Photo Credit: Daniel Boud
With Hot Brown Honey and Djuki Mala both performing at the Sydney Opera House this month, it is an exciting moment for Indigenous performance in Australia.
Fresh from sold out seasons in the Perth and Adelaide Fringe Festivals, Djuki Mala are back with this unique showcase for the powerful physicality, kinetic enjoyment, and sheer exuberance of these First Nation dancers.
Groundbreaking in many ways, the show tells the story of the collision between traditional Yolngu culture and the internet through the dancers’ own story. Back in 2007, Djuki Mala, or the ‘Chooky Dancers’ as they were then known, became a YouTube sensation with their unique take on Zorba the Greek, which combined the famous Greek music with traditional Yolngu dance.
This Sydney Opera House season marks the 10th anniversary of the posting of that viral video, which has now had close on 2.75 million hits at the time of writing. Ten years older, the Djuki dancers have gone on to tour the world.
Using projected film and sound recordings of interviews, we see and hear the people from the dancers’ home on Elco Island, off the far North East Coast of East Arnhem land. We hear how the Zorba dance came about, and how these dancers have now become new role models for the Indigenous youth on Elco Island.
This is a story of traditional Indigenous culture adapting, rebuilding and transforming whilst proudly retaining its own traditions. It is a story of resilience, told in the voices of the dancers themselves and their families. We see and hear this story: of the immediate impact of YouTube and the internet on an age-old traditional culture – not only in the interviews but also through the bodies of the young male dancers.
This show is funny, discomforting, tragic and also uplifting. It is groundbreaking in what it sets out to do, which is unpack this very particular experience, and this specific moment in time.
Different understandings and experiences of time are a strong element in this show, with the age-old traditional dancing of Elco Island thrust up against the second-by-second short attention span, all-consuming culture of the internet.
The filmed elements of this performance, which are beautifully shot, are full of stories of dying and grief, and underscore the shortness of each human life. These interviews act in strong contrast to the exuberance and vitality of the dancers and give the dance added poignacy and resonance.
A uniquely important and groundbreaking show .
5 out of 5 stars
Djuki Mala
Sydney Opera House
13-18 June
