Introduction

Here/There: Cultural performances and the construction of a Latino locality at the communal fiestas in Adelaide

“…8 Yet, dance is also 'a site in which there is continued movement between political, personal, social and cosmological realms' . 9 While there is no doubt that 'ethnics' often find themselves obliged to operate (or dance) within a 'doxa of ethnicity•,to not all such performances are part of such a doxa. Gunew rightfully notes that 'Multiculturalism in Australia is acceptable as a celebration of costumes, custom and cooking',ll however there is, as the fiestas illustrate, a categorical difference between the multicultural 'dancing migrant' and the ways and reasons migrants dance.…”

Creating the Five-minute ‘Moderen’ Ramayana in an Indonesian Migrant Community

“…This article centres on three formats of performance: the first, at the Indonesian Independence Day community celebration in August, 2007; the second, at the Perth Royal Show a month later; and the third, at several Australian multicultural performances, including the Oz Concert in January 2009. The experience of shared meaning between the dancers and the audience arguably fits a dialogic model of interaction between individuals' subjectivities or their various personal experiences, and their objectivities or external social realities; when combined, something new is created through the interaction (Henry, Magowan and Murray 2000). This experience of sharing meaning through a performance itself leads to moments of creativitydescribed here as a process of improvisation that draws on the full range of life experiences, including traditional forms of dance (selected, elaborated and transformed).…”