Preparing Ground: A Powerful World Premiere Dances History, Care for Country

BlakDance has produced Preparing Ground, a powerful new language that dances the weight of history and the fire of resistance. Co-directed by acclaimed artists Marilyn Miller, Jasmin Sheppard, and Katina Olsen, this world premiere work comes to The Art House, on Darkinjung Country, for one show only on 16 May 2025.

Developed over six years through deep collaboration with the performers' communities on their Countries, Preparing Ground embodies First Nations storytelling sovereignty. It holds the warmth of family voices, quiet moments of care, and the heartache of displacement, issuing an urgent call to join First Peoples' care of Land for our shared future.

Witness three formidable women – Miller, Sheppard, and Olsen – share the stage, their bodies carrying stories through cycles of resilience and reclamation. Projections reveal a landscape that is both sacred and stolen, while sound and movement entwine to evoke a profound connection to Country for the audience, and for the performers, one that cannot be erased. Over 60 minutes, Preparing Ground shifts between past and present, tradition and disruption, asking us all to listen, to witness, to remember.

This is an invitation to consider: what does it mean to belong to a land that remembers?

The Art House Presents World Premiere - Preparing Ground By Marilyn Miller, Jasmin Sheppard and Katina Olsen

One Show Only 16 May. Tickets Available Now. 

Image by Matt Cornell, Simon Woods & Sam James.