Malia Letoafa with Tommy Misa, Jessica Paraha, Luke Currie-Richardson and Emele Ugavule in Kalaga Atu by Emele Ugavule at the Art Gallery of NSW
A one-day intensive workshop for actors, writers, dancers and poets.
Workshop Description: This immersive laboratory explores talanoa as both method and movement practice for story sovereignty. Drawing on Pacific understandings of storytelling as a fluid exchange between bodies, voices, and spaces, participants will engage in an evolving dialogue between physical practice and narrative creation. The workshop honours talanoa emphasis on relationship-building, unhurried exchange, and the creation of shared understanding through story. This workshop is for you if you're looking to:
Develop understanding of vā/wa as both a physical and metaphorical space for storytelling
Explore the connection between movement and narrative in Pacific contexts
Generate new written and performed work through embodied practices
Integrate ancestral performance practices into your devising
Build a toolkit for incorporating body-based practices into writing process
Work as a self-determined artist who leads with the principles of story sovereignty with confidence
Have been sitting on an idea for a story, but are stuck and need support and space to test it
Workshop information
Dates: Optional which workshop you prefer to attend
7th December (Artists who are Indigenous to Oceania only)
8th December (Anyone who identities as CALD/BIPOC/First Nations can attend)
Time: 9am-5pm
Fee: $120 (Lunch and materials are included in the fee)
Venue: TBA (Eora or Dharug Country)
Financial support: 2 x scholarships are available, and payment plans are also available for anyone who would like to pay in installments.
EOI CLOSES MIDNIGHT SUNDAY 1ST NOV
What participants of previous intercultural theatremaking workshops facilitated by Emele have shared:
“I learnt so much around ethical theatre practice, my own theatre practice as a sacred form and how to avoid having cultures including my own be appropriated/taken advantage of”
“I learnt that intercultural performance is an extremely rich field, working in it takes research rigour, time, respect, trust, and emotional intelligence, and a bunch of resilience when working within/encountering traditional Western practices and structures”
“Felt empowered and inspired to take the next step and transition from a creative to a creative/producer.”
“Knowledge. Empowerment. Community. I attended the workshop, with the intention to listen and learn as much as I could. I came out with an enriched understanding of intercultural practice, structures that currently exist, and tangible steps to take as an emerging artist. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I feel so empowered to go out there and just make things happen!”
“LOVED it. It felt like a heartwarming held space that invited us to share our tensions, concerns, and past experiences, in a way that wasn’t about wallowing in trauma but as a
way to feel solidarity and mutual support. Without a hierarchy of power, Emele gave us permission and encouraged us to embrace what we needed for ourselves.”
“Please provide more of these workshops because someone who is not from Australia I have found it difficult to express myself freely and just to be me. When we’re able to know who we are and we have the validation of being who we are I think we can connect more to our projects and our art. As a performer, I am usually playing other characters and stepping into other worlds, and I have always thought how can I step into someone else’s world and figure out their life when I don’t really know mine. So this gave me the understanding to appreciate the background I have and be proud of that. To use this in my work going forward and being authentic to who I am.”
About the facilitator
Emele Ugavule is a Tokelauan Uvean Fijian storyteller. Her research and practice area of interest is Oceanic Indigenous-led storytelling, exploring the themes of temporality, memory, kinship and knowledge transmission.
A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, she has worked with various artists and organisations across Australia and the Pacific including Warner Music, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Sydney Opera House, Netflix ANZ & Mad Ones Films, Culture Factory, Playmarket NZ, Playwriting Australia, Read NZ, Mangere Arts Centre, Monkey Baa Theatre Co, La Boite Theatre Co, Belvoir St, Sydney Theatre Co, Arts Centre Melbourne, Art Gallery of NSW, Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture & Pacific Studies. Emele is the host of the Unravel & Solwata Kin podcasts, Creative director of Talanoa and the founder of Studio Kiin, an Indigenous-led creative studio and collective where story sovereignty, kinship and healing is priority.
She is a recipient of fellowships from the International Institute of Modern Letters, Creative Australia and Creative NZ, Create NSW, Think + Do Foundation, Critical Path and Playwriting Australia, and is an alumni of the Fibre Fale Tautai leadership camp. As an orator, Emele has been a Toi Hourua keynote speaker at the Aotearoa Digital Arts Network Symposium in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and has presented at events including the United Nations AI For Good summit in Zurich, Switzerland and Nuit Blanche in Tkaronto.
Emele has tutored at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts and currently she is a senior tutor at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School (Acting).