Marrugeku is thrilled to announce that its production Jurrungu Ngan-ga [Straight Talk] will tour the Kimberley in April 2022.
Free Community Performances
Kununurra
7 & 8 April 2022
Kununurra Picture Gardens
Fitzroy Crossing
13 & 14 April 2022
Fitzroy Valley District High School
Derby
20 & 21 April 2022
Derby Recreation Centre
Translated from Yawuru as “straight talk”, Jurrungu Ngan-ga is a powerful dance work that combines movement, storytelling, and a moving musical soundscape to ‘talk straight’ about incarceration. Marrugeku’s multi-talented performers connect Australia’s terrible rates of Indigenous imprisonment to the locking up of asylum seekers on prison islands through dance, theatre and visual art.
Responding directly to stories from inside Don Dale youth detention centre and Manus Island immigration prison, Jurrungu-Ngan-ga aligns the power of sadness, with resilience and joy to share new ways to stand up together against the systems to say “We are still here”.
Jurrungu Ngan-ga takes its inspiration from the words and experiences of Yawuru leader Patrick Dodson, Kurdish Iranian writer and former Manus Island detainee Behrouz Boochani, and Iranian-Australian scholar-activist Omid Tofighian.
Marrugeku is committed to bringing each production we make to remote and regional communities especially in our home region of the Kimberley. Tackling complex current issues that we all face together in this country, we know how important it is to bring shows like Jurrungu Ngan-ga to share our cultural and artistic perspectives on interrogating the issue of incarceration, as it will resonate with many families in the Kimberley. We value our Kimberley audiences, and they are always prioritised for opportunities to see our work, so it is a privilege to be able to make that happen again.
— Dalisa Pigram, Co-Artistic Director, Marrugeku & Choreographer, Jurrungu Ngan-ga
Jurrungu gan-ga brings attention to Australia’s creation of dehumanizing spaces without due process of law and the necessary social support and respect. The show reveals how this unique dialogue between Indigenous, settler and refugee perspectives can address the burning issues of our times, investigating that which Australia wishes to isolate and lock away from view.
— Rachael Swain, Co-Artistic Director, Marrugeku & Director, Jurrungu Ngan-ga
Marrugeku will also deliver free dance and movement workshops with communityies to celebrate joy and resilience in dance and movement and explore Marrugeku’s Indigenous led, intercultural approach to performance making.
