Sand Song

Con­ceived and directed by Elena Vereker and designed by visual artist Wal­bira Mur­ray, Sand Song is a con­tem­po­rary cross­ing of cul­ture between Abo­rig­i­nal and non-Aboriginal peo­ples. Cen­tred around a large ground art­work of red sand, white ochre, emu feath­ers and ances­tor poles, five path­ways spread out from the cen­tral area where the majes­tic ances­tor poles stand tall.

The audi­ence enters the con­tem­po­rary cer­e­mony ground where the Sand Song ground art pat­tern is lined with thou­sands of dream hold­ers which are made by chil­dren as part of the work­shop con­ducted prior to the per­for­mance with images of what is sacred to them. Over a 20 minute per­for­mance, fire maker (Rick Roser) cre­ates images using tra­di­tional abo­rig­i­nal tech­niques includ­ing fire mak­ing, ochre spray­ing and net weav­ing. He gifts the fire to the dancers who light the dream hold­ers in a play­ful and con­tem­po­rary rit­ual that spreads the dreams of thou­sands of chil­dren and the community.

At the con­clu­sion, the can­dles are blown out and chil­dren can take their dream holder with them.

Orig­i­nally pre­sented out­doors as part of Bris­bane Fes­ti­val 2009, then reworked for the the­atre at the 2010 Out of the Box Fes­ti­val, Sand Song is designed to work indoors or out under the stars and the design can work in a vari­ety of spaces.

About Wal­bira Murray

Wal­bira is a Gumil­laroi woman, from Dirran­bandi. Walbira’s ear­li­est mem­o­ries are of liv­ing in the fringe dwellers camp on the banks of the Bal­lone River in a shack her father had built. Wal­bira is a tra­di­tional dancer, Artis­tic Direc­tor, Arts Facil­i­ta­tor, Art Maker and Events Coor­di­na­tor. She com­bines tra­di­tional and con­tem­po­rary prac­tices, craft­ing spaces and expe­ri­ences that reflect a con­nec­tion to spir­i­tu­al­ity and allow for an inter­face between Indige­nous and non Indige­nous people.

She has worked on a local, state, national and inter­na­tional level. She has toured inter­na­tion­ally to Europe, North Amer­ica, and Asia numer­ous times to show­case Indige­nous arts and cul­ture through per­for­mance and exhi­bi­tions. Her work is influ­enced by con­nec­tion to coun­try and her cul­ture. The colours and tex­tures of the ghost gums, flat plains, slow rivers and deep earth colours of her coun­try are often expe­ri­enced in her work. This con­nec­tion to coun­try dri­ves her to cre­ate spaces and expe­ri­ences where Indige­nous and non Indige­nous peo­ple can inter­face on a level that encour­ages explor­ing mutual con­nec­tion to place and the spir­i­tual base of country.

DIRECTOR VISUAL ARTIST/STORYTELLER CHOREOGRAPHER/PERFORMER COMPOSER FIRE MAKER DANCERS  SONG WOMAN LIGHTING DESIGNER COSTUME DESIGNER EPHEMERAL ARTWORK PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCER

Elena Vereker Wal­bira Mur­ray Deon Hastie Lou Ben­nett Rick Roser Car­men Attel, Han­nah Scan­lon, Charleen Williams& Howard Williams Danielle Reuben David Wal­ters Josh McIn­tosh Scott Mur­ray Dan Kel­lie Lee Cumberlidge

Pre­vi­ous Per­for­mance Dates:

2009

BRISBANE FESTIVAL

QPAC, BRISBANE