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Jo Clancy
wiiny-dha waganha nan-girra | 2024
wiiny-dha waganha nan-girra. @ North East Wiradjuri Cultural Centre
wiiny-dha waganha nan-girra - we make fire and dance together - is a window into Wiradjuri cultural exchange and sharing at Ganguddy. A film by Jo Clancy in collaboration with Gus Armstrong, Emma Syme and the Kandos/Rylstone Aboriginal community.
bio:
Jo Clancy is a First Nations Choreographer, Dancer, Teacher and Mentor. A Wiradjuri woman from Western NSW, Jo was raised and still lives in Darug and Gundungurra Country in the Blue Mountains with her family. Jo has worked as an Independent Artist nationally and internationally for thirty-five years. She founded her dance collective Wagana in 2007 and works extensively in Aboriginal communities across Wiradjuri, Dharug and Gundungurra Country. Jo’s latest productions and collaborations include birrirra bandhung which premiered at Cementa22, Wurimbirra - to take care, which toured to Whistler in Canada in 2022, Yindyang Bila for the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre exhibition WATER” in 2022 and Mawambul - all together, for the Coastal Dance Festival in Canada 2023. Jo is currently collaborating with Gawura Cultural Immersions on Warriwal which premiered at the Blue Mountains Theatre in April 2024.
statement:
I’m a Wiradjuri woman born to Dharug Country. My dance collective Wagana, which means ‘dancing now’ in Wiradjuri language and has a strong female focus. I didn’t have opportunities to learn my language, my songs or cultural dances growing up and I’m committed to making positive, real and lasting change to the lives of Aboriginal women and girls through dance and cultural connection. We all need to feel strong and safe in culture, to know who we are and how we connect. My practice holds, supports and lifts others, it is a gradual, continuous spiral that allows people to enter and exit. When I walk and dance softly in Country, place my bare feet on the ground and sit low in my hips, I connect with a matriarchal strength, grace and perception that comes from an embodied knowing.
North East Wiradjuri Cultural Centre
A film by Jo Clancy in collaboration with Gus Armstrong, Emma Syme and the Kandos/Rylstone Aboriginal community.
birrirra bandhung | 2022
birrirra bandhung. @ North East Wiradjuri Cultural Centre Rylstone Common
‘birrirra bandhung’ was seeded on the traditional Country of the Dabee people during the First Nations Women’s Residency in early 2021. Over 4 days the work was guided by Dyagula (lyrebird) and has evolved to include dance, song and projection shot on Wiradjuri, Darug and Gundungurra Country. A beautiful madhan (tree) designed and made by Erth Visual and Physical is a centre piece for the work. With local girls and women, at Rylstone Common Jo Clancy will perform contemporary lyrebird dances and songs in Wiradjuri. The students will perform and then the community will be invited to join them in the performance.
bio:
Jo Clancy is a Mother, Daughter, Sister and Aunty to many. She is a First Nations Choreographer, Dancer, Teacher and Mentor. A Wiradjuri woman born and living on Darug and Gundungurra Country. Jo commenced her full-time dance training at NAISDA Dance College in 1990 and then went on to Western Sydney University where she became the first Aboriginal person to gain a BA in Dance in NSW. She founded her company Wagana in 2007 and is currently Head of Cultural Practice at NAISDA. Her works include Bangalang for the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival, Glasgow, Sum of our Ancestors for Dance and the Child, Copenhagen, Gaurii for the Commonwealth Games Art and Cultural Festival 2018 and Wirawi Bulbwul for Dance and the Child 2019. Wagana have been the Australian representatives at the Honolulu Festival in Hawaii since 2016 and foster an ongoing Sista collaboration with the Raven Spirit Dancers, Vancouver.
statement:
Jo makes dance with and for her community as a legacy for the continuation of NSW Aboriginal dance and storytelling. Her practice draws upon her connection to people and place. She draws inspiration from people and places she feels open hearted with and works with children, young people, dancers and artists, who are in turn, open hearted with her. My dance collective Wagana means ‘dancing now’ in my Grandmother’s Wiradjuri language, a language she and many other Aboriginal people were denied to speak in the wake of colonialism.Through Wagana, I seek to connect and empower Aboriginal women to their First Nations’ heritage through the sharing of cultural dance, songs and stories. My dances and songs come from an embodied and spiritual knowing inherited from my grandmother, my great grandmother and undoubtedly all of the great women from my clan who have come before me.
