Road to the stamping ground

A choreographical journey with Jiri Kylian of the Netherland’s Dance Theatre into the world of dance in Indigenous Australia. The documentary which opens the program follows Kylian’s visit to the Groot Eylandt tribal dance congregation in 1986 where his dance production Stamping Ground was first conceived. In Stamping Ground Kylian sought to underline the common qualities of ballet and Aboriginal tribal dance as well as fuse the two styles into a work that comments on the universal nature of human movement as a form of cultural and personal expression. Following interviews with the Dance company performers about the piece and footage of rehearsals demonstrating movements inspired by Kylian’s time at the Groot Eylandt congregation, the second half of the program is a presentation of the final performance of Stamping Ground by the Netherlands Dance Theatre Company.