 people place and culture is paramount. Any new information has to filter through this lens.
- Relevance to life style
- Health: The people we are dealing with here have the worst health in the Country. Also the highest incidence of many social ills such as alcohol and drug use, sexually transmitted diseases, diabetes, etc.
- Respect: this is an active thing, not just a concept. Respect is earned, and payed. it involves place and things and animals as much as it does humans.
- Community standing: people have a knowing of how they fit into the community. They have a knowing of their law and they sense the differences.
- Acknowledge the history and what has come before, belong to a continuum. History travels forwards.
- Contemporary Choreography
Relationship of material to the community. The Performer and audience relationship is stronger. They know each other personally. They are identifiable faces, watching everything, admiring, approving, owning. They provide immediate feedback
Hybrid nature of outputs: easier to understand under new media arts terms than single art form. The interconnection tells the story.
Transformative nature of the performer. The Indigenous traditional performer becomes the dance, or rather, the vehicle for the dreaming to pass through. This is not only historic or ancient. This is more like South East Asian dances where the God/Goddess dances through the dancer.
Multi layers of meaning. The dances contain many layers of meaning that are learnt through multiple viewings and over time. As the observer shows they have what it takes, the next layer of knowing is given over.
Land and history of activity on the land. One cannot separate activity from where it occurs. Much Western Contemporary of recent past exists as explorations of intellectual concepts and exists in a no-place.
Expertise, knowledge, holding historical information: The dance contains information for future generations. It is one way that the past travels forwards.
Black and white history: at the moment on this land there are two histories, or rather a clear before and after. Our development is strongest in the exploration of work that looks at how both histories are running side by side.
An historical Aside:
(edited from http:ll).
This is to show a serious attempt to integrate Indigenous concepts into a western framework. We may now scoff at the lack of actual indigenous representation but this was a genuine attempt.
Corroboree [Dance work made to the score of John Antill]
Composer John Antill completed his monumental music score, Corroboree, in the mid 1940s, based on Aboriginal rhythms written down on visits to Aboriginal communities at La Perouse in Sydney. He intended the work to be used for a ballet and annotations on the score indicate that he had a well developed framework in mind. The manuscript contains detailed bar by bar instructions for the unfolding of the storyline and lists 'characteristic movements' that might be used.
In the 1940s Dorothy Heimrich of the Arts Council of Australia approached two choreographers then working in Australia, Bodenwieser and Borovansky, asking in July 1950 and featured John (Jack) Manuel as the Medicine Man.
A second version of Corroboree was made by Beth Dean in 1954. Performed for the first time in Sydney by the Arts Council Ballet at a gala event in the presence of Queen Elizabeth 11. Dean claimed anthropological authenticity for her version and she and her husband, Victor Carell, spent several months in Arnhem Land researching Aboriginal movement patterns, which she incorporated into her work. Dean also added a narrative line that went beyond Antill's descriptions of the music and in the 1954 staging Dean herself danced the leading role of the Initiate. It was remounted during the 1970s, specifically for the Captain Cook Bicentenary,.
Better ability to work in a contemporary context with indigenous dance artists from "traditional" backgrounds.
- Acceptance of form as relevant within a contemporary context, therefore opening the way forward for better collaborations.
- Small steps evolution of material.
- Setting the new within the understanding of the old
- Agreement: going on a shared journey together. Us going "back" to find a meeting point and then going forward together - find an agreed point of travelling together
- Slowness. The constant search for the new and innovative does not allow time for people to catch up or understand. It places the holding of knowledge into a very few hands. It also creates a'star' or fame system that again works to take the cultural knowledge away from people. In its wake it potentially leaves a group of people as observers who have to be convinced of the validity of the outputs.
- In productions Fierce (2001 and 02) and Janganpa (2002) we were able to utilise
- The skills forged through this project.
Ability to articulate the issues involved for us as non indigenous Australians when working in this context
It feels important for all Australian dance, (so rooted in western forms that originate in Europe and America), that the Aboriginal artists (highly respected in their own communities in the Northern Territory) and their work is acknowledged and understood in Australian contemporary dance terms.
As mentioned before, many of these issues have since been presented and published and we continue to seek opportunities to present the work.
New Artistic work developed as a result of this.
- 2001 Fierce: The Story of Olive Pink
- 2002 Fierce: The Meeting of Olive Pink
- 2003 Janganpa (The bushfire Project)
Presentations
- 2002 Groundswell Regional Arts, Albury Wadonga
- 2002 AD 2002 Ballarat (Artistic Directors of small to medium companies)
- 2003 Bodytalks Melbourne:
Further Reading
A short history of the long-term relationship between Lajamanu and Tracks Dance Company
Response
“Somewhere between the foot as it strikes the red dirt in its dance, and the voice as it joins others and rises in a song so old as to its roots being forgotten, lies an understanding of a world that has been slowly built over thousands of years.” David McMicken
by Person:Charles Tombras Jr.
In my years at Tombras, the agency has done nothing but get better at everything it's doing. It's grown in numbers, sure, but more importantly, it's gotten more responsive to its employees, it's paid better, it's allowed for internal advancement, it's advanced it's culture and values, it's improved the quality of it's outputs, and it even upgraded the building. To boot, nearly all of these have been recognized by awards in some way or form. If you need further evidence of this, look no further than how many people have come back to Tombras as a former and once-again employee. All in all, while no employer is perfect, Tombras comes about as close as one can, and has aims to keep growing and keep improving on anything it's not perfect on.
Growing pains for an agency that grows this quickly are unavoidable. Transparency from the top down can be one example of this, as the vision of Tombras' growth is hard to communicate to everyone, especially at the speed at which it is growing, and even moreso during a pandemic. I mark this as a minor con, because while it may not always be obvious, if one only puts their hand up, they'll discover that the goals and growth are there, they may just need to ask.
Great people. Definitely a work hard/play hard environment. Nice perks. Downtown in an incredibly location. If you can get on a good team, then you will be golden. Ideal place if you are fresh out of school and want experience.
Pay for entry level is EXTREMELY low. Long hours if you are anything below a Specialist. Very much so a boys club when it comes to upper management. Little chance for advancement or upward movement. I asked for almost 6 months to get my title changed to reflect my workload and for more opportunities to work on other clients that my colleagues had, but never any actual change.
Great opportunity for those who enjoy rolling up sleeves and taking ownership of projects. This is a place that attracts people who take pride in their craft. Having worked at multiple agencies (large and small independents), my experience has been better than any others. I value the people I work with on a daily basis and have had good experiences working with other departments. We’re several feet ahead of the rest of the industry in terms of creative and digital, and that’s what I’m most excited about.
A few complainers. No office in Hawaii. Large workloads.
Talented, Intelligent Co-Workers & Department Leads. Award-winning accounts & clients Stellar award-winning creative Collaborative teams Willing & open to push the envelope, test new tools, channels and approaches Still winning new business despite world turmoil, lots of new exciting clients and opportunities.
Some really great co-workers who deserved better treatment and a few directors who I would say the same about. This is the primary reason I give it two stars. Downtown office is nice and Knoxville is a great town that is very affordable. A place where you can usually get hired with little prior experience - good place for UTK grads to get their first gig - but this in turn also makes employee value pretty low cause they always have access to more fresh naive talent. If you are just looking for a year or two of experience to jump from into something better - this is the perfect place for you. You will learn a lot and you will fit into their business model - just don't expect to stay long term.
Almost ZERO opportunity to move upward within many departments. As stated - they have UTK grads always wanting a job so entry level talent is al