TROIKA Red Blue White









TROIKA The TROIKA Intergenerational Dance Film Project Longreach, Winton and Mackay Troika began as an exploration of the unofficial tracks and trails people have walked along during their lifetime. The journey took us from the remote areas of Western Qld to the coastline of Mackay and into the lives of the elderly people who lived there. We were joined by artists from Japan, Germany, UK, Indonesia and Australia. The red desert, the vastness of the blue skies and ocean and the glaring white sun gave us a starting point. The passion and energy of the dancers, their inner calm and confidence and their reverence for each other and the landscape, reflected these 3 colours. At times the landscape dictated our movements. Often the dancers created their own improvisations. Sometimes people wanted to tell their own story using just movement. Their stories were played out on mountains, grasslands, deserts and underwater. Their narratives were driven by a deep desire to be seen as artists in their own right with skills, ideas and a passion to make a contribution to life.

Troika is about finding our place in the world through our encounters with trails and landmarks that are illusive, wild and often enchanting. While footpaths and roads are the official and sometimes mundane public connectors between people and place,

trails remain part of the interior terrain, out of the way, not easily traversed and sometimes secretive. Trails are not only a way of traversing space between one point and another, but they can lead inward towards journeys of thought and feeling.

They can also lead outward to a sense of belonging to the landscape and as a way of connecting to the past to those who walked these tracks before. If it takes more than one to make a trail we want to find out who was involved in making them

and maintaining them.

Elderly people are often the keepers of the flame in regional towns. What are the places they return to in recollection or in reality? Their stories may tell us something about the people of that community, their relationship to thelandscape and

to some kind of human longing or need to walk that way. Jess Wickins who volunteers at the Parish Op Shop Auxilliary in Mackay vividly remembers walking a track with her grandmother at the end of east Gordon St Mackay when she

was a small girl. “It curved its way towards east point and the Pioneer River.” For Jess it was a place of mystery and a place where she felt close to her grandmother When I walked across the small wooden bridge it was like was a test of courage.

I felt brave that I could do it. Having young people on board this project has made it so enjoyable."

Troika follows on from the success of the 2014 and 2015 intergenerational projects Finding Ithaka and Cheek2Cheek, which saw young people actively engaging elderly people in agedcare facilities in Mackay, Biloela and Gladstone.

“These projects have made a considerable impact on residents from the memory unit. They are now more animated in their interaction with each other. Their level of confidence has increased significantly .”

Wendy Stream Bluecare Service Manager Mackay

“I can’t say enough about this project. It changed my life. I now get up in the morning and can’t wait to go to the dance workshops.”

Woody Tryhorn Hibiscus Gardens Agedcare resident Gladstone

Following an evaluation of these projects in 2014, the following key needs were identified:

1. Opening up purposeful creative activities to breakdown the isolation elderly people experience in their lives in remote areas of Queensland.

2. Reducing the stigma of old age and dementia for residents families and the community.

3. Setting up an arts based training program for staff in the centre to ensure the sustainability of the program.

4. Actively engaging young people in the programto develop real connections through trust and communication with people who are different

to themselves and taking responsibility in helping to celebrate the lives of elderly people.

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