Carriageworks today announced the world premiere of new work by resident company Marrugeku, with an inter-cultural and trans-Indigenous production, featuring Australian and New Caledonian dancers of First Nations, immigrant and settler descent. Presented as New Caledonia moves towards a referendum on independence from France in November 2018, Le Dernier Appel (The Last Cry) asks questions of cultural, political and personal decolonisation in both Australia and New Caledonia.
Following the world premiere at Carriageworks on 15 August, the work will travel to New Caledonia’s Centre Culturel Tjibaou Nouméa as part of the Centre’s 20th anniversary celebrations.
Directed by Marrugeku associate artist Serge Aimé Coulibaly – a Burkina Faso-born dancer and choreographer now living Belgium – Le Dernier Appel has been created with Marrugeku co-artistic directors Dalisa Pigram as co-choreographer and Rachael Swain as dramaturg. The production has been designed by New Caledonian artist Nicolas Molé, with music by Ngaiire, Nick Wales and Bree van Reyk, lighting by Matt Marshall, costumes by Mirabelle Wouters, and performed by Amrita Hepi, Stanley Nelo, Krylin Nguyen, Yoan Ouchot, Dalisa Pigram and Miranda Wheen.
Carriageworks Director, Lisa Havilah said, ‘This new work by Carriageworks resident company Marrugeku reflects our commitment to explore the diverse communities and stories of our region.”
Le Dernier Appel, co-creators, director Serge Aimé Coulibaly and Marrugeku co-artistic directors Dalisa Pigram and Rachael Swain commented: ‘Colonisation has shaped us. To undo the past is impossible. Decolonisation is both necessary and a false goal. As older ways of life deteriorate, situations become increasingly urgent, yet progress is painfully slow. While governments debate, peoples born of invasion, migration and displacement, wait for the new day. Our communities search to recuperate in aftermaths of colonisation. From divergent histories the company of this work meet in states of instability, frustration and radical reinvention.’
Le Dernier Appel is co-commissioned by Centre Culturel Tjibaou Nouméa, Carriageworks, and Arts House in Melbourne, and is funded by the Australia Council for the Arts and the West Australian Department of Local Government, Sport, and Cultural Industries.
Commissioned by Carriageworks, Centre Culturel Tjibaou and Arts House.