngaire May Lyden-Elleray, Katina Olsen, Amelia Jean O'Leary and Raven Spirit Dance.
Nimîhtowin Askîhk - Jeanette Kotowich
The creative process of this work took many iterations in the embodied journey to uncover and reveal Nimîhtowin Askîhk. What has taken shape is our dynamic and complicated, yet beautiful relationship to Dancing the Land - Nimîhtowin Askîhk. As we sensitized ourselves to each landscape, it became clear that even in our heartfelt attempts to inhabit our surroundings without imposition, the Land itself has been imposed upon in irreversible & unavoidable ways. And so… we followed our intuition, senses and Spirit in the mindful extraction and shaping of this work. In collaboration with the Land we attuned our ideas to site, weather, sun, cloud, sky, tide and time of day. This process called for our whole selves to be in observation, integration, reflection, and creative activation. Nimîhtowin Askîhk means Dancing the Land in the Cree language.
Taha, Ua (One, Two) - Ngaire May Lyden-Elleray
Combining poetry, dance, and film, “Taha, Ua (One, Two)” navigates the grief of
displacement, the kinship of community and the resistance of reconnection. The film explores what it means to be ‘home’ when from an Indigenous diaspora perspective.
Blakwork - Katina Olsen
Blakwork is a dance film collaboration of Wakka Wakka Kombumerri choreographer dancer Katina Olsen and Gomeroi poet and legal researcher Alison Whittaker. Created through yarns using inspiration from Alison’s book of the same name, Blakwork speaks to those who came before us; our mothers, aunties and grandmothers, their work and the work we continue in their footsteps against all adversity in so-called Australia.
The work we do as First Nations women is a resistance to the colony and a continued celebration of our resilience and strength. In this film we hear Alison’s words of our matriarchs strength and Katina’s movement as she traverses the rocks, a slow unfolding journey representing the cycles of passing on knowledges, strength and responsibilities to our next generations of women.
Yinarr - Amelia Jean O’Leary
Yinarr is a glimpse into the discovery and exploration of Gamilaroi Woman, Amelia Jean O’Leary’s, journey with identity. Yinarr means ‘Aboriginal Woman’ in Gamillaray Langauge. With music, editing, filming and dance by O’Leary, she shares a raw physical depiction of the internal vortex of identity, sisterhood and culture. In this iteration of Yinarr, O’Leary reflects on how sisterhood and the Blak Matriarchy have strengthened her as Yinarr.
‘What is my purpose? What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to dance? Whilst in my journey I discovered that what I am doing right now is enough. That being able to share, create, learn my art form is very powerful.’ – Amelia Jean O’Leary.
Ch’odza - Raven Spirit Dance
Ch’odza is a Han word that translates into She is Dancing. Ch’odza is a call to the world. In their dancing, these young dancers are a manifestation of Indigenous joy and hope. Their gestures are interwoven with the land and the water that surrounds them indelibly linking them to legacy and matrilineal power they all hold within. It is a reminder to dance with the land, that the world is beautiful and what powerful young Matriarchs we have leading us forward with bravery and grace.
Matriarchs Uprising is supported through The Dance Centre’s Special Projects and Partnerships program
For full event descriptions and more info on our programming, artists, and festival partners please visit: www.matriarchsuprising.com
