Experience Guuranda: Narungga stories from Australia come to Chennai

An ethereal choir, shadow puppets, dance, animals, and stories, all set against a water body inside Anna Nagar’s Tower Park. Guuranda x KM Music Conservatory, a first-of-its-kind production, tells the tales of the many lives of the Narungga people (an Aboriginal tribe from Southern Australia).

It was a simple decision to host this event featuring a mix of dance, music from a 20-piece choir, and shadow puppetry, amidst Nature, says producer, Shreya Nagarajan Singh. “It is, after all, their story. Guuranda tells the tale of a people, their land, and their journey in a colonial world. There are several animals that feature in the show. It is only obvious that we had to keep it open, under the sky and in the same space as birds, bats, trees and turtles,” she says, speaking after their debut performance outside Australia on March 21.

Guuranda marks the first time the Narungga language has been used on stage in India.

It is the name for the Yorke Peninsula in Southern Australia. Award-winning theatreperson and choreographer Jacob Boehme from the Narungga and Kaurna Nations of South Australia, says that the production goes back to his people’s creation myths, all set in a fantastical world and often told through the lens of an animal.

“The creation myths are at least 11,000 years old but they seem to have foretold our present and the future too. Much of these stories are about not over consuming Earth’s resources because it is after all, finite. We want to tell people that we still exist and have not been wiped out by colonisation,” Jacob says.

Guuranda X KMMC adapts the acclaimed mainstage production Guuranda, which was originally commissioned and presented by Adelaide Festival in 2024.

In three stories retold by Narungga Elder Aunty Lynette Newchurch, one hears stories of greed, violence, compassion, and empathy, all through well-choreographed dance moves, who sway to transformative music by the choir.

On the first day, a battalion of people are invited to participate in a dance around an emu puppet, and several audience members volunteer. “It has been interesting to see how every person in the audience has reacted to the play,” says Shreya.

Although the conversation about an international collaboration was broached on several occasions by the producer and the artistic director, it was only in the last 10 months that everyone swung into action. Singers, part of the KMMC choir learnt the correct pronunciation. An open call was put out to dancers from across the country, out of whom, five were selected. Tholpaavai was incorporated to tell a story in Tamil by exponents.

Jacob adds, ‘This project is important because it keeps our stories alive. I’m happy I got the blessings from my Elders to create a show like this.”

The show is on for one more day on March 22 at 6pm. It runs for 90 minutes at Anna Nagar Tower Park and entry is free.