Peninsula dancers perform at Laycock

Several Peninsula residents who are students of NAISDA Dance College performed in the contemporary and traditional Indigenous dance concert entitled Tharramali at Laycock St Theatre on November 28 and 29.

The dance production was directed by the young emerging artist Tamara Pearson and choreographed by Graeme Murphy from the Sydney Dance Company and Stephen Page from Bangarra Dance Theatre.

According to Ms Pearson, the word tharramali means "the coming of the thunderstorm" where "the storm's passing will cleanse and renew the earth".

Mr Murphy choreographed Excerpts from Wilderness, an abstract piece representing modern ballet formalism where the sense of wilderness has many possible interpretations, ranging from options of landscape to sense of inner personal wilderness.

The Moth Duet choreographed by Mr Page explored the constantly shifting shadow that a moth casts when attracted to the light.

The program also contained new contemporary pieces from eminent Australian choreographers Graeme Watson and Jason Pitt.

Best known today as Australia's national Indigenous dance college, NAISDA sprang from a series of workshops in Redfern in 1975, pioneering Indigenous dance education in this country.

Currently NAISDA students are drawn from all over Australia, through talent identification programs and an annual week-long audition program.

Press release, 3 Dec 2008 Jennifer Dakers, NAISDA