Club Undercover | DIDG and Goddess Naavikaran
I loved this performance so much – for its artistry, storytelling and interaction. Here’s why.
All Images: Masimba Sasa
I was stoked to learn about the Deaf indigenous Dance Group (DIDG) from Cairns who tell their stories using Aboriginal sign language. The experience of seeing a reformation of traditional stories with literal and physical interpretations when the story isn’t sung in language as is the case with Deaf First Nations ceremonies using signing and dance is enthralling.
The Didgeridoo drones its deep humming inviting the dancers who lightly move on stage dressed in red with white painted chests holding thin white tall spears with white feathers fastened at their tips.
The interpreter lets us know that we are seeing the dance of the crocodile. The pack of hunters cast their fishing lines and reap the rewards of a bounty and as they take their fish away, the lyrical moves of the crocodile’s body creep behind the last of the hunters. He taunts us, I love the humour in this moment. His lithe undulating body sweeps the floor until he pounces on the hunter and gets him!
The next scene, I believe we move from a boat ride to collecting honeycomb. The men are chopping something (a tree) and they pass this to the women. The honeybee tree is collected and brought back to the tribe. I loved these playful stories and would have easily watched more as a non-Auslan or Aboriginal sign language speaker to understand the threads of universality in these scenes.
All Images: Masimba Sasa
The narrator invites us to the stage and breaks us in two groups led by the dancers for an interactive session on learning traditional dance moves. I become a kangaroo and get a thumbs up as the other Dancers check on us to see how we were going. This is the first time I have been invited by a First Nations group to receive this knowledge; it’s humbling yet I can’t contain my excitement.
The narrator tells us it’s time to dance.
Icon Goddess Naavikaran enters in full rap, adorned with a string of pearls, some smeared body paint and a red skirt. Naavi plays a diverse range of tracks in their high energy DJ set which sets the vibe for the next 70 mins. It was empowering and featured tracks from many great artists.
The audience embraces this, I see a person in a wheelchair do a side leg move dressed in a rainbow outfit. A whisper in my ear “I wish I had that much energy!”. I see what I can best describe as two Auslan dance divas interchanging on the podium dancing and signing in full swing as the house music pumps. I bow to her with the Festival Director. She is commanding and she is hot. I see workers letting loose, I see disabled artists having a ball and I see the Dancers and their friends signing and my friend gets a cheeky smile from a Dancer! Inclusive dance parties are so cool. I didn’t tune into the audio description, but there would have been no shortage of eye candy to describe expressing in a way that so many environments don’t provide space free of stigma or token platitudes and I loved this.
We went from seeing adapted traditional First Nations culture to a psychedelic journey to Club Culture using the power of dance and our ideas of what ceremony is transformed. So, it may seem like I am fangirling but it’s not just inspiration porn, its inclusion at its best and I loved it.
All Images: Masimba Sasa
