Our Shows
Common Dissonance
In a 21st Century world where it is common to believe in both spirituality and science – how can we navigate the complex dialogues that consume contemporary culture? For thousands of years in Australia, understanding of the world came from dreamtime stories, song lines, and oral histories all of which are still relevant to many Australians. Our environment is riddled with the hypocrisies of a culturally diverse past lingering in the wake of a globalized present. Featuring two contemporary performers with shared and distinctly individual experiences, this work aims not only to explore the harmony and conflict of contemporary Australian reasoning, but to find a Common Dissonance.
Common Dissonance is a contemporary circus work exploring the struggle between traditional and modern modes of reasoning.
THE AGE
“Australia makes good circus, but it’s rare to see a show this moving”
“The piece uses choreography the way opera uses music”
- Cameron Woodhead
ARTS HUB
“With multifaceted layers showcasing shared and individual experiences, and an awareness of a collective place, Common Dissonance is another brilliant creation from the Na Djinang Circus”
-Sarah Halfpenny
Arterial
A moving acrobatic performance linking people, country and culture, where the unseen bonds between the body and the land become beautifully visible.
This enchanting Na Djinang Circus performance explores the ancient connections tying First Nations people together, strong through bloodlines but irreparably damaged through colonisation.
Four performers connect with each other physically and spiritually in a display of breathtaking acrobatics and visual techniques.
Arterial will both excite and move you as the performers celebrate what it means to be First People—the lifeblood of this country. The land is its beating heart.
“They already have the crowd, quite literally, in the palm of their caring hands, hands that carry bloodlines, song and storytelling that reaches back thousands of years on this land”
“The effervescence of Arterial wraps you up in joy, before leaving tear streaks across your cheeks. Our hearts are theirs when all is said and done”
TimeOut- Stephen A Russell
Of the Land on Which We Meet
Walking on stone and cement it can be hard to remember what it feels like to have earth beneath our feet.
What does it mean to be where we are?
By opening up the acknowledgement of Country and taking a closer look within it, we search for a way to address the possible lack of connection contemporary Australians have with the spirituality of the land.
We follow the journey of three contemporary Australian circus artists with distinct relationships with Country; an indigenous Australian, a descendant of migrants, and a descendant of colonial settlers.
Of the Land on Which We Meet hopes to re-discover a connection we once had on Country with 60,000 years of history, spirit and story.
Every day across the continent, people "acknowledge" country in this place - but what does that really mean? Do these acknowledgements carry serious respect - are they just empty words? How deep is our connection to this country - to its history, and its First Peoples? What do we really know about this land upon which we meet?
I want this work to be a visceral, thrilling investigation of those questions, and a reimagining of what a meaningful acknowledgment could look like. For Aboriginal people, land and country are a constant source of spiritual connection that must be cherished, respected and celebrated; yes, that can be achieved through words - but I want to show that it can also be realised through movement, and circus.
- Harley Mann, Director
In Place
World Premiere Melbourne Fringe 2024
A ground-breaking work of scale and duration set in Footscray Arts Centre’s outdoor Amphitheatre.
For the last year local community members have been caring for a native plant in their homes, some of them have thrived and some have died. Now these plants are being recollected and planted into the twisted organic set, the deviation from nature setting the scene of warped discordance that echos through the performance.
The Country informs the knowledge. Knowledge creates story. Stories shape the people and Culture. Where do we stand when Country is displaced and divided?
This work of spectacular acrobatic skill tells a story of hierarchy, division and connection. This unmissable intertwining of storytelling and design marks Na Djinang’s most ambitious work to date.