Solace + Yearning
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Annette Carmichael
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Poetry
of Dance and Belonging
A Community Arts
Project from Denmark, Western Australia
‘Solace + Yearning’ layers landscape, poetry, eco-art and
contemporary dance to create an immersive space for many
voices: yearning to connect to country, grief for what is
absent, and reaching towards an understanding of
indigenous language and culture.
“Along the edges, voices call softly, softly…
the past speaking to the present.”
This multi-arts collaboration explores ‘settler guilt’ and
‘solastalgia’—a sense of loss caused by environmental
change—in a small rural community. The work unravels
contradictory and complicated feelings about Australia’s
stories, the assumed advantage of non-indigenous
Australians, and yet our deep longing for the wisdom and
connection intrinsic in indigenous cultures.
“It is beneath the bark where stories are whispered
and life rises to stitch together this river with this
sky.”
Performed in Denmark, Western Australia in 2012, and again
as a solo performance by Annette Carmichael in 2014, these
images and reflections portray a complex relationship
between people and place.
“Sometimes, sometimes
I make the mistake of thinking that
what has not been written down
has been forgotten.”
With gratitude to Joey Williams, Wayne Webb, Toni Webb,
and Harley Coyne, who walked the trail with us and
generously shared their Noongar culture and stories.
About the Editors
Annette Carmichael is a dance artist and
creative producer who specialises in regional cultural
development and community engagement. Annette
creates multi-art performance works that have contemporary
dance at their core but also include theatre, writing,
music, textiles and installation. Recent works
include Solace+Yearning (2012 &
2014), My War? (2015), The
Creation of Now (2015, commissioned by Ausdance
WA), The Snake Run Project (2016, for
Perth Festival and City of Albany), The Beauty
Index (2017 for Brave New Works festival) and A
Light Shade of Red (for centenary of Armistice
Day 2018).
Australian Dance Award (shortlist 2018 & 2012);
Recipient Tasdance Residency by Invitation Only (2016);
West Australian Dance Award (winner 2011, shortlist 2013).
Nicola-Jane le Breton is a story weaver and
community facilitator with a passion for the power of
story to awaken, connect and deepen our relationships in
community and with wild nature. As a mentor, she offers a
safe space to discover and develop your innermost stories,
both written and spoken. She runs writing circles and
storytelling journeys that support imaginal inquiry and
intimate encounters with each other and the sacred.
Nicola-Jane also works as a publishing consultant and
editor in Perth, Western Australia, and in 2019 ran an
oral storyteller development program in Denmark WA with
theatre director Silvia Lehmann. You can connect with
her at: www.facebook.com/write2unravel
Past collaborations include: The Spindle of Spoken Story (Denmark, 2019), My War? (Denmark, 2015), Wheel of Fortunes (Ravensthorpe, 2013), Solace+Yearning (Denmark, 2012), Our Secret River (Denmark, 2011), Writing in the Wild – Nature Writers’ Retreat (Denmark, 2011), and Unravelling: Denmark Stories (2009).
Linda Bradbury is a wordwright who loves to
explore confluence between rhythms in language and
landscape. Stories left unspoken, underneath and beyond
what has been written down, interest her most. Work to
date includes creative non-fiction & poetry
performance & publication, collaborative
script-writing & distillation, text in short film
& printed on pavement in sand and word improvisation
as interactive public art installation.
Projects include collaborative scriptwriting &
performance: Windborne 2019, Festival
of Voice 2012-2019, VAC Futures project 2017, Living
Testament 2016, The Creation of Now 2015, Rhythms
of Life 2014, Solace+Yearning 2012, Our
Secret River 2010 & Unravelling:
Denmark Stories 2009.
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