Image by Matt Cornell, Simon Woods & Sam James.
What the world calls climate change, First Peoples call colonisation.
Preparing Ground, co-directed by Marilyn Miller, Jasmin Sheppard and Katina Olsen, is a powerful new language that dances the weight of history and the fire of resistance. It holds the warmth of family voices, quiet moments of care, and the heartache of displacement.
This is a call to join First Peoples’ care of Land - an urgent act for our shared future.
Three women share the stage - their bodies carrying stories through cycles of resilience and reclamation. Projections reveal a landscape that is both sacred and stolen, while sound and movement entwine to evoke a connection to Country for the audience, and for the performers one that cannot be erased. Over 60 minutes, Preparing Ground shifts between past and present, tradition and disruption, asking us all to listen, to witness, to remember.
Developed over six years through collaboration with the performers’ communities on their Countries, Preparing Ground embodies First Nations storytelling sovereignty.
This world premiere is an invitation to consider, what does it mean to belong to a land that remembers?
The Art House Presents
World Premiere - Preparing Ground
By Marilyn Miller, Jasmin Sheppard and Katina Olsen
One Show Only - 16 May, on Darkinjung
CREATIVE TEAM
Co-Directors: Marilyn Miller (Kukuyalanji, Waanyi), Jasmin Sheppard (Tagalaka, Kurtitjar) & Katina Olsen (Wakka Wakka, Kombumerri)
Performers: Marilyn Miller (Kukuyalanji, Waanyi), Jasmin Sheppard (Tagalaka, Kurtitjar) & Katina Olsen (Wakka Wakka, Kombumerri)
Collaborative Understudy: Audrey Goth-Towney (Wiradjuri)
Dramaturg: Victoria Hunt (Te Arawa, Ngati Ohomairangi, Ngati Kahungunu, Rongowhakaata Maori, English, Irish, Finnish)
Lighting Designer: Karen Norris
Set and Projection Designer: Samuel James
Sound Designer: Samuel J Pankhurst
Costume Designer: Aleisa Jelbart
Production Manager: Simon Cook (Mamu), BlakDance
Production Coordinator: Emma Holgate (Mandaburra), BlakDance
Stage Manager: Zara Thompson
Executive Producer: Merindah Donnelly (Wiradjuri), BlakDance
Senior Producer: Nicole Reilly (Wiradyuri), BlakDance - previously Tom Pritchard and Emily Wells (Kamilaroi)
Associate Producer: Luke Peacock (Samsep/Meriam), BlakDance
Early Collaborators: raymond blanco (Yadhaigana and Erub), Yolande Brown (Bidjara), Tammi Gissell (Muruwarri)
On-Country Collaborators:
Kukuyalanji: Uncle John Hartley and Juan Walker
Tagalaka: Patrick Wheeler and Victor Steffenson
Wakka Wakka: Uncle Max Chapman, Aunty Yvonne Chapman, Shirley Olsen, Natalie Chapman, Corey Appo, Shannon Bauwens, Aunty Lurlene Henderson
Kombumerri: Uncle John Graham, Shirley Olsen, Justine Dillon, Maxwell Dillon, Clinton Brewer
Yuggera, Birri, Bindal and Warranghu: Raelene Baker
Presented by The Art House Wyong.
Produced by BlakDance.
Preparing Ground is co-commissioned by Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), BlakDance and Brisbane Festival, with support from NAISDA Dance College, The Art House Wyong.
It is supported by the Australian Government’s Indigenous Languages and Arts program, and the Major Festivals Initiative, managed by Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body, in association with Brisbane Festival and Sydney Festival, with additional project funding from Creative Australia. Preparing Ground is also supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, Sunshine Coast Council and the City of Gold Coast. Additional support has been provided by Bulmba-ja Arts Centre, HOTA (Home of the Arts), Brisbane Powerhouse and Judith Wright Arts Centre.
