Dedicated to our Great-Grandmother, Kathleen.
Choreographed by Olivia Adams (Wulli Wulli) and featuring the artwork of Arabella Walker (Wulli Wulli), Matriarchs is an intimate and mesmerising contemporary dance work reflecting on the lived histories of First Nations women.
It is in our Grandmothers that the eggs that will someday become us are first grown and carried. The connection between generations of women is sacred, ancient, and undeniable. Matriarchal bloodlines flow strong in our family. The decision was made by generations before us to omit part of the truth. Part of our identity. But still, stories of cattle stations, stories of Auburn River, stories of Country persisted. Now a generation that no longer has to lie or hide to protect themselves gets to do the things that others before could not. We get to return, we get to reconnect, we get to heal.
A celebration of identity through the stories of our Matriarchs; Mothers, Aunties, Grandmothers, Great Grandmothers. Join Wulli Wulli sisters Olivia Adams and Arabella Walker as they retrace country to reconnect with their Matrilineal bloodlines.
Scotiabank Dance Centre (677 Davie St, Vancouver, BC)
The Faris Family Studio (Black Box Theatre) - Level 1
$20 – $40 (Pay What You Wish)
Olivia Adams is a proud Wulli Wulli woman from and based in Meanjin (Brisbane) in so called Australia. Olivia graduated from Queensland University of Technology in 2020 and has since built a career as an independent artist, dancer, choreographer and producer. As a choreographer Olivia premiered her first full length work, Matriarchs, as a part of Metro Art’s new festival DANCE24 and created TAWNY for Karul Project’s The Walking Track at Bleach Festival. As a dancer she as performed in Joel Bray’s Garabari, Sidi Larbi’s Manifest for Perth Festival, Keia McGrady’s Lutruwita tour of Charcoal, Karul Project’s SILENCE national tour Michele Rizzo’s Coalescing Towards for Perth Festival and been a guest dancer with Australiasian Dance Collective. She is particularly proud to have performed in visual artist Richard Bell’s Tent Embassy at Documenta 15 (Germany) and Daniel Boy’s Rainbow Serpent (Version) exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art.
Through her work as Associate Producer at BlakDance Olivia supports First Nations artists logistically through the delivery of residency programs and creative developments as well as the broader BlakDance team in industry advocacy. Some highlights include presenting at Western Arts Alliance’s Advancing Indigenous Performance symposium in Calgary 2022 (Canada) and working with Australasian Dance Collective (ADC) to deliver the First Collective Residencies program, featuring senior and established First Nations choreographers.
Olivia is proud to work in and on works that champion First Nations voices and stories and is passionate about the practice of healing and storytelling through dance.
This artist's career and work has been supported by BlakDance the national industry organization for First Nations dancers and choreographers Australia.
Arabella Walker is from a maternal line of Wulli Wulli, Auburn Hawkwood. She is an early career contemporary Aboriginal artist. Walker’s practice conveys significant topics of First Nations histories with a focus on the challenge of being an Aboriginal woman living in the Colony. Walker deals with this challenge by weaving Indigenous ways of knowing and being into knowledges of culture and protocols, connections and traditions through a variety of media. The body is activated to express ideas, cultural knowledge, histories, stories and cultural connections. Media, such as acrylic paints, video projections and installations form an interdisciplinary dialogue. Walker’s creative process communicates a cultural intent in ways that words cannot.
Emerging from a dance background, Walker incorporates multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary practices. Walker achieves this by using explosions of colour and energetic mark making that wash over her. Dance is used to connect traditions of ritual and ceremony as a form of contemporary expression. Analysis of research methodologies and data collection extend and strengthen Walker's creative art practice in all forms. Walker seeks research connected to personal history; further development of creative self; community connection; academia; and First Nations culture.
