Daddy | Partycypacyjny spektakl taneczny Joela Braya | Rollercoaster 2025

Daddy 

Daddy is a participatory dance work created by exceptional Indigenous Australian choreographer Joel Bray. Both heartbreaking and hilarious, Daddy probes one of the paradoxes of our age: when so much is on offer, why are we left so hungry?

From the sugar-coated idyll of childhood reminiscence to the glazed excesses of queer adulthood, Daddy is Joel’s search for a place of belonging. A proud Aboriginal man, Joel seems more comfortable in European dance forms and images than in his own traditional dance. He twists and contorts himself as he struggles to remember his Aboriginal father and the snippets of culture he learnt from him; his tongue contorts around his tribal Wiradjuri language.

Joel weaves his way through and around the audience, one moment channeling childlike innocence, the next exuding muscular gay-male bravado, and moments later crashing to the floor in torment. The audience gradually learns the true story of lost innocence, colonisation, and sexual assault that led to his family and cultural dislocation.

Hilarious, provocative, and heartfelt, this show tickles the nerve endings of desire while prodding the cavities left by colonisation. Featuring Joel Bray’s trademark confection of conversation, dance, and all-you-can-eat audience participation, Daddy is a sweet feast with a deadly aftertaste.

Creators

Director / Choreographer / Performer: Joel Bray
Composition & Sound Design: Naretha Williams
Lighting Design: Katie Sfetkidis
Set & Costume Design: James Lew
Collaborating Director: Stephen Nicolazzo
Collaborating Choreographer: Niharika Senapati
Dramaturgy: SJ Norman
Audio Technical Support: Daniel Nixon
Lighting Associate: Nicholas Moloney
Piano: Niv Marinberg
Voices: Peter Paltos, Jason Tamiru
Executive Producer: Veronica Bolzon

Daddy was commissioned by the City of Melbourne through Arts House, YIRRAMBOI Festival, and the Arts Grants Program, as well as by Performance Space, Sydney. It was developed for YIRRAMBOI’s KIN Commissions and the Liveworks Festival 2019.
Thanks to the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation for recordings from the Wiradjuri Language App, based on research by Dr Stan Grant and Dr John Rudder.

Warnings

Adult themes, explicit sexual content, haze, strobe lighting, and low lighting.
The work uses confectionery, including copious amounts of powdered sugar.
This show is standing only; limited priority seating (restricted view) available for those who are unable to stand for long periods.