They’ve billed it as a joyous celebration 75,000 years in the making, and Djuki Mala definitely seems like it’s going to live up to that promise.
Direct from Elcho Island in North East Arnhem Land, Indigenous dance sensations and smash hit of
the 2017 Adelaide Fringe DJUKI MALA are back by popular demand for a limited season only and
with new highlights to their award winning show!
Winners of the Dance award at both the Adelaide and Perth Fringe festivals, Djuki Mala are guaranteed to
put a smile on your face and a pep in your step as their enthusiasm, joy and explosive-energy wow
audiences with a celebration of dance, storytelling and culture.
Since their hugely successful 2017 Summer Festivals tour, Djuki Mala have presented sold out
performances at the Sydney Opera House and at their premiere Edinburgh Festival Fringe season, which
was an unprecedented success. More recently, Djuki Mala were the only Australian artists invited to
perform at the prestigious closing ceremony of the China Australia Year of Tourism in Guangzhou, China.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfuevdXltcX/?taken-by=djuki_mala
Djuki Mala performer Baykali Ganambarr says: “Our show tells the genesis of Djuki Mala, in a way that
challenges the western anthropological view of First Nations culture. We do this with our humor, our dance,
our story and our culture. It’s alive, it’s living, breathing, ever changing and evolving. Rooted in 75,000
years of ancestral knowledge. We take our culture out of the museum and place it very firmly in the 21st
century – with a bit of circus and bling!”
Unique, infectious, high-energy and always exuberant, Djuki Mala present a stunning fusion of traditional
Yolngu and contemporary pop culture, dance and storytelling with a hefty dose of heart and soul.
In 2007 teenager Lionel Dulmanawuy thanked his sister’s Greek carer by paying tribute to her heritage with a group performance of ‘Zorba The Greek’ on an Elcho Island basketball court. The video clip went viral, (it now has over 2.8 million views), they’ve thrilled audiences worldwide with reinterpretations of popular culture and traditional dances in juxtaposition with contemporary Yolngu culture.
The show is a retrospective and autobiographical work which relates the genesis of Djuki Mala, and is interspersed with multimedia and gives audiences the opportunity to experience some of the more intimate moments and turning points that have shaped the group. It is a marvel of timing, comedy and clowning and offers a rare and insightful view into Aboriginal Australia.
Djuki Mala has performed at major festivals and events throughout Australia, UK, China, the Pacific, US, Canada, Taiwan, most recently Europe, and the Middle East including Lebanon, Egypt and Cyprus, attracting massive media interest and multiple awards and nominations.
Members of Djuki Mala have also appeared in film and television including The Nightingale, directed by Jennifer Kent, ABC TV’s ‘You Can’t Ask That’, Secret River, Move It Mob Style, Bran Nue Dae, Network Ten’s Totally Wild and Kids WB. They have also performed alongside high profile Australia artists including John Butler, Jessica Mauboy, Yothu Yindi and Blue King Brown to name a few.
Sound good? It looks pretty spectacular, and we’re pretty keen to get to it. Djuki Mala is showing at the Garden of Unearthly Delights from 3-18 March. Tix available here.
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