Karul Projects present SILENCE at The Odeon

Karul Projects present SILENCE at The Odeon 19-20 May.

We have marched across Country. We have had promises made and promises broken. In SILENCE we pull the unresolved conversations from under the rug and slam them back on the table. Because the conversation about a TREATY will never be silenced.

We are living through a reckoning of human rights, conversations no longer limited to the fringes of society. In Australia, we are one of the only Commonwealth countries colonised by the British to not have a Treaty with the First Peoples of the land. SILENCE is an entry point to the complex political environment we find ourselves in. A powerful contemporary dance performance featuring seven performers on a minimalist set, evocative lighting and a complex musical score, punctuated by dynamic live percussion from Jhindu-Pedro Lawrie, explores past, present, alternate realities and dreamscapes. The entire stage is slowly engulfed in dirt, representing the worldwide call for the return of Indigenous lands.

After relocating to the Gold Coast, Queensland, in 2018, Karul Projects (Thomas E.S. Kelly, Minjungbal-Yugambeh, Wiradjuri and Ni-Vanuatu and Taree Sansbury, Kaurna, Narrunga and Ngarrindjerri) began creating SILENCE, their largest work to date. Premiering in 2020 at Brisbane Festival, embarking on a Queensland regional tour in 2022, with a season at DanceX presented by The Australian Ballet, they are now on their National tour over 2023.

SILENCE by Karul Projects is choreographed and written by Thomas E.S. Kelly, whose recent solo work Kuramanunya won the Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award 2023, and is produced by BlakDance.

Started by Thomas E.S. Kelly and Taree Sansbury in 2017, Karul Projects is a performing arts company with a focus to increase First Nations’ voices, visibilities and stories locally, nationally and internationally.

Karul is a Yugambeh Language word which means ‘Everything’. Named so because Karul will do everything it can to strengthen and empower the cultural knowledge of this land so future generations continue to be proud and learn from Australia’s rich First Nations’ heritage.

“With symbolism heavily steeped in land rights and Treaty, the show explores what a 250+ year-long denial of meaningful listening to First Nations people has done to the psyche of the people and land. Brown feet kick up sand, earth, dirt and dust. The sand seeps through brown fingers as it always has. Always was, always will be”. – Ellen van Neerven | Brisbane Festival

SILENCE will be at The Odeon 19 May at 7 pm and 20 May at 1 pm. The show run-time is an hour. Tickets are $25-$35. Click here to learn more.