This story is Part I of a three-part story series celebrating the creativity, tenacity and artistic courage of some of the artists we work with.

Ghenoa Gela's relationship with Force Majeure begins over 11 years ago, but I'd like to pick up this story in 2015 when Ghenoa (or G, as I affectionately call her) and I were thrown into a room to make a work together, basically overnight.

The work was a durational structured-improvisation piece called MURA BUAI.

When it came time for the performance and one of the performers, Melanie Palomares, was unavailable to perform, G decided to step in and take their place. I'd never seen G perform but when G got up to fill in, I couldn't watch anyone else.

I was compelled to watch this human - this amazing performer - take the space.

I'd never seen anyone holistically take my attention in a performance with no lights, no nothing. Just performing in the foyer of Carriageworks.

I think we've got photos of that actually.

[Editors note: We did, in fact, have photos of that]

After that fateful day, G and I continued to work together via our INCITE Intensive training program, on my productions of YOU ANIMAL YOU, and a redevelopment of MURA BUAI for the Commonwealth Games which is where we started seeing the shape of a new work...

A simple prop change we made to accommodate the outdoor performance space for the redevelopment of MURA BUAI suddenly shifted the work in profound ways. Working in sand and with banana leaves and water, images of migration and loss began to emerge and the idea of sand being consumed and deposited.

Consumed and deposited.

We realised there was a bigger and deeper story we could be telling here. A deeper exchange was happening between the two of us.

G engaged me in a deep conversation about what it means to be a First Nations performer at a time when people were really questioning why there wasn't any representation, and if there was, was it tokenistic? I was up for that conversation.

G set out on a massive journey to create a work that would get visibility on her homelands; the Torres Strait Islands and the rising tides of climate change threatening their survival.

Over the next few years G began developing the show we now know as GURR ERA OP, expanding the team to include Rachael Maza from ILBIJERRI Theatre company as well as a cast of performers connected by land and lineage, community and culture.

During a 2020 development, things began to take shape.

Many of the moments that made it into the final production were being created in that development room, years before ABC Arts would call GURR ERA OP 'easily the most affecting show I've seen this festival season'.

The work continued to deepen and evolve, although some things stayed the same.

Visceral moments found in the rehearsal room would have to be carried like fragile memories from one development to the next, every artist collectively suspending that moment through time until we could revisit it, recreate it, deepen it, explore it, and eventually, share it with an audience.

After successfully securing Major Festivals Initiative funding, G was able to travel to Erub Island for the first time, returning multiple times over the following years. G generously extended an invitation for a small group to join her on some of these trips, something I will treasure forever.

Each time G went to the islands she would write, and when she'd return we'd have many yarns about life and family connection and what it means to have not grown up on the island. And then, just like from the very first day, we'd start putting this work on the floor.

Sometimes in an artistic practice you can very quickly make the decision to remove a scene because it's not dramaturgically sound, but this was not the case in the GURR ERA OP room.

There are certain dances that have stayed and haven't moved because they hold the work together, and that’s all based around what it is to be Torres Strait Islander.

You can justify any of those grounding movement pieces and they will still be true.

After 4-5 developments and visits to the island, G had this extraordinary work to highlight the problems and contribute to the huge voice the Torres Strait 8 fight created about the effects of climate change and the lack of investment to secure basic human rights for these communities.

In 2024, it was time to share GURR ERA OP with an audience. Ghenoa premiered her landmark work at Sydney Festival, produced by Force Majeure and ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, to critical acclaim in January 2024.

And that was only the beginning. GURR ERA OP will continue its successful festival run at RISING: Melbourne in June 2024, Brisbane Festival in September 2024, and Ten Days on the Island in 2025. Our goal now is for as many people as possible to see G's work.

Ghenoa has always been associated with the company since 2015 - the longest standing relationship any independent artist has had with the company’s history - but we formally gave her the position as our Associate Artist when we received additional funds.

This is our most significant artist support program yet – our unique way of developing and sustaining the highest quality of multidisciplinary dance theatre practice in Australia.

When asked what impact Force Majeure has had on her artistic practice, G shared, "The professional and personal journey I’ve had with Force over the last 11 years has been vital to my sense of self as an artist in the Australian arts landscape.

Fortunate to have shared my artistic and family space with both Kate and Danielle, I couldn’t have asked for better mentors and family members as a curious blakfullah artist trying to figure out where I fit in the ever rigid, ever white, the ever linear Australian contemporary arts industry.

They gave me a platform and supported me to use it.

Will be forever grateful Force Majeure was there for me."

The whole team at Force Majeure are honoured to have been one part of Ghenoa's journey and her incredible contribution to the Australian arts landscape. We'd like to thank all our board, donors and supporters who have made this investment in G and her stories possible.

Thank you for supporting our commitment to mentoring artists to create visceral, thought-provoking theatre.

Powerful performance begins with an artist. It continues with you.

Be a force for artists.

Make a tax deductible donation today.

Danielle Micich

Artistic Director

Force Majeure

Next up... Part II: The Story of Eliza Scott x Force Majeure

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The 2022-2023 development of GURR ERA OP was supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW and assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Major Festivals Initiative, managed by Creative Australia, its Arts Funding and Advisory Body, in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals Inc., commissioned by Sydney Festival, RISING, Brisbane Festival and Ten Days on the Island.

Image credits:

MURA BUAI Image: Kate Blackmore

2024 GURR ERA OP Production Images: Prudence Upton

2020 GURR ERA OP Development Images: Ashley de Prazer
Other images: Danielle Micich, Ghenoa Gela

PART I: THE STORY OF GHENOA GELA X FORCE MAJEURE