Common Dissonance | Na Djinang Circus
All images: Christian Nimri
Harrowing and hopeful, Common Dissonance by Na Djinang Circus is a circus show with heart. Plenty of it. I felt it pulsate even before the sustained spectacle of ruefulness, wonderment, and rising tensions unfolded through the medium of partner acrobatics at Cremorne Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). I found myself feeling centred and gently swayed into a meditative state by the songs expressed in language amidst the audience's flighty, eager chatter that was laced with excitement. The music was an aural backdrop I had noticed that I did not get to hear much of casually in everyday places and social settings. An observation, an absence, if you will, which seemed to have piqued my curiosity acutely in that moment. It must be said that it continues to linger obstinately on my mind.
As a first generation immigrant who dares to pursue her dreams on this land, I question my complicity consciously and ever so frequently in the wider equation of what it means to live here and consider it my duty to consistently educate myself on this nation’s collective history. As such, I am fully aware that there remains so much for me to learn and observe especially in spaces where the unsaid, too, can say a lot in its silence and muted presence.
Following the crisp articulation of Acknowledgement of Country, the lights went out and returned promptly in no time. Under the purposeful glare of the spotlight, the sight of two bodies of flesh and breath cocooned in a tight embrace appeared before us. With my gaze fixated on them, I saw their fingers endeavouring to make imprints on the skin of the other, pressing and digging into soft tissue. As they pushed themselves into each other while trying to simultaneously pry and peel themselves off the other, I gathered that the uneasy, uncomfortable yoking of their physical beings underscored the theme of common dissonance deliberately right from the get-go.
All images: Christian Nimri
Intimate and intentional in its design and delivery, the performance was helmed by incredibly strong ensemble members who delivered under the creative leadership of Harley Mann, founder and director of Na Djinang Circus. A Wakka Wakka man from Queensland, Mann’s cleverly crafted storyline and choreographed sequences played itself out like a suspenseful tug of war. The two performers, Sarah Gray, a Western Australian woman, and Johnathon Brown, an Anawan/Kamilaroi man from Armidale, New South Wales, possessed poise and powerful storytelling abilities. Through humour and pathos they embodied with conviction the fault lines in their dynamics.
A series of movements which encapsulated a playful tenderness were captured in the performers’ efforts to take turns to carry each other. This light-heartedness, however, did not last long. The pace of the plot grew in urgency and gained momentum seamlessly as Brown began to confront his place in the conflicting worlds he has had to traverse and straddle as an Aboriginal man. Having most likely been initiated into his traditional way of viewing life, holding deep reverence for his cultural knowledge, his struggle to make sense of an unfamiliar but ubiquitous image of home built on western lines was impossible to ignore. His internal rift seemed to widen and deepen as sacred symbols laden with meaning were obscured by a simple drawing of a house – a metaphor for the domination of colonists and settlers on many fronts.
Apart from being supremely talented dancer-acrobats who skilfully showcased their mettle in ropework and trapeze individually, they emoted and contorted their bodies in unsettling ways as the show progressed, revealing the cracks in their increasingly strained relationship between and within themselves.
All images: Christian Nimri
The body language assumed by some members of the audience was evidence enough of this mildly nerve-wrecking visceral sense of anticipation I, along with them, experienced. Some of them leaned forward inching towards the edge of their seats and some sat upright. At one point, I literally held my breath as Brown stood on Gray’s stomach readying himself to jump off only to land on her back as she herself flipped off the ground to lie down on her belly.
It was these short-lived liminal pauses pregnant with latent potential for missteps which enhanced the virtue of vulnerability into palpable moments of our shared humanity. It did not matter then that I had no personal connection to either of the performers, but I was rooting for them to execute their routines safely.
Though compact in scale from set design to strength of performers on stage, Common Dissonance does not pale in its varying levels of complexity as a dynamic, evolving work of performance art. It is generous in spirit, inviting us to witness and sit with disharmony so that we would consider conversing with ourselves and others and moving forward in this country with honesty and heart. Plenty of it.
‘Common Dissonance’ plays at QPAC’s Cremorne Theatre from 22 June to 1 July 2023.
