SILENCE is about the space in between. The conversations not being heard and the responses that are muted. Through the beating of a drum, bodies thrash through frequencies to uncover what lies in the SILENCE.

There’s SILENCE between the stars as the Emu travels across the night sky. There’s SILENCE in the dancer’s energy when they hit the cut, the rupture between rhythms and movement enabling a vibrational glitch where the spirit world can enter. It’s also the deafening SILENCE under white noise. The same questions echoed through generations.

We have marched across Country. We have had promises made and promises broken. In SILENCE we pull the unresolved conversations from under the rug and slam them back on the table. Because the conversation about a TREATY will never be silenced.

Doors open 6.30pm | 60min duration, no interval

Ages 12+

Water based haze and strobe lighting will be used in this performance.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences are advised that this show contains depictions of people who have died.

About Karul Projects

Thomas E.S. Kelly (Minjungbal-Yugambeh, Wiradjuri and Ni-Vanuatu man), and Taree Sansbury (Kaurna, Narrunga and Ngarrindjerri), met at NAISDA Dance College on the Central Coast of New South Wales in 2009. They have worked professionally together ever since, creating their own dance-theatre works, choreographing and performing for companies nationally. Thomas and Taree created Karul Projects in 2017, to create more opportunities for employment and skill building for First Nations artists.

Cast and creatives

Choreographer / Writer / Performer: Thomas E.S. Kelly

Rehearsal Director / Performer: Taree Sansbury

Choreographic Dramaturg: Vicki Van Hout

Dramaturg: Alethea Beetson

Performers: Edan Porter, Kiara Malcolm, Tiana Pinnell, Amber Nofal

Percussion Composer / Performer: Jhindu-Pedro Lawrie

Music / Sound Designer: Sam Pankhurst

Lighting Designer: Karen Norris

Costume Designer: Selene Cochrane

SILENCE is produced by BlakDance and this performance has received financial assistance from the Queensland Government through the Arts Queensland.

Presented in partnership with Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF).