Gudirr Gudirr

This show is a part of Tempo: Te Rerenga o Tere 2022. To see all Tempo shows at Q, click here. To explore the festival, click here. 

Marrugeku is an unparalleled presence in Australia, dedicated to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working together to develop new dance languages that are restless, transformative and unwavering.

Gudirr Gudirr calls a warning, the guwayi bird calls when the tide is turning — to miss the call is to drown. An intimate solo dance and video work performed by Dalisa Pigram, daughter of Broome. By turns hesitant, restless, resilient and angry, Gudirr Gudirr lights a path from a broken past through a fragile present and on to a future still in the making.   The production considers the legacy of Australia’s history for Aboriginal people in northwest Australia today and asks: what does it take to decolonise Aboriginal people’s minds, to unlock doors and to face cultural change? Gudirr Gudirr calls a warning to a community facing massive industrialisation on traditional lands, loss of language and major gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous wellbeing. Drawing on a physicality born of Pigram’s Asian–Indigenous identity, and in a unique collaboration with Belgian choreographer Koen Augustijnen and visual artist Vernon Ah Kee, Pigram builds a dance language to capture this moment in time for her people. From

"The cleverness of Gudirr Gudirr is the way it makes its points through changing moods. It is not a litany of misery, it is a feisty response that carries the audience with it." - Sydney Morning Herald

"This extraordinary solo performance by Broome artist Dalisa Pigram, working with a creative team from Australia and Belgium, is an example of the powerful synthesis of tens of thousands of years of continuous cultural endeavor with the skills and confidence of contemporary indigenous performing art." - The West Australian

Tempo: Te Rerenga o Tere is proudly supported by Creative New Zealand, Foundation North and Auckland Council.

Gudirr Gudirr was co-commissioned by the City of Melbourne through Arts House (AUS), Theater Im Pfalzbau, Ludwigshafen (DEU) and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg (LUX). Gudirr Gudirr was funded by: -   the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body

Cultural and content warning: Gudirr Gudirr contains truth-telling about our history in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. This performance contains coarse language, depictions of violence, references to self-harm and youth suicide and is recommended for ages 15+. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised this performance contains the images of people who have passed away.