Director/ Choreographer: Joel Bray
Performers: Zoe Brown-Holten, Samakshi Sidhu, Katherine Hegeman, Nadiyah Akbar, Glory Tuohy-Daniell, Tamara Bouman (original devising cast member), Sammie Lester (understudy)
Composer: Matthias Schack -Arnott
Set and Costume Design: Jake Preval
Lighting Design: Katie Sfetkidis
Intimacy Coordinator: Amy Cater
Cultural Support: Tony Briggs
Project Elder: Uncle Christopher Kirkbright
Executive Producer (JBD): Veronica Bolzon
Assistant Producer (JBD): Luke Fryer
Rehearsal Director: Siobhan Mckenna
Stage Manager: Rain Iyahen
Production Manager: Siobhain Geaney
Associate Lighting Designer: Spencer Herd
A significant new dance work by Joel Bray, MONOLITH transforms colonised bodies into sites of silent protest.
Floating on a dystopian island designed by artist Jake Preval, five powerful female dancers craft a sinewy, muscular and androgynous choreographic language. Moving to the delicate and driving beats of celebrated composer Matthias Schack-Arnott, these fierce Brown women present themselves as an obstacle, as resistance to the colonising power.
Together, they evoke a monolith – one of the enormous ancient rock formations that ‘sit-in’ the landscape and defy the colonisation, deforestation and urbanisation of surrounding Country.
Echoing and honouring generations of protest and rebellion, MONOLITH is a powerful and undeniable work from one of our most celebrated creators.
ARTISTS NOTE:
In Aboriginal cultures, children often bear one name and are then given another when they are initiated into adulthood. And so this work was born as Gag Order. With my eternal fascination with the intersection of my Wiradjuri and Queer sexual identities, the work begun its life as an exploration of silence and the act of 'gagging', of power and submission through the lens of Queer kink play. In the studio, however, as I began to work with this incredible group of women artists, the work took on a life of its own. We spoke about the power of silence and the act of taking up space. As we danced, we explored geological time and the cadence of Country. We danced together in a declaration of the power of the group. For me it reminded me of those huge rock formations up on my Country, of Kengal Baiame’s dingo and of Walu, the Brother slain in a fight. And so, MONOLITH was initiated. Yet, somehow, a slinky sensuality endures in both the bodies and in the space, and I’m glad for it.
Supported by –
The Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body; the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria; the Major Festivals Initiative Seed Funding; The Queensland Performing Arts Centre; and through the First Nations New Work Platform – an initiative of BlakDance and the Abbotsford Convent made possible with the support of the Australian Government’s Indigenous Languages and Arts Program, the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, Arts House and Dancehouse. Thanks also to Joel Bray Dance’s donors and supporters for the generous support through our matched funding campaign 2024.
Image credit: Tamarah Scott & Davey Simmons
Image description: Five women, with long or short dark hair and covered in purple paint gather very close together, holding onto each other. One of the women is gazing at the viewer. The backdrop is a dramatic sunset with clouds in orange, yellow and blue hues.
