Torres Strait performer Elma Kris will be the principal dancer in Bangarra's Mathinna, She tells DENISE CARTER  

Elma Kris is between worlds.

She has just finished performing in Bangarra’s new show Belong, and with a turnaround of just two weeks, she has resumed the lead role in Mathinna, currently on tour, which will reach Cairns next week.

Elma plays a young Aboriginal girl who straddles two worlds and falls to her death between them.

“The story is about a child who was taken away from her tribe, the Wybalenna mob in Tasmania, by Lady Jane Franklin (and Governor John Franklin) in the 1830s when she was four,” Elma says. “She was taken into white society and out of her own backyard.

“It’s a bit of a tragedy because she was drowned at the age of 21 when drunk. It is based on a true story.”

Although she has never been to drama school, Elma uses much emotion in her dance work and says acting just comes naturally.

From Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, she has had a roundabout trip into the world of dance, first travelling to Cairns to indulge a passion for painting.

Dance, however, was always closest to her heart.

“I learned how to dance contemporary by watching Michael Jackson, the ABC channel when Countdown was on, and from watching the Sunday afternoon programs featuring The Australian Ballet,” Elma says. “I remember one time my parents were sleeping and we had a timber floor that was making noise because I was practicing my jumps and jetes,” she says.
“When I eventually looked around, my mother was just standing there, and she said I was doing a rubbish dance.”

Elma’s initial foray into the world outside Thursday Island occurred when she came to Cairns in 1994 to study visual arts at TAFE.

After three years she returned to Thursday Island, having secured a teaching job at the local TAFE, but the urge to dance was too strong to resist any longer.

“I had to ask for permission from my parents again, this time to travel to Sydney,” Elma says.

“Sydney was a lot faster than Cairns so I had to have courage and confidence and I slowly built a city life.”

Having studied dance at NAISDA Dance College for five years, Elma was overwhelmed when artistic director Stephen Page asked her to audition for Bangarra, which she joined in 1997.

She had seen their work, and admired it so much, she thought the company was out of her league.

“They perform so beautifully and have such presence and their stories are so strong,” she says.

Elma’s dancing is inspired by Torres Strait Island culture and she meets with elders for permission to allow her people’s dancing to be shown on a broader stage.

Peggi Missi, from Mabuiag in the Torres Strait, is her cultural adviser.

Mathinna is a tough role for 39-year-old Elma, who played the role previously in 2008 when it toured capital cities.
She says it is highly energetic throughout.

“Afterwards I’m calling out for a water,” she says.

“She (Mary) wears this red dress throughout and the feeling is it’s the story of the dress as she grows older.

“That red dress is so strong.”

Elma also choreographs for Bangarra, and created a dance theatre work titled About for the production Belong, which toured from July to September.

In it she explores the mood of the winds as they move across the environment of the Torres Strait from ocean to land.
But Elma’s first love is still dance.

“I think dancing is easier and you have the emotion and feeling through your body,” she says. It is a talent acknowledged when she won Dancer of the Year at the Deadlies in 2007 at the Sydney Opera House.

Just as there is a time for dance, though, there is a time for rest. After the tour of Mathinna, Elma will take a well-earned break and return to where she says she belongs.

“I’ve come this far and I really want to go back home and connect with the elders,” she says.

“Thursday Island is my home.”

>> Bangarra’s Mathinna is at Cairns Civic Theatre from November 1-2 at 7.30pm, with an extra 2pm show on November 2. Tickets: $39 for adults. Concessions apply. For more information, call Ticketlink on ph: 1300 855 835 or visit: www.ticketlink.com.au

Share this article