BREAKING: ESCAPE FROM WAR AND THE CRAZY STRUGGLE TO FIT IN
Those of us born in Australia don’t understand what it is to be an eight-year-old with an AK-47 running through the dark with your last remaining family members, pursued by a terrifying enemy, under attack and running for your life.
Breaking is a moving, unique and beautiful dance and music work that opens at The Peacock Theatre at Salamanca Arts Centre on Saturday August 23.
The creation of Breaking was led by three story owners – young people who came here as refugees and are in different stages of their settlement – each having extraordinary experiences to share.
Kickstart Arts and Salamanca Arts Centre’s SPACE Dance Program,Ogilvie High School students and community members including children under 10 teamed up to create a powerful retelling of these refugee stories through contemporary dance, led by renowned choreographer Kelly Drummond Cawthon. Included in the show is an original new digital and live musical fusion of Hip Hop, Jazz and Classical music by emerging composer Max Bladel played by a fantastic ten-piece band, and haunting projected images by artist Jason James.
One of the Breaking storytellers is rapper Lawrence ‘Big Money’ Gino, who was born in South Sudan during the civil war. When he was just a few weeks old, his mother fled with him to Uganda. He spent the next fourteen years living in refugee camps before his older sister sponsored him to Australia. “I hope that people will hear my story and begin to know me as a brother, a father, a worker, a colleague, a friend and an artist rather than as ‘that refugee’. Although where I am from is important, it is the things I have overcome to be where I am now and the future in front of me which complete me as a person.”
“We spent many months in deep conversation with the story owners – these people telling of their experiences of loss, transition and survival,” said Kickstart Arts Artistic Director Jami Bladel. “These are the stories of African indigenous people wrenched from the country where they evolved over centuries as custodians of the land. Their family lineage, identity, belonging and responsibilities in law were all connected to their country. Being forced to flee from everything that brings meaning to their lives because of unspeakable violence & brutality is an impossible situation for any human being.”
Breaking explores some of the complexities of the refugee experience – of leaving your homeland having survived trauma, of making the transition from one culture to another, the sense of relief when you arrive, only to face a new battle – the crazy struggle to fit in.
Another storyteller in Breaking, Shewit Belay is a year-12 student at St Mary’s College, and also an active member of the live music scene performing regularly around Hobart. “The Breaking journey, as well as being a great opportunity to be in a thought-provoking performance, has been one of innovation, discovery … and delicious lunches from World Kitchen! As a five-year old, relocating to Australia with my immediate family as refugees, I guess I’ve grown up, predominantly, as an Australian.”
Contemporary dance has had a relatively low profile in southern Tasmania over the last few years, however Lesley Graham through Ogilvie High School and Kelly Drummond Cawthon through The SPACE Dance Program have done much to support the development of contemporary dance locally, including with Breaking.
Breaking is at The Peacock Theatre, in the Salamanca Arts Centre
Performance times:
Saturday August 23 – 2PM + 7PM
Saturday August 30 – 2PM + 7PM Tickets $25 and $12 concession
BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL: www.breaking2014.eventbrite.com.au
Limited door sales Enquiries to Kickstart Arts (03) 6228 0611 [email protected]
Richard Bladel, Kickstart Arts and Salamanca Arts Centre
