Tracks dances presents Lipstick and Ochre

In a celebration of 20 years of senior women dancing with Tracks in the Northern Territory, they combined two great local dance groups with very different style. The Gray Panthers and The Yawalyu dancers, joined to do a show where cultures that are so different, come together to make an amazing performance. I personally know one of the Gray Panthers and so I wanted to go and see this performance all the more; they didn’t disappoint. It was an interesting set, The Lawns at Frogs Hollow Centre for the Arts. While every one was sitting down and finding their friends and seats, The Yalwalyu dancers were sitting on a circular carpet in the centre of the stage, painting each other in the traditional style while singing quietly. Meanwhile some of the Gray Panthers were sitting at small dressing tables with lights around the mirrors making them selves pretty for the performance. The performance felt like it took forever in some bits but overall it was a good show. Just before half time in the show, they received a “present” from “Victoria Beckom.” They rolled out this big box and it stood up and started running around. The man inside threw the box off himself and started to strut around, thrusting his hips to the crowd. Much to my distress my seat faced the middle of the stage and stood out like a sore thumb to the performers; he stopped looked at me made kissy faces and gestured for me to call him. He was a pale, skinny older man, wearing a short cave man costume; I was a bit stunned.

Over all I liked this performance a lot, it mixed cultures and wasn’t what I expected it to be. The only thing I would change was the tree above the stage; there were so many bats in it making so much noise and dropping their left overs on the stage and on the performers that one of the male brake dancers had to come on in half time and sweep the stage. I give this four stars-really enjoyable.