Getting to the very marrow of national identity
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After a critically acclaimed world premiere season at the 2024 Adelaide Festival, Canberra-raised dancer and choreographer Daniel Riley is bringing his latest work, Marrow, to the capital as part of a 12-week national tour.
Audiences will be able to experience the Australian Dance Theatre’s ensemble of six company artists tangle with layers of smoke in a muscular and relentlessly powerful work that was created in the wake of the failed 2023 National Voice to Parliament Referendum.
“I like to think of Marrow as a choreographic course correction for a nation searching for a new direction,” says Daniel, who attended Telopea Park School and Narrabundah College while also learning dance at QL2 Dance at Gorman Arts Centre.
He explained the work is “about how we have the power to come together, listen and see through the untruths littered throughout our shared history. The work is a smoking ceremony in a lot of ways, an opportunity to clean the slate and step forward collectively.”
Supported by Playing Australia Investment through Creative Australia, the tour will see the company perform at regional and major arts centres all over the country.
Daniel said he hoped the work would reignite consideration of where Australia goes in recognising its history.
“The vote was quite a profound and brutal rejection of what was, in essence, a fairly simple ask. The choreography contains a punchiness, and is an urgent part-rave, part ritual. We ask a lot of our dancers in performing this work, and we ask audiences to come with an open mind.”
Daniel noted that Canberra was the only state or territory to vote Yes and said the company was excited to include it in the tour.
Marrow was directed and choreographed by Riley and features production and lighting design by Matthew Adey of House of Vnholy, costume design by Ailsa Paterson and Cultural Eldership by Major ‘Moogy’ Sumner AM (Ngarrindjeri).
The work features an original score by Jaadwa composer James Howard, who will release a limited-edition vinyl pressing of the soundscape to coincide with the tour.
Marrow will be performed by dancers Yilin Kong, Zachary Lopez, Karra Nam, Patrick O’Luanaigh, Zoe Wozniak and Joshua Doctor, a Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay dancer making his debut with the company following his recent graduation from NAISDA Dance College.
“The team that has created Marrow are all exceptional artists at the top of their respective forms, and it’s been wonderful to welcome Josh to the company to help us build this new iteration of the work,” says Daniel.
“Underpinned by James’ powerful score, Marrow is designed to be urgent, explosive, and visceral. It’s a powerful, deeply thoughtful and intentional work for the dancers, for audiences and for artists. I’m so excited to start conversations all over Australia with this work.”
Photography by Morgan Sette
THE ESSENTIALS
What: Marrow by the Australian Dance Theatre
Where: Canberra Theatre, Civic
When: 31 July and 1 August, 8 pm nightly
Web: canberratheatrecentre.com.au
