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Ngurru-milmarramiriw (Wrong Skin) The Chooky Dancers
  
Tour Dates
Her Majesty's Theatre
11th Mar – 14th Mar, 2010
Malthouse Theatre
18th Mar – 28th Mar, 2010
Darwin Entertainment Centre
27th Aug – 28th Aug, 2010
Sydney Opera House
2nd Sep – 12th Sep, 2010
 
Director
Nigel Jamieson
Associate Director/Movement
Gavin Robins
Associate Director/Cultural Liaison
Josh Bond
Composers
David Page & Basil Hogios
Gruchy Digital Video - Grup TV
Mic Gruchy (Michael)
Designer
Mathew McCall
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Ngurru-milmarramiriw literally translates from Yolngu as "Njurru" (nose) "mil" (eye) "marr" (heart) "miriou" (nothing). It is a rough idiom for the English word "elope" with the implication that if you follow your heart and body and marry outside the dictates of your family and community you lose everything - your kinship, your place in the world, the system of law that lays down all the relationships by which you live.

To convey the broader meaning of eloping outside your clan, the production has been English titled Wrong Skin.

 
Elcho Island off the North-East coast of Arnhem Land may be one of the world's remotest places. But this has not stopped this small community taking the world by storm.

Recently Yolngu artist Gurrumul Yunupingu turned first his guitar, and then the musical world upside down, with his dreamlike Yolngu ballads. Then Elcho's unique 'Chooky Dancers', via a three minute clip on YouTube, managed to reach one and a half million people with their hilarious rendition of Zorba the Greek Yolngu Style, fusing Aboriginal dance, hip hop and comedy. Born on the broken asphalt of the Galiwinku Saturday night disco, the world roared its approval.

Now Elcho Island and The Chooky Dancers join hands with multi-award winning director Nigel Jamieson (Sydney Olympic Opening Ceremony, Red Square). Together they fuse traditional culture, dance, film and comedy with influences drawn from mobile phone technology to the unforgettable Saturday night discos, Taiwanese martial art videos and Bollywood.

A Romeo and Juliet like story of forbidden love, skin and clan the work explores with abandoned energy the pressures faced by remote Indigenous communities, determined to maintain their identity and culture, while finding a place for their children in the contemporary world.

This promises to be an important and joyous moment in Australian theatre.

In loving memory of Frank.

   
  This project has been assisted by the Australian Government's Major Festivals' Initiative managed by the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals, Adelaide Fest 
      
   
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