Ngurrumilmarrmiriyu (Wrong Skin)
Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne
Performing Lines with Malthouse Theatre, Darwin Festival, Adelaide Festival and Sydney Opera House.
First Preview, Thursday 18th March 2010, 7pm
The Chooky dancers became one of those viral net sensations that you imagine will explode and then you never see them again. And they would turn up on one of those cheap and nasty ‘where are they now?’ shows fronted by David Koch and Mel whatsername on Channel 7 in ten years time.
But NO!! here they are at the Malthouse in the middle of a Performing Lines tour of Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Darwin. And I was scared…that the beauty and power of their internet dance would be ruined by some white people dressing this black dance to be something it isn’t.
I have a weird feeling that happens in my tummy when i am sitting in a theatre full of white middle class people watching indigenous dancers on stage doing traditional dances and songs. I ask myself – why is this being presented like this? Is it being manufactured for our white eyes inside the cultural framing of the proscenium arch? if we were siting in the open watching these people do this thing on their own traditional lands then would it make more sense? but here – what does it become? A museum piece? An anthropological study? or is it an honest attempt to open up a culture that is unknown to white people? (note i use the term white people, as i looked around the audience it was 95% anglo/celtic/european – this is another observation that needs to be talked about at another time.)
Nigel Jamieson’s handling of this piece was very careful – he managed to create a structure and media set up that felt like it was supportive and enabled the performers to be themselves and tell their stories. On the whole I felt like the dance in the piece came from them – it was rare that i felt like something had been placed onto their bodies from outside.
The title of the piece Ngurrumilmarrmiriyu means ‘wrong skin’ in English and talks about the joining of two people who are living under different moieties within the laws of Yolngu culture. In many ways this is a classic story – it is Romeo and Juliet – and I can see why this was chosen as a backbone for the work; to help it to coalesce. However as the piece went on, it felt less and less connected to the collection of dance sequences and video pieces from Echo island – as if I could see the makers hand at work in the piece.
The term ‘wrong skin’ also began to resonate across the divide between indigenous and non -indigenous as well as between the reality of the live community members and the world of the internet and virtual imagery which was being beamed in from outside.
I participated in a community project in Blackwater in central QLD in 2005 and was fascinated by the cultural reference points of the young people. They found their place completely boring and did not know how to engage in social situations outside of the swimming pool and rollerskating night. Yet they all were on msn messenger, had satellite tv (with the 50 or so channels) and had high speed internet. So they knew about Pimp my ride, Miami ink and Cribs but they wouldn’t ever meet each other outside of school or know anything about the land on which they stood.
Where the Chooky dancers is different is that they have a culture that is strong and rooted in tradition and they then have taken the influences and reach of the internet and fused it. So the sense you get is of two cultures meeting equally.
The beauty of the Chooky dancers taking a Bollywood dance and making it their own is a neo-fable. It celebrates the power of the web, that the bringing together of local and global can indeed work and create something of worth and joy.
The lesson for me in all of this is that in order for two things to fuse successfully then the local has to be strong (or adaptable) enough to take the influence of the global.
Finally. Those dancers were amazing – so fluid, so able to take on other dance styles. could watch them forever.
