Lost All Sorts Collective / PACT: Live
Cover image: Lost All Sorts by Luke Currie-Richardson
As Melburnians finally emerge into the light of day, Sydneysiders have an exciting new event to look forward to. Dedicated to uplifting emerging artists, PACT’s Residency program has supported a dazzling array of performers to produce a body of live works. PACT: Live will run on Friday and Saturday night, supplemented by bevvies and tunes from the likes of Rebel Yell, DIN and Sidehustle.
In a world which continues to throw new surprises on the daily, the content couldn’t be more diverse, or topical. Riana Head-Toussaint’s Inspocam delves into the objectification and alienation of online “inspiration porn” in an era of uncertainty and anxiety. Alexander Powers (a.k.a. Female Wizard)’s Inputs Outputs Video Essay explores repetition, exhaustion and duration, informed by their mundane experience of full-time work as a data assistant. Emma McManus’ The Waves combines the discovery of gravitational waves, queer theory and the biography of Virginia Woolf.
The Lost All Sorts, a collective of First Nations NAISDA graduates, drew inspiration from Scott Morrison’s infamous 2017 “coal speech” to produce ‘Fraid, a performance which reflects on the conflicting value of land from an Indigenous perspective and a western view.
I was lucky to catch two members of the collective, Emily Flannery and her sister Amy, just before they ducked off to rehearsal. As Amy weaved the backdrop for their weekend performance, Emily and I had a quick chat about the ethos behind Lost All Sorts and the importance, difficulties and rewards of expressing culture through dance.
The All Sorts Collective from left to right: Jye Uren, Amy Flannery, Joan Atkinson, Aroha Pehi, Emily Flannery and Neville Williams Boney
Ronlee: Did dance play a big role in your life growing up?
Emily: Yeah, pretty much – I started dancing from a very young age, so it’s always been part of my life. Both Amy (my sister) and I grew up on country in Forbes, on Wiradjuri land and left to pursue dance. Somewhere along the way, dance brought us back into connection with our culture. Dance is embedded in our culture and way of life, and now we’ve really found a way of putting our two worlds together.
Was dance always tightly bound with culture for you?
It definitely became more entwined later on- when I started at NAISDA in 2015, that was really when they started to become super connected. Before that, I had mostly learnt Western styles of dance like ballet. Being a professional dancer, we still have to do those styles of dance, but when we’re doing our own movement it definitely has cultural elements as the underlying tone.
Was it a really different approach of thinking about dance when you got to NAISDA? How did it compare with your previous dance experiences?
Yeah, I think so. The approach is a lot more community based and really considers the land you’re standing on and the people that came before and after you. Dance is viewed as something that’s much bigger than just the individual. This isn’t something that focused on very much in other forms of [western] dance unless it’s about being in time with the music or each other. They aren’t really about the importance of where you are and how that influences the way that you move.
Absolutely. I’ve had some experience doing ballet and it’s also a verryyy hierarchical (edit: autocratic??) method of choreographing, where you usually have a single choreographer who screams at you if you have one finger out of line! I guess that relates to another question I wanted to ask, which is how you navigate the choreographic process in Lost All Sorts. Is it more of a collaborative process?
We’re still kind of figuring it out! We work on the basis of, if one person has an idea relating to the concepts we want to explore they contribute, and our rule is that we have to try it at least once. We take everyone’s ideas and adapt and mould them as the process continues until we find a movement or sequence that fits with the idea for the majority of us. Because there are six of us it’s quite difficult! We don’t always get the outcome that we individually envisioned, but that’s what makes it fun too!
I really like the idea of trying everything once- it kind of reminds me of that improv comedy rule of ‘yes, and’: just give it a go, run with it and see where it goes!
Yeah! Sometimes we hear something and think that it’s not really what we’re after, but then it ends up really working. If you disregard it straight away, you never know what you’re missing out on, really, or what could be brilliant.
For sure! Going back to Lost All Sorts, what was the idea behind starting it (and where did the name come from??)
We all graduated from NAISDA in the same year (except for Jye, who’s a year above us) and came together because we felt that, particularly at the moment, the voice of Indigenous Australians isn’t really being heard. We feel that it’s time that we make art which is really relevant to what’s happening in this country and what’s happening to the traditional owners. The name- [Emily turns to her sister Amy, sitting beside her: ‘how did that happen??’ Amy: ‘we were just chucking out words and ideas in a group chat and it all just came together!’]
I like it! It speaks to the idea of coming from a lot of different backgrounds and places. It also reminds me of, do you know the lollies, All Sorts?
Yeah, we get that a lot!
*Laughs* “All Sorts” is definitely a nice way of acknowledging that you all come from slightly different First Nations perspectives, though. Is it ever difficult to integrate those different perspectives? Or do you find that you’re usually coming from a similar place when it comes to culture, and what you want to express?
It really depends. With the work that we’re currently doing, ‘Fraid, we used a Wiradjuri story to inform one of the sections. That came about because there was a story which related quite directly to what we’re talking about, in terms of politicians. It felt natural for those things to come together. Joany’s mum, who is a Yorta Yorta weaver, also helped us with some techniques for our weaving, like how to make it bigger and create pieces for us to wear. So little bits are informed from different places, depending on the idea as to what people offer. If someone thinks that something from their culture will suit the story, they’ll offer it forward.
We have disagreements, though! Of course, things are different depending on where your mob is, but we generally try to go with what is suitable for all of us, and what is culturally appropriate, and work from there.
A bit of a weaving process in itself!
Yeah, it’s a lot to navigate, but that’s what we’re doing!
Definitely difficult, but I guess that’s where the magic happens! How did you decide on the idea for ‘Fraid?
This one came about because we were thinking about all of the sacred sites that have recently been destroyed for mining or Western things, like the road that they’re trying to build through sacred sites in Victoria [through Djab Wurrung country]. We were all really focused on those things. It’s really quite horrifying for us, and we would feel a sense of sadness and ‘what can we do’. That was really at the forefront of our discussions. We were also doing some research and came across Scomo bringing the lump of coal into parliament and tossing it around, saying that “oooh, what’re you ‘fraid of” sort of thing- so ridiculous.
Yeah, watching that video again (and every time I see how parliament operates) the arrogance and the attitude of politicians- the heckling and joking- is so shocking and juvenile, it’s hard to believe that the country is run like that.
Yeah, definitely. We were kind of making fun of him, going “oh, you ‘fraid? You ‘fraid?” and then realised: that should be the name of our show. The gesture he makes also comes into our work a bit- if you’ve seen the video, you’ll know what we’re talking about.
Speaking of translating gesture into dance, how do you usually go about transferring thoughts into movement?
That’s what’s been really tricky- we all have very different styles, and we’re still finding our collective language. For this work, we were able to explore some of those themes through a lot of task work. Pretty much, we would find direct quotes from politicians or articles and use that information to make movement, either from the feelings we got from what was being said, or by abstracting the movement or words.
We also used weaving- we’re in the process of making a huge weaving backdrop. That has been quite a good tool for us, because from what I know, every mob has some connection to weaving. So by using this tool, which is also a cultural tool, we were able to differentiate when we’re connected and when we’re disconnected.
In terms of your connection to each other? Or to country?
Connected to country, mostly, but also connected to each other. Like most First Nations people living in western society, we’re not always living on our country, so there is that disconnect already. There’s also a disconnect with what’s happening to our land, and with Australia’s history, preventing us from being able to connect to our culture to the same extent as we would have otherwise been able to. It’s a lot of things- and to try and rebuild that and make that connection, make our elders feel safe, that’s really important.
Definitely. The disconnect between contemporary life and connection to country must be really difficult, especially when you live on country sometimes but also come into the city to work and perform. How do you manage that balance?
I guess we always acknowledge that land we’re on, and acknowledge the people who care for the land, those that come before us and those that are coming after us. Also, things like, if you’re on someone else’s country you shouldn’t take anything or break the leaves- it’s not yours to touch. It’s much harder in the western world because everything is cement, and you don’t really feel the earth beneath you. But even for us, just talking about the culture, keeping the stories alive, living by the rules that we know- all of that helps us to feel connected.
And I guess dance is a big part of that as well?
Definitely! Dance and song.
Do dance and song have a similar place in the culture of all of the members of Lost All Sorts?
Yeah, I think we all connect to it on a different level. Some of the guys grew up doing their traditional dance, so they had a different pathway into it to me. But we all have that shared sense of community, especially going through NAISDA.
This year has been pretty unconventional, how have you gone about maintaining your connection to each other, choreographing and working during the pandemic?
We were kind of lucky, when corona first hit and all of our work got cancelled we went home to Forbes and spent four months on country. The other guys in the crew came down and visited, and we got to spend some time there, hanging out. Neville is also Wiradjuri, from Wagga. That’s kind of where the main discussions around our project happened- sitting around having food, weaving.
I guess that would have really solidified your connection as a group.
Yeah, in the studio you don’t always have the time to unpack ideas and really explore them. Outside of it, our opinions could be explored a bit more deeply. From those conversations we really started to think- oh, maybe there’s a work in this!
I feel like that’s how all the best collaborative projects start! So, the event is on Friday and Saturday, are you nervous, or excited?
I think we’re just… really focused on trying to get the weaving done! That’s the main sort of stress at the moment *laughs*. I’ll probably be a bit more nervous closer to it.
How many people are you expecting?
Probably about 60. Even that’s a bit more intimidating because it’s intimate.
Yeah, actually I do feel like there’s a weird trade-off between size and scariness! Bigger crowds seem scarier but also, you don’t have to make eye contact!
Yeah, I’m really like, oh- I can really see you, you can see me *laughs*. We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it!
So exciting! All of the other works for PACT look so fantastic, too.
Yeah, I think it’s going to be a really cool, diverse night.
For sure! Thanks so much for making the time to chat, I know you’re very busy with all the weaving and rehearsing! Good luck!!
EVENT DETAILS
What: PACT Fridays: LIVE
Date & Times: Friday 6 November 5pm-10pm and Saturday 7 November 6pm-10pm
Where: PACT Centre for Emerging Artists, 107 Railway Parade, Erskineville
Price: General Admission $22.00+BF | Students/Concession $17.00+BF
Capacity for performances in the theatre is limited due to COVID-19. All courtyard activity (DJs and Extra! Extra! event) is free.
Schedule: www.pact.net.au/pact-fridays-live
Ticket link: On sale now at https://pact.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/2579
Interview by Ronlee Korren
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