Gathering Ground a resounding success

“Input from young people tripled, the audience was massive and the response from the non-Indigenous audience was really positive,” said Lily Shearer, Project Co-ordinator and Cultural Development officer at the Redfern Community Centre.

In the lead-up professional artists worked with young people from Redfern/Waterloo to develop skills in aerial, hip hop, stilt walking, fashion and performance. As night fell the audience gathered at the top of Eveleigh Street, greeted by MCs, a projection on the wall of the Aboriginal Housing Corporation and a huge blow-up heart that read: “I love the Block.” With fires lit and a frisson of excitement in the air, the crowd began to move, down through the heart of the Block, the site of so much history of resistance.

A smoking ceremony and welcome to country by Uncle Max set the scene. Brilliant short film pieces, projected onto the crumbling walls recreated a sense of the old timers as did stories of sites and a quick Dharug language lesson. At Mundine’s Gym a shadow-boxing tableau conveyed the energy and resilience of the community. Around the corner at the basketball courts, young hip hop and spoken word artists told their stories. Giant trees and a gecko accompanied the surging crowd up Hugo Street to the Redfern Community Centre where young women vogued  and strutted. The night was capped with an aerial display of breathtaking proportions.

The overall feel was of a special ceremonial gathering, with the past honoured, reconciliation made real and the future glimpsed in the young people who were involved.

Part performance, part cultural tour, but mostly fantastic spectacle, the young stars and producers of Gathering Ground have much to celebrate and be proud of. Over 60 young people, children and elders came together over a six-week rehearsal period to produce a show that directly challenged the dominant stereotypes of the Block. The usual negative image was washed away with the stories of the Block re-told through dance, film installation, aerial performance, language.

This was the second  Blockside event, with the first in 2006, and  is the culmination of two years of planning and partnership between PACT Theatre and the RCC that has extended into a six-year strategy. In 2010 the event will be wholly community developed and run.

Gathering Ground: Blockside Story 2008

PACT Youth Theatre Community Performance and Redfern Community Centre

Co-Directors: Karen Therese and Fred Copperwaite

Principle Artists: Wil Jarrett, Legs on the Wall, Erth

Photos: Ali Blogg- Scene from Gathering Ground: Blockside Story 2008