Cirrus@Austlit

'Intercultural dance company Marrugeku bring to life the buried, haunting story of Broome’s pearling industry, and the bond between Malay peoples and First Peoples of the Kimberley.

'Reflecting on early colonial times of racism, slavery and stolen children, Mutiara celebrates a deep connection that often led to love and lifelong companionship.

'Marrugeku’s Dalisa Pigram and Singaporeans Soultari Amin Farid and Zee Zunnur co-choreograph and perform, collaborating with Broome ex-pearl diver Ahmat Bin Fadal, visual artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah on set design and sound by composer Safuan Johari.

'Mutiara’s dance language draws on diasporic connections, Southeast Asian martial art silat, and Yawuru and Minangkabau dance forms, to interrogate a hidden history.

'Bones speak, seas change, ancestral beings feud and deep beneath the surface the pearl diver yearns for home. Mutiara celebrates resilience, love and the strength of ancestors.'

Source: Sydney Festival.

'Some cultures around the world have four seasons that they look out for on a calendar; Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.

'Us Yawuru mob, we don't have four seasons that are told to us by a calendar. We have six seasons and Country tells us when they have arrived by what we feel, see, taste, smell and hear.

'Discover how the Yawuru people read the seasons in this beautifully illustrated book.' (Publication summary)

'Challenging, joyful and deeply affecting, Jurrungu Ngan-ga confronts Australia’s shameful fixation with incarceration in a powerful and provocative new dance work. Inspired by perspectives on incarceration, Jurrungu Ngan-ga reflects on the disgraceful disproportion of Indigenous Australians in custody and first-hand descriptions of life inside Australia’s immigration detention centres. Searing truths blend with dark humour, fear, sadness and courage to shine a light on new ways to resist and to empower us all to rewrite our future – together.' (Production summary)

'This interview was conducted by Dalisa Pigram Ross from her home in Broome, while Edwin Lee Mulligan was fishing on a jetty; some of the interview was spoken by Mulligan in Walmajarri language, and the wind made other parts of the interview almost inaudible.' (Introduction)

'Gudirr Gudirr lights a path from broken past to fragile present, and on to a future still in the making. Gudirr Gudirr calls a warning, the guwayi bird calls when the tide is turning — to miss the call is to drown. An intimate solo dance and video work performed by Dalisa Pigram, daughter of Broome. By turns hesitant, restless, resilient and angry, Gudirr Gudirr lights a path from a broken past through a fragile present and on to a future still in the making.' (Source: Marrugeku website)