LITTLE BLACK DUCK SAYS, "THIS IS MY COUNTRY!"

THE COORABIN




LITTLE BLACK DUCK SAYS, "THIS IS MY COUNTRY!"


Wednesday, 30 June, 2010    The South Sydney Herald



Local group, Yurungai Dance, has been honoured for their outstanding performance at the 11th World Children’s Theatre Festival in Lingen, Germany, with a performance of "The Little Black Duck", a story about a (cute -little black) duck called Yurungai who lives on an island and doesn’t dare to fly.


Yurungai Dance comprises children from Mount Carmel and Alexandria Park Community schools and involved in the Factory community centre and the Yurungai Learning Centre. The group, which rehearses at the PACT Theatre in Erskineville, interprets and reconfigures traditional Indigenous dance.


The simple yet very poetic story about the little black duck can be read as an allegory of Aboriginal people marginalised in their own country.


Once there was a little black duck called Yurungai. He lived on an island and liked to swim. Yurungai was different from the other birds on the island. He could fly. All the other birds on the island had their wings cut so they would not fly. The island was a zoo. Yurungai had a friend called Curlew who used to chase Yurungai to watch him fly. But Yurungai was scared of flying away.


When Yurungai saw a flock of black ducks he trembled, then called out to them. The flying line heard. Yurungai flew to them and across the land. They came to a wide river. On every side stretched vast plains. “This is my country!” shouted Yurungai. At last Yurungai was in his own country.

The set design featured symbols from traditional Aboriginal culture as well as everyday elements from contemporary Australian life. Animal and urban sounds, as well as live didgeridoo, voiced confusion and conflict. The actors, in colourful costume and face paint, depicted playfulness, caution and liberation.

Ultimately, ‘Yurungai Dance’ was a celebration of the festival’s motto – “Realise your Dream”. Yurungai realised his dream of flying without fear in a country where he belonged.

The next World Children’s Theatre Festival will be held in Sydney in 2012 and will be hosted by The Factory Community Centre. For more information contact Patrick Russell or Mike Shreenan on 9698 9569

Draws on report by Ann-Christine Simke, Lingener Daily Post, Lingen (27/06/2010).