A powerful new dance work by Joel Bray Dance that echoes and honours generations of protest and rebellion, MONOLITH will be presented at Arts House, as part of the Rising Festival, this June.
Together, five fierce Brown women present themselves as obstacle and resistance to colonising power. They evoke a monolith – the ancient rock formations that sit-in the landscape and defy the deforestation and urbanisation of surrounding Country.
“Our Elders sat on Freedom Ride buses and in Tent Embassies. They sat and endured the indignities of rotten fruit and the brutalities of arrest,” said Wiradjuri artist and creator Joel Bray.
“As we developed MONOLITH, we spoke about our Elders’ experiences, the power of silence and the act of taking up space. We danced together as a declaration of group power.”
MONOLITH explores geological time and the cadence of Country. It includes a dystopian island designed by artist Jake Preval as well as delicate and driving beats by composer Matthias Shack Arnott.
While Bray is best known for his immersive and participatory dance-theatre works, MONOLITH is an exciting return to the craft of collaborative dance-making.
Arts House Acting Artistic Director, Olivia Anderson, says it is a privilege to present MONOLITH with RISING. “Joel Bray Dance is renowned and celebrated for creating thought-provoking and electrifying works. MONOLITH promises to be transformational,” says Anderson.
“RISING is where to discover what’s new in art, music and performance. Revealing a connection between people and land through his unique choreography, Joel Bray’s MONOLITH is a powerful and exciting new work,” said RISING co-Artistic Director, Gideon Obarzanek.
Naarm-based Joel Bray is a proud Wiradjuri dancer, performance-maker and Artistic Director of Joel Bray Dance. He has performed with Chunky Move and European companies and choreographers. Bray’s dance-theatre encounters in unorthodox spaces spring from his Wiradjuri heritage. Collaborating with Elders, community and Country, his work often uses humour to engage audiences in rituals about sex, history, trauma and healing.
Previous works have toured across Australia and internationally, including Biladurang, Daddy, Considerable Sexual License, Garabari, Giraru Galing Ganhagirri and Homo Pentecostus. Bray has made works for RISING, Malthouse Theatre, Arts House, Chunky Move, Sydney Dance Company, National Gallery of Australia and National Gallery of Victoria.
MONOLITH
Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne
Season: 3 – 15 June 2025
Bookings: www.artshouse.com.au
For more information, visit: rising.melbourne for details.
Image: Joel Bray Dance presents MONOLITH – photo by Tamarah Scott & Davey Simmons