Production Details / Press Releases
The latest work by Australian-based company Marrugeku is a unique interplay of dance, sound and installation – emotionally charged with sadness, anger, joy and resistance. With „Jurrungu Ngan-ga” (Yawuru for “straight talk”) the company boldly investigates that which Australia wishes to lock away. The dancers address the human rights violations in Australia’s prisons, and confront Australia’s shameful fixation with incarceration by connecting outrageous levels of Indigenous prisoners to the indefinite detaining of asylum seekers. The starting point of their work are reports by Yawuru leader and activist Patrick Dodson, as well as the factual account “No Friend but the Mountains”, which won Australia’s most prestigious literary award, by Kurdish-Iranian writer Behrouz Boochani, interned for several years on Manus Island.
Marrageku tours worldwide and is dedicated to introducing audiences to Indigenous knowledge systems and the compelling experience of intercultural performance. The company is a pioneer in intercultural performances that give a voice to the most marginalised. Based between Broome in Western Australia and Sydney, Marrugeku is led by choreographer/dancer Dalisa Pigram and director/dramaturg Rachael Swain. Working together for 27 years, they co-conceive the company’s productions, collaborating with an intercultural cast of performers stemming from diverse backgrounds and disciplines.
[Source: play bill]
TFB Nr. 1658
Cast & Credits
Concept: Dalisa Pigram, Rachael Swain, Patrick Dodson
Choreographer: Dalisa Pigram
By & with: Czack ‘Ses’ Bero, Emmanuel James Brown, Chandler Connell, Luke Currie-Richardson, Issa el Assaad, Zachary Lopez / Macon Esteban Riley, Bhenji Ra, Feras Shaheen, Miranda Wheen
Director: Rachel Swain
Dramaturgy: Hildegard de Vuyst
Cultural dramaturgy: Behrouz Boochani, Patrick Dodson, Omid Tofighian
Music: Sam Serruys, Paul Charlier, Rhyan Clapham aka DOBBY
Sound designer: Sam Serruys, Paul Charlier
Stagedesigner: Abdul-Rahman Abdullah
Costume designer: Andrew Treloar
Lighting designer: Damien Cooper
Additional choreography: Stacy Peke aka Red Ladybrui5er (Krump Army)
Production management & lighting control: Aiden Brennan
Sound engineer: Raine Paul
Company manager: Denise Wilson
Production & tour manager: Natalie Smith
Co-commissioned by: Carriageworks, International Summer Festival Kampnagel Hamburg with the Körber Foundation, the City of Melbourne through Arts House.
Funded by: the Australian Government through Arts Funding, the Advisory Council of the Australia Council, the Indigenous Language and Arts Program, the Western Government through the Department of Local, Sport and the Cultural Industries, Create NSW, the Nelson Meers Foundation, International Kampnagel Summer Festival with the Körber Foundation.
Tanz im August as a guest at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.
Tanz im August 2022
Artistic Director: Virve Sutinen
Executive Producer Festival: Stefan Nagel
Curator & Producer: Andrea Niederbuchner
Producer & Assistant to Artistic Director: Alina Scheyrer-Lauer
Producer: Ekaterina Voronova
Production Assistant: Johanna Herrschmann
Production Associates: Vivien Hohnholz, John Hoobyar, Mmakgosi Kgabi, Raquel Moreira, Lilli Ruopp, Tammo Walter
Technical Director Festival: Ingo Ruggenthaler
Tanz im August is a festival by HAU Hebbel am Ufer, funded by the Capital Cultural Fund.
Haus der Berliner Festspiele
Video Documentation
The video documentation is produced on behalf of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. The purpose of this contract is to document productions in the field of contemporary dance in Berlin. The master recordings are archived by the University Library of the Berlin University of Arts. Copies of the recordings on DVD are available for viewing exclusively in the reference collections of the following archives (at media desks in these institutions):
University Library of the Berlin University of Arts
Mediathek für Tanz und Theater des Internationalen Theaterinstituts / Mime Centrum Berlin
Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT)