CUT THE SKY

Marrugeku

CUT THE SKY erupts in unpredictable shifts through the detritus of the past and the present in the north of Western Australia.

Beginning in a near future as climate refugees, a displaced traditional owner, Indigenous and settler mining workers, a geologist, a sex worker, a scavenger and a protester reoccur in defining moments for the Kimberley as they face ever present end times. Tossed together in an extreme weather event, they shape-shift as a flock of urgent, spiralling butterflies- propelled through time tunnels to ratchet up the stakes in the search for water, for connection, for the future.

Featuring the epic perspectives of dream catcher Edwin Lee Mulligan seeing his Nyikina and Walmajarri Country through the eyes of his totems, and songs by Ngaiire, and Nick Cave, CUT THE SKY asks what it takes to dream a different future together?

Reviews

“The dance moves through five acts, beginning, like The Tempest, in the middle of a storm. It moves back and forward in time, touching on conflict with mining companies, the destruction of fauna and abnegation of the marginalised, the perfidy of a state that demands that its subjects trust it, while at the same time betraying them. … Exhilarating and original work.”

ABC, Alison Croggon, March 2016

Cut the Sky challenges audiences to dream a different future, when the drought of human connection breaks and we can all rejoice in the replenishing rains of reconciliation.”

Sydney Arts Guide,  Richard Cotter, July 2024

“In a Mad Max-like dystopia, climate refugees and displaced traditional owners rage and weep like a devastating cyclone. And the whirlwind 67-minute show feels as urgent as ever.”

Broadsheet,  Emma Joyce, July 2024

Technical

Venue Format
Proscenium arch

Touring Party Size

12

Location

Kimberley

Category

A tour-ready work

Available to Tour

6 July 2026

Artforms

Ballet and Dance

Audience

Adults - General
Culturally and Linguistically Diverse People
First Nations/Indigenous People

Duration

72 minutes

Get In

15 hour/s

Get Out

4 hour/s

Costs

Remount Cost: $5 - 10k
Weekly Fee: $15 - 20k
Per Performance Fee: $5 - 10k
Royalties: 10%

Company Contacts

Contact Name:

Guy

Boyce

Email: gm@marrugeku.com.au
Phone: 0408 013 870

Company Bio

Marrugeku is an unparalleled presence in Australia today, dedicated to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working together to develop new dance languages that are restless, transformative and unwavering.

Marrugeku builds bridges and breaks down walls between urban and remote dance communities, between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and between local and global situations. Our works are created out of urgent reciprocities between Peoples, Country and custodians, understanding that telling stories together is one of the simplest and hardest things we can do.

Marrugeku is led by co-artistic directors: choreographer/dancer Dalisa Pigram and director/dramaturg Rachael Swain. Working together for nearly three decades, they co-conceive and facilitate Marrugeku's productions and research laboratories, introducing audiences to the unique and potent structures of Indigenous knowledge systems and the compelling experience of intercultural performance. Marrugeku's performers come from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, collaborating to co-create each production. Marrugeku's patron is Yawuru cultural leader and national reconciliation advocate Senator Patrick Dodson.