PREPARING GROUND

Sometimes a project takes six years to develop and sometimes it is never finished because it is a continuing cultural practice. Preparing Ground, intiated by Marilyn Miller, Jasmin Sheppard and Katina Olsen, begins as a community cultural development of dancer/choreographers going back to their country to try to redeem and repair the effects of colonisation on the land and people.

Preparing Ground is a continuous project about inter-generational learning and preparation for the futures of First Nations people. The choreographers always said “we can easily make a show” - it wasn’t the priority simply to showcase excellent dance and visuals drawn from experiences on country. 

Of primary importance was to care for country, stopping destructive mining and western farming practices and repatriating land to bring back abundance of plants and animals. I was humbled to make the projections and documentaries of this work of the choreographers travelling to connect to their elders, asking what does Preparing Ground mean to them. Each of the communities, Tagalaka, Kuku Yalanji and Wakka Wakka, presented different problems and paths to healing such as language teaching and land management.

In the meantime, between a final development at Naisda in Dec 24 and premiere at The Art House Wyong, the incredible performance with Marilyn, Katina and Jasmin was launched with mobile, three screen projections matched to powerful choreographic articulations, a journey from ancient time to the full blown anthropocene.

The Art House, Wyong Premiere 17 May 2025

https://www.blakdance.org.au/profile-projects/preparing-ground