Amelia Jean O'Leary
Yinarr
Yinarr is a glimpse into the discovery and exploration of Gamilaroi woman Amelia Jean OLeary's journey with identity. "Yinarr" means "Aboriginal Woman" in Gamillaray langauge. With music, editing, filming and dance by O'Leary, she shares a raw physical depiction of the internal vortex of identity, sisterhood and culture. In this iteration of Yinarr, O'Leary reflects on how sisterhood and the Blak Matriarchy have strengthened her as Yinarr.
"What is my purpose? What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to dance? Whilst in my journey I discovered that what I am doing right now is enough. That being able to share, create, learn my art form is very powerful."
— Amelia Jean O'Leary
credits
This work is part of YIRRAMBOI’s Resilience in Isolation program which supports First Nations creatives to continue their creative practices and development during the isolation.
Yinarr was also officially selected as part of Dance (Lens) 2021. Dance (Lens) Festival, running from 29 July – 29 August 2021, showcases over 30 outstanding international and national screendance works curated by André Shannon, Melissa Ramos and Siobhan Murphy.
Amelia Jean O’Leary (she/they/yinarr) is a proud Queer First Nations Gamilaroi Yinarr from Northen New South Wales who is currently living in Naarm (Melbourne). Her dance practice is about human and spiritual experiencing, through complexity and adversity she finds ways to tell coded and poetically rich stories. Her dances are personal and personified from her multidisciplinary skills in theatre, film and sound design. Through dance she is trying to understand this world and herself deeper. Her practice and works have relevant questioning and provocations that are resilient and inquisitive.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2021, O’Leary performed her first full-length work ‘Yinarr’ in Adelaide Fringe and Dancehouse in 2022. She was also a part of ‘Collision’ by Jo Lloyd presented at Junction Arts Festival and ‘Garabari’ by Joel Bray at Arts House in 2022. In 2023 O’Leary created two more major new works. Her second work ‘A Certain Mumble’ presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy in Frame. Her third 'STAUNCH ASF' presented in Melbourne Fringe performed at the Meat Market in the BLAK LODGE as part of the Deadly Fringe program. She was awarded Best Emerging Indigenous Artist at Melbourne Fringe 2023 for ‘STAUNCH ASF.’
O’Leary has choreographed for Melbourne Theatre Companies Young First Nations Program’s show in Yirramboi Festival 2023 ‘One Day.’ As well as directing and choreographing for Ngali/ Richmond Fashion show. O’Leary attended Matriarchs Uprising in 2024 thanks to Raven Spirit, she was also the movement consultant for Melbourne Theatre Company’s new work World Problems and was nominated for a Green Room Award for STAUNCH ASF. O’Leary was commissioned to develop her new work CODED for the Queer Development Program by Performance Space in Sydney May 2024. O’Leary is currently developing her own company whilst producing multiple new and exciting works.