Terrain: A conversation in dancefilm between self and the Australian outback landscape

Abstract

This article examines the connections between embodied and somatic spirituality that are revealed in the making of the dancefilm Terrain: Dancing on Stolen Land, filmed and performed by the author on Maiawali and Karuwali Country, known as the Channel Country, in the Diamantina National Park in outback Australia. Through a phenomenological approach, the author investigates her responses to the vast Australian outback. Using the language of responsive dance captured on film and in text, she discusses place, site-specific performance, invisibility, listening and cultural mindfulness, as experienced through improvisational performances on a contested landscape. On this ancient terrain, she pays her respect and acknowledgement to the traditional owners of this unceded land, past, present and emerging. https://vimeo.com/745881539