Choreographers Thomas E.S. Kelly and Taree Sansbury started a multifaceted approach to the subject of shape-shifting four years ago, commencing with a mockumentary and performance in Sydney at PACT, which interviewed people who revealed that they have other, animal selves.
The first development ‘conjured everyday fantasies of transformation and then moved on to something more serious: dance performance imbued, at first impressionistically and then quite specifically, with First Nations cultural shapeshifting’. Keith Gallasch REALTIME.
Over the next few years, the creative developments took place back on Karul’s homelands, as the company relocated back to the Gold Coast (2018).
Further creative developments began to further explore the work from a narrative and text based perspective. The original pitch to Brisbane Festival was that the work would be mostly text based theatre, of which this has undergone its own shapeshifting journey to now include animations and projections by Studio Gilay (who animated Cooked) shot at Wirrim Studio on the Gold Coast.
Lighting and production is being done by an all Indigenous team: Chloe Ogilvie (trained by Mark Howett) has managed to safely cross borders from WA and is plotting the lighting now, dramaturgy is happening largely over zoom with highly accomplished director, actor and playwright Isaac Drandic (who worked on Jacob Boehme’s Blood on the Dance Floor) and Mamu man Simon Cook holds the ship steady as the BlakDance Production Manager.
Add in sound design by Sam Pankhurst and lifelike animal costumes by the talented Selene Cochrane and the work boasts incredible production values and high quality design. A surprising addition to the cast is Grayson Millwood from The Farm (Throttle).
Weredingo was the first of BlakDance’s produced works to undertake a new model for feedback on a work in development through BlakForm. The Critical Response Process (CRP) was a facilitated process that allowed the makers to question their work in open dialogues with industry and community leaders. We were delighted to undertake this initiative earlier this year with Joyce Rosario, a first-generation Canadian of Filipina descent, privileged to live on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
