Hot Brown Honey and Djuki Mala to shake up Sydney in June

The Sydney Opera House Studio will get steamy this winter as two festival sensations get their own headline seasons: the all-female cabaret Hot Brown Honey and the dance celebration Djuki Mala. 

After selling out its original 2016 Opera House season, the fierce posse of phenomenal women Hot Brown Honey will raise the roof of the Studio on June 7 – 25 with their award-winning, label-defying show. This time around, the Honeys turn up the heat, delivering lashings of sass and a scorching pinch of empowerment that will have viewers dancing in the isles, ready to rock the boat.

Produced by the internationally renowned Briefs Factory, Hot Brown Honey packs a potent punch of hip-hop politics, dance, poetry, comedy, circus, striptease and song. These six First Nations women from around the world boldly shatter preconceptions of gender and race in a daring celebration of difference and commonality. It’s equal parts party, theatrical spectacle and social activism. 

Hot Brown Honey returns home from sell out seasons in the UK, Ireland and Aotearoa, with the award for Innovation, Experimentation and Playing with Form in the Total Theatre Awards for its Edinburgh Festival Fringe season and for Best Production and Best Design in the Green Room Awards. 

Meanwhile, fresh from sold-out Perth and Adelaide Fringe Festival appearances, Djuki Mala, formerly known as the “Chooky Dancers”, will present its joyous mash-up of traditional Yolngu movement, popular dance and multimedia in the Studio on June 13 – 18.

Hailing from northeast Arnhem Land, the Djuki Mala troupe became a YouTube sensation in 2007 when its “Zorba the Greek” dance went viral. Since then it has thrilled audiences at major festivals and events throughout Australia, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Canada.

Djuki Mala is no stranger to the Sydney Opera House, performing its Major Festival Production of Wrong Skin in 2010 and again as part of the La Soiree ensemble cast of 2014.

Sydney Opera House Head of First Nations Programming Rhoda Roberts said, “I’m thrilled the Opera House is presenting two exemplars of the current explosion of contemporary First Nations work in Australia. Both Hot Brown Honey and Djuki Mala are extraordinary productions that tell it like it is in a way that is also immensely engaging. Both turn tradition on its head and it’s clear they have a great time doing it. Bring your ears, your eyes and an open mind – and don’t forget your dancing shoes.” 

Hot Brown Honey Director and Performer Lisa Fa’alafi said, “We can’t wait to heat up the Opera House again this winter with our brand of fierceness that just happens to be the best party you’ll ever go to. Audiences come along to dance, laugh, stand up, rise up and make noise with us. After all – who says calling out the patriarchy and remixing the system can’t also be a celebration. A celebration of First Nations women from around the globe standing centre stage, taking up space, owning our stories and our bodies.”

Djuki Mala performer Baykali Ganambarr said, “We didn’t think 10 years ago we would be celebrating the 10th birthday of our little independent company from the bush with our mob at the Sydney Opera House. Ten years later here we are, after going around the world and back again. Our show tells the genesis of Djuki Mala, in a way that challenges that 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 60,000 years of ancestral knowledge, our culture is out of the museum and very firmly in the 21st century. Can’t wait to share the party with you all at the Sydney Opera House!”

For more information, visit www.sydneyoperahouse.com.

Image: Hot Brown Honey (left) and Djuki Mala. Image courtesy of the Sydney Opera House.