The music was composed by First Nations artist Matthew Doyle and Indigenous musician Dyagula, who is also the lead vocalist. The work, which features 14 dancers performing 14 songs In Dharug, is presented in association with Parramatta’s Arts and Cultural Exchange and western Sydney’s FORM Dance Project.
Four generations of Strachan’s family are involved: two of her daughters and her six-year-old granddaughter are dancers, and her mother made the dilly bags that feature as props along with nawi (canoes) gunyas (shelters) coolamons (storage vessels) and digging sticks that Strachan created.
“This is matriarchal nura/country,” she said. “We really need to create a space and opportunity for all us women to sing up country again together in our beautiful dalang/ language.
“I wanted to create our own unique and genuine special songs and dances in Dharug dalang/ language to help keep our dalang alive, thriving, strong, heard and spoken and to maintain our culture and stories through those songs and dances for our yura/people.”
Her goal is for the audience to leave wanting to know more about the Dharug language, once widely spoken by most of the 29 clans of the Eora nation of the Sydney region.
Her daughter, dancer Serene Yunupingu, who has just returned from Arnhem Land, said the show was important to showcase the “matriarchal revitalisation” of Indigenous contemporary dance.
“We’ve danced on top of the Opera House, near the Opera House in the Botanical Gardens but now we’ve come from all over the country to dance our story on the Opera House stage, which is pretty special,” Yunupingu said.
Dancer Arohi Pehi, from Redfern, said it was emotional to be performing at the Opera House.
“This idea to revitalise the Dharug language through dance started as a seedling, now it is a big tree, like a wise old grandmother,” she said.
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