Japanese Residency
Residency Period: August 15–September 11, 2023 (Japan)
Residency Venues: Morishita Studio (3-5-6 Morishita, Taito-ku, Tokyo), Sapporo Tenjinyama Art Studio (1-80, 2-17 Hiragishi, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo)

The participants stayed in Tokyo and Hokkaido with the aim of creating opportunities for new dialogue and points of contact between Japanese and Australian indigenous culture and arts activities. They visited the Kawamura Kaneto Ainu Memorial Museum, Upopoy National Ainu Museum and Park, Sapporo Piri Kakotan (Sapporo Ainu Culture Promotion Center), Kayano Shigeru Nibutani Ainu Museum, Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum, Aynu Museum Festival (Urakawa), and more, and met with peers and people carrying on the traditions of Ainu singing, dance, and crafts.

→来日者紹介

Public Program: Artist Talk
Date: August 17, 2023 / 7–8:30 p.m.
Venue: Morishita Studio (Tokyo)
Title: Decolonising Contemporary Dance
Summary: This talk featured Ngioka Bunda-Heath, an Aboriginal Australian dance artist of Wakka Wakka and Ngugi (Queensland) and Birrpai (New South Wales) descent. Bunda-Heath introduced one of her major works, the lecture performance Blood Quantum (2019), which is based on her own family history and tells of the young Aborigines forcibly removed by the Australian government (known as the Stolen Generations), as well as Birrpai and Bridge as case studies of decolonialization and related creative mindsets and approaches. She was joined by another guest, the artist Mayunkiki, to discuss what it means to create from the starting point of indigenous identity.
View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qXXlD-yfOio

Public Program: Workshop
Date: August 28, 2023 / 7–9 p.m.
Venue: Morishita Studio (Tokyo)
Title: What Is Contemporary? Contemporary Dance Open Workshop
Summary: This workshop introduced foundational dance skills and techniques like floorwork, traveling, and improvisation, and also high-tempo exercises for fully exploring a dancer’s mind and body.

Australian Residency
Residency Period: March 7–April 4, 2024 (Australia)
Residency Venue: Footscray Community Arts (Melbourne)
Participating Artist and Arts Manager:
Mayunkiki (Japan)
Kanoko Tamura (Japan)

Profile
Ngioka Bunda-Heath
Ngioka Bunda-Heath is of Wakka Wakka and Ngugi (Queensland) matrilineal and Biripi (New South Wales) patrilineal descent. She completed an advanced diploma in the performing arts at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, followed by a bachelor of fine arts in dance at the Victorian College of the Arts. She was the first Aboriginal female artist specializing in dance to graduate from the university. After graduating, she undertook a traineeship on the Rekindling youth education program by Bangarra Dance Theatre, a leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander modern dance company. She currently serves as First Peoples partnership coordinator at Chunky Move. Bunda-Heath’s choreographed works include Blood Quantum (2019), Birrpai (2021), Bridge (2022), and Footprints (2022). In 2021, Birrpai won Dance Best Duo/Ensemble at the Green Room Awards in Melbourne.