Sector: Arts and Culture

Art form or genre: Dance

Country location: France

Grantee: Marrugeku Inc

Project Description

Marrugeku is an Indigenous performing arts organisation founded and based in Western Arnhem Land, Western Australia in 1994.The company creates innovative intercultural dance theatre from the northwest Australian experience, where desert meets sea, Australia meets Asia and where cultures twine, fuse and morph. It is currently under the artistic direction of Dalisa Pigram and Rachael Swain.

In 2016 Marrugeku will tour its latest production, Cut the Sky, to the Waan Pacific Dance Festival at Centre Cultural Tjibaou, New Caledonia, followed by a two-week International Indigenous Choreographic Laboratory (IICL) facilitated by Marrugeku. The lab will be attended by dancers and choreographers from Indonesia, Fiji, Australia and New Caledonia. Cut the Sky is a dance theatre, poetry and video work exploring Indigenous experiences of 'listening to country' during global environmental change. Nominated as 2015's outstanding dance production, it has performed at major Australian festivals, remote Kimberley communities and prestigious dance venues in Europe.

Marrugeku has entered into a three-year partnership with Centre Tjibaou in Nouméa to stimulate the development of contemporary Indigenous dance in the Pacific. The IICL exchange between Indigenous artists from across the Asia-Pacific region is a ground-breaking model Marrugeku has trialled and presented to acclaim in remote and urban Australia and New Zealand.

Social media accounts: Website - www.marrugeku.com.au; Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Marrugeku/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program grant offer: $15,000 plus $1,500 GST

Total project value: $102,779.00