JURRUNGU
NGAN-GA[STRAIGHT TALK]
— Marrugeku

Challenging, joyful and deeply affecting, Jurrungu Ngan-ga – literally ‘Straight Talk’, tears down walls and builds bridges in a frank conversation with the Australian psyche.

Jurrungu Ngan-ga is inspired by perspectives on incarceration by Yawuru leader Patrick Dodson and Kurdish-Iranian writer and former Manus Island detainee Behrouz Boochani. Three years in development in the company’s dual homes of Broome and Sydney, this mesmerising multimedia dance theatre piece reflects on the disgraceful disproportion of Indigenous Australians in custody and first-hand descriptions of life inside Australia’s immigration detention centres.

For 26 years Marrugeku’s famous intercultural dance theatre has addressed local and global issues of the fear of cultural difference. Through movement, spoken word, installation and a powerful musical soundscape, its multi-talented cast draw on their intersecting yet distinct cultural and community-informed experiences (Indigenous, immigrant, people seeking asylum, transgender and settler) to ask: who really is in prison here?

Devised by an exceptionally talented cast through Marrugeku’s hallmark intercultural dance process, facilitated by choreographer Dalisa Pigram and director Rachael Swain, Jurrungu Ngan-ga is set within a large-scale installation designed by leading West Australian visual artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah. Searing truths blend with dark humour, courage, fear, sadness and anger to shine a light on new ways to resist and abolish. Like the renowned company that has created it, this performance presents new and empowering narratives to rewrite our future.

www.marrugeku.com.au

︎ “With intricate detail, expressive flourishes and startling imagination Feras Shaheen brings playful investigation to the celebration of movement itself. In Jurrungu Ngan-ga Feras applied his vast street dance vocabulary to the improvisational process of creating culturally and politically informed contemporary dance to produce mesmerising solo work and participate in tightly constructed group scenes. Always respectful, Feras takes the work and joy of dance seriously.”
///Rachael Swain

Full Credits

Concept : Dalisa Pigram & Rachael Swain with Patrick Dodson///

Choreography : Dalisa Pigram with the performers///
Director : Rachael Swain///
Dramaturg : Hildegard de Vuyst///
Cultural Dramaturgs : Behrouz Boochani, Patrick Dodson, Omid Tofighian///
Music : Sam Serruys, Paul Charlier, Rhyan Clapham///
Sound Designers : Sam Serruys & Paul Charlier///
Scenic Designer : Abdul-Rahman Abdullah////
Costume Designer : Andrew Treloar///
Lighting Designer : Damien Cooper///
Co-devising Performers : Czack (Ses) Bero, Emmanuel James Brown, Chandler Connell, Luke Currie-Richardson, Issa el Assaad, Zachary Lopez, Bhenji Ra, Feras Shaheen, Miranda Wheen///

Additional Music : 
Far from Home
Farhad Bandesh & Anna Liebzeit (composition)
Farhad Bandesh (recorded vocals sung in Kurdish)
The Ha Dub Rewerk’d
MikeQ (composer and performer)
Jalangurru Wiyi
Emmanuel James Brown (live vocals sung in Bunuba)
This is Australia - Donald Glover, Ludwig Göransson & Jeffery Lamar Williams (composition)
Beni ‘Bjar’ Hasler (Lyrics and backing vocals)
Luke Currie-Richardson (live vocals)
Zachary Lopez (recorded vocals)
Chandler Connell (recorded Yidaki)
Additional instrumental recordings : Natasha Rumiz – Viola///

Additional Choreography : Krump Army: Stacy Peke aka Red Ladybrui5er///
Production Manager & Lighting Operator : Aiden Brennan///
Audio Technician : Raine Paul///
Company Manager : Denise Wilson///

Marrugeku Co-Artistic Directors : Dalisa Pigram & Rachael Swain///
General Manager : Robina Burton///
Strategy & Sales : Justin Macdonnell///