Braunstein, Ruth --- "Dance the Prison: Interview with Richard Talonga and Cheryle Stone of the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre (AIDT) Part Time Performing Group" [1985] AboriginalLawB 77; (1985) 1(17) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 6

• Dance The Prison: Interview With Richard Talonga And Cheryle Stone Of The Aboriginal And Islander Dance Theatre (Aidt) Part Time Performing Group

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Dance the Prison:

Interview with Richard Talonga and Cheryle Stone of the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre (AIDT) Part Time Performing Group

by Ruth Braunstein

At the recent Sydney rally against Aboriginal deaths in custody, four members of the AIDT part-time performing Group danced to a spell-bound crowd. Richard Talonga and Cheryle Stone were two of the dancers.

‘When Eddie Murray was found dead,' said Richard, 'we heard about it on the news. Eddie Murray's death in jail was the first to be reported on radio and TV. Dance school students from Moree (neighbouring Wee Waa) told us about whats happening up there and we talked about it.’

What they talked about was racial discrimination.

Cheryl added, 'People were angered by Eddie Murrays death and wanted to hit out against the system. That’s the best thing we could have done - to do the dance, to bring the situation to stage, let the world know about it.

For this performance on September 28, the dancers felt they had to do something that would 'bring the situation up front and so we chose dances that would mean something to the black man and woman'.

So they danced Prison, Woman's Lament, Mangy Old Dog and Black Boy. The dances are dances of solidarity with Black people everywhere. Cheryle explained, 'The dances Prison and Woman's Lamentwere originally done "en suite" and the whole thing called It Happened In, meaning that it could happen anywhere in the world, anywhere in Australia'.

Cheryl came from South Africa seventeen years ago and experienced great alienation in her early years as she came from a segregated black society into a European society.

The power of the dance is in its ability to communicate to diverse groups and across language.

'Dance is a good way to communicate especially to peple who don't speak English or can't read about it. We can perform anywhere in the world and people can say "I understand what you said" because emotion is part of us all,' said Cheryle.

'When we tour overseas we take traditional dancers with us so we also perform traditional and modern danceto give a true picture of Black Australia,' said Cheryle.

The Sept 28th performance began with the Prison. For Richard to perform this dance he had to picture himself 'in a little cell, frustrated by being locked away, so used to being out in the open spaces'.

At the end of the dance, Richard acts out pulling the rope to break his neck Eddie Murray was found hanged in his cell. The way Richard tells hand dances it,'it could have been anybody pulling the rope'.

Right after Richard dies in this dance, Cheryle dances the Woman's Lament.

'When I do this dance I haveto go to that place in my own life and imagine that it is my son, to make it real. It makes me feel empty, its very emotional, it takes a lot out of me ...

'Especially when we have a live singer on stage, its so much more dramatic. I's like having the mother standing right there and singing about the son that has just been killed and me enacting it.

'I think a lot about the deaths, things that happen in riots, where people get bashed by cops Things happeningto black people right now in the world. I have to visualise all that when I do the dance.'

Just before the dancers went on to perform at the rally, someone told them that Eddie's mother and father and other family members werethere among the crowd.

'It made it even more special,' said Cheryle,'I had to give them something extra'.

'I had a chanceto meet them later at a party at Raelene's,' said Richard, 'and they said they enjoyed it. I couldn't really say anything'.

'At Brewarrina once we had performed this dance and some cousins of Eddie Murray were there - they thanked us - quite a few of the white people didn't. It gives a good feeling,' Richard added, 'that people don't haveto know dance to tell what the dances are about'.

'Arthur Murray, Eddie's father, just before he left he came and shook my hand again.'

The dancers were Richard Talanga, Cheryle Stone, Raymond Blanco and Monica Stevens, and they danced to the music of Coloured Stone, Us Mob and Bobby McCloud. The Performing Group has grown out of theAIDT school which Is open to Abodginal and Islander people and has been a springboard for young performers to develop their careers. The Group has toured nationally and Internationally since 1977, taking their dances to diverse audiences.

Having seen their performance on this and other occasions, it is empowering to realise how effectively and on how many fronts the story will be told.

Prison: choreographed by Chris Yanides and Raymond Blanco

Woman's Lament: Choreographed by Carol Johnson

Mangy Old Dog: Carol Johnson, Music by Bobby McCloud

Black Boy: Part-Time Performing Group

AIDT is funded by Dept. Aboriginal Affairs, NSW Govt., through Cultural Activities, The Aboriginal Arts Board, Music Board and Theatre Board of the Australia Council, The Federal Govt’s Arts Funding and Advisory Board.