Thomas E.S. Kelly, a proud Minjungbal-Yugambeh, Wiradjuri and Ni-Vanuatu man, choreographed, wrote and performed in thrilling dance-theatre performance Silence, continuing the decades-long conversations that Australian society has tried to silence.
Silence features a combination of powerful contemporary dance, a complex musical composition and live music to address the muffled voices of the First Nations people in the past and present realities of the political environment in Australia.
Exploring 250 plus year-long suppression and refusal of basic rights of First Nations people as well as recognising and commemorating the triumphs, Silence scrutinises Australian nationhood and the damages that the denials have had on the psyche of the people and land.
“Abounding in our struggle for Land Back and Treaty, SILENCE breaks the silence both literally and symbolically using dynamic live percussion from Jhindu-Pedro Lawrie whose drumbeats drive the dancers in their exploration of past, present, alternate realities and dreamscapes of Country, the milky way and Murun, the emu in the sky.” – Choreographer and Artistic Director of Karul Projects, Thomas E.S. Kelly, said.
“It’s so important that we bring First Nations Stories to the table,” added Leroy Parsons, producer for Merrigong’s First Nations Program.
“The significance of having Karul Projects at Merrigong Theatre Company is that they are re-engaging unresolved Australian issues through performance.”
I had the pleasure of going to see the show on opening night and it was stimulating to say the least. I could feel myself becoming more and more invested with each second that passed and left in tears by the overwhelming emotions that intensified within me. I also had the honour of interviewing the choreographer and artistic director of the show: Thomas E.S. Kelly. Here’s what I found out.
SERENA: Could you start by telling us a bit about the performance and what you will be doing in it?
THOMAS: Sure. Well, my name is Thomas E.S. Kelly. I’m the artistic director of a show called Silence by my company called Karul projects and Silence is a dance-theatre work that continues the conversation of Treaty and the lack thereof of one between the Commonwealth of Australia and the First Nations of Australia. And, that Australia is the only Commonwealth country that has never had a Treaty with its First Nations people.
SERENA: Could you expand on the importance that this performance holds towards the Treaty and First Nations people?
THOMAS: For me, I believe that a Treaty of an agreement such like that between the First Nations people and the Commonwealth of Australia would make everything so much better for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of Australia. I read a few draft Treaties from the 70s and the 80s and I myself didn’t really understand what a Treaty was or what it could be; reading those blew my mind about what it could mean for our country and it really would create, what I think would be an exciting new identity where First Nations culture is really embedded inside of what Australian culture and identity is. Not just this thing for export and tourism and the Olympic games and stuff like that. So, with that, the only way to get those types of things though is to keep it being heard, that this is what we want, or at least one of the things that we want. And, so, I was believing and still am believing that a Treaty is an important step to really pull together and unify a new identity of Australia. And, so, to get there you’ve got to keep it going. You’ve got to keep the conversations happening because it’s something that has people – there’s a reason why Australia is the only one without one. And, it’s never had one. So, when I was telling my mentor that I wanted to do a show like this she was telling me that she was dancing shows about treaties 20 years ago and the people she was dancing for were doing shows 30, 40, 50 years ago about Treaty and I was thinking ‘how crap that in 2020 I could do a show about Treaty and it’s still just as relevant?’ So, that’s why this show is important for me because in this time right now – this show is not about the Voice and regardless where I stand on it – but it is creating those conversations and right now people are interested to know more. What is the Voice? What is a Treaty? And that’s what this show is. It’s an opportunity to learn what a Treaty could be and why Treaty is important, why we have these issues and how they could resolve them. And it’s not the full – you know – couple hundred-page Treaties that I’ve read, it’s just a small dot point, 60-minute, engaging dance that kind of gives you a few talking points to continue the conversation of a Treaty.
SERENA: What have you learned from the old Treaties that you just mentioned?
THOMAS: I was kind of blown away. Yes, there’s a lot in there about First Nations and First Nations’ sovereignty, truth telling and revitalisation of language. All the types of things you’d expect would be in there to support First Nations people- to close the education gap, to bridge the health gap and life expectancy gap. But there was also stuff in there about land management and making the parliament commit to the ways we look after the land, both the river systems and the trees, how we look after the water systems so it’s not poisoning and make sure we’re not mining for the sake of mining and blowing up things for the sake of blowing up things, which is what we are doing. And then there’s also stuff in the Treaty that support low socio-economic, mid, high and all socio-economic levels are all being looked after. And that’s what really blew my mind. I was like ‘Oh, wow, this thing doesn’t just cater First Nations people, it caters anyone that calls themselves Australian: Indigenous, non-Indigenous, immigrants, refugee communities. And, of course, it’s a draft Treaty and the real one – there would be a lot of conversation about what would be put in it. But I was kind of like, ‘ok, there is potential that this could really unify Australia and work on the principles of some First Nation’s culture. I mean if we talk about even the bush fires back in the day – when they were happening a couple years ago and we talk about the First Nation’s practices that could support that, obviously there’s stuff in today’s world – in the non-Indigenous world – like fire trucks and stuff that are going to help, but combining the fire truck services with the First Nations services and knowledge, that we could really limit things like bushfires. Those things would be embedded inside Australia’s way of life and not just First Nation’s and non-Indigenous. And, that’s why I was really captivated when reading them.
SERENA: Do you believe anything has changed since the first drafts of treaties were made?
THOMAS: It’s an interesting thing because the world has changed but it also hasn’t. There are definitely things that have evolved and changed. You know, you see it now in sporting – NRL and AFL has Indigenous rounds and pretty much everything has an Indigenous round. So, it seems like art and culture from First Nations people are at such a high level and I’ve noticed now, not just the NRL and top AFL, but the lower and local community teams are starting to do Indigenous rounds as well. It’s sort of becoming a thing and that has changed but at the same time we still have very high incarceration rates and we’ve got life expectancy that is lower than non-Indigenous Australians, we still have education gaps. You know, we’ve still got these big issues which are still very huge and, in some ways, we’ve come a long way but in others we’re still far behind. In some areas we’ve actually gone backwards. And, that’s only going back to those treaties, but then you’ve got to go back further and then you’ve got the previous referendum. Obviously, we’ve got the Voice happening sparking up a lot of debate and conversation and it’s always going to be split between a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ inside the community, not just the larger non-Indigenous community. That’s the whole importance that I feel of continuing the conversation whether that’s in the foyer or inside the show. For me, I don’t care whether you vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’, I just want people to vote for what they believe is the right thing that they’re doing: which is what I’m doing. I can’t make someone feel bad for doing what they think is the right thing. But making sure you have the information. Because there is change and the Voice is happening, the vote is going to happen whether or not. We’ve had votes in the past about things and some things never got off the ground and we also talk about the 1967 referendum about the First Nations people to vote but that was the second time the vote happened and it failed the first time. So, you know, to simplify it, things are different but there are still things that are the same.
SERENA: Circling back, could you talk about the title Silence and how that plays into it?
THOMAS: There’s two main themes that I began exploring the work with: one is called ‘The Cut.’ The Cut is when you do traditional dance, the moment where everyone just stops. Whether it’s at the end or in the middle, sometimes it happens a couple of times. But it’s the moment when everyone is doing their own thing and then everyone stops. They hit it and find stillness. Now I grew up doing traditional dance and I was always taught and I still believe it, that that is the most important part in cultural dance. Because that is the moment where you can see everyone that is performing. You can see the physical and you can see the spiritual in the space. It’s so powerful. When I’ve done it and performed cultural dance it’s strong and I see everyone do a Cut, I’m just like ‘wow, there it is’. So, I was always, like, amazed, not by the movement, but it’s the nothing – it’s from the nothing that is everything. And then I paired that with the Emu in the Sky. You know, the emu in the Milky Way is not made up of the stars, it’s made up of the dark spaces between the stars. And, so again, it’s not what’s drawing your attention – the stars – it’s the dark spaces in between. It’s what you think is the nothing is where there’s a giant image. A giant story. So, those two things led me to think about the Treaty. It’s the conversation that we are constantly trying to have and that is always being pushed off the table and something else is being thrown in our face. And, if we think about something – there used to be this program, which is kind of dead now but it was called the Recognise campaign – and everyone got on board thinking it was this First Nations program but what it was was, Prime Minister John Howard didn’t want to do a Treaty and he created Recognise. It was this campaign that they just put some dots around it and put it in red ochre colour and it became this thing that was like ‘that’s the star’. But, we want the thing behind it, we want the thing they’re trying to silence. The thing you’re trying not to talk about, which is the Treaty. And, from that, Silence the show is breaking the silence and having the conversation that is trying to be silenced.
SERENA: Have you received any hate towards the show so far?
THOMAS: No, I haven’t. But I have known people that have, at times, felt uncomfortable. But, sitting in that uncomfortability allows them to actually understand more. But, there’s nothing wrong with that – because I am talking about First Nation issues and the issues that we have with the Commonwealth of Australia, but there’s some things with it that, with my work – I don’t imagine these things. They’re not make-believe. The stats that I talk about in the show and the issues that I present are well-documented. They are factual. So, if I say something and you find uncomfortability with it and you think that I’m being dividing or that I’m being hateful – there’s something in that because I’m not making it up, it’s facts. It is what it is. For example, I talk about representation in politics and there’s a part where I talk about how there’s 16 Indigenous politicians across the 562 council seats that there are across the country and you can’t hate on me about that. Even if you do, it’s just the truth. You can Google those numbers. I’m literally just stating facts. So, I haven’t received any hate. I’ve received a lot of support. I’m not oblivious to think that some people wouldn’t understand it.
SERENA: Was there anything else you wanted to add?
THOMAS: So, the show is a 60-minute dance-theatre work with 7 performers on stage which includes the live drum kit. It’s loud and energetic. There’re elements of humour in there. I like to think if people are laughing then they’re listening. There’s incredible dance and I think it’s such an important work. I think it’s timely, I mean we’ve been doing it since 2020 but I think it’s just as relevant and important today than it was back then.
Silence is running in Wollongong through to 12 August. Those interested can get tickets on the Merrigong website.
Photos/feature image: Gregory Lorenzutti