Ardna (Our Land)
TOURING VIC, June 2022
Ardna (“our land”) is an innovative new collaboration between Aseel and respected Yorta Yorta theatre maker Jason Tamiru for primary school children, that uses Indigenous and Middle Eastern dance, songs and storytelling to explore our connection to physical land. Ardna is a beautiful, tactile experience for children that takes place in an open indoor/outdoor space that is transformed into an island of bushland. Touring regional Victoria as a part of Regional Arts Victoria’s Arts and Education Program in June 2022.

Ardna (“our land”) is an innovative new collaboration between Aseel and respected Yorta Yorta director and producer Jason Tamiru (The Return, Blak Cabaret, Blackwiz) that was the recipient of the 2021 Joan and Betty Rayner ACTF Commission.
Although Aseel and Jason come from very different places, both have a uniquely intimate relationship with land and the environment, being from cultures displaced from their homelands. In Ardna children encounter the natural environment with fresh eyes, through the lens of these cultures’ stories and rituals.
Ardna takes place in any open indoor or outdoor space which is transformed into an island of bushland. A simple site-specific set evokes both the Australian bushland and the Mediterranean countryside. Stories, poems and songs are shared in multiple languages, uniting the artists to save their precious home.
The devastating bushfires of 2019 demonstrated the perils of ignoring our land, and times during 2020 in lockdown highlighted the impact of life without the natural world. Ardna explores what else we don’t even realise we are missing.
Monday 6 June - Metro show
Tuesday 7 June - Panmure Primary
Wednesday 8 June - Penshurst Primary School
Thursday 9 June - Casterton Primary School
Friday 10 June - Brauer College Warrnambool
Tuesday 14 June - Shepparton
Wednesday 15 June- Kyabram P-12 College
Thursday 16 June - Mount Beauty Secondary
Friday 17 June - Corryong College
Visit http://www.rav.net.au/whats-on/education-and-families/ardna-by-assel-tayah-jason-tamiru
Ardna has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory.
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To book this show get involved or email us on info@bukjeh.org
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