Choreographer Rosealee Pearson's dance piece Song Spirals, premiering at the upcoming Darwin Festival, began with a book she couldn't put down.
Song Spirals: Sharing Women's Wisdom of Country through Songlines, was the joint winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for nonfiction in 2020.
It provides an unprecedented insight into the traditional songlines of women from the Yolngu people from North East Arnhem Land.
Written by the Gay'wu group of women, which includes Pearson's mother and aunties, Pearson read Song Spirals cover to cover in one sitting.
"This is probably one of the most important books that everybody in Australia should read, and it needs to be translated in every form possible," she said.
Much of what has been published on songlines is about the role of men singing the ancient traditions, while little has been shared about women's song spirals, which are more like crying or keening.
"... they spiral out and spiral in, they go up and down, round and round, forever. Our songs are not a straight line. They do not move in one direction through time and space," the book says.
A graduate of NAISDA Dance College, Pearson decided to use her skills to translate Song Spirals into performance.
Four years later, the show includes recordings made on country, contemporary music and projections, together with the movements of four contemporary dancers.
It premieres at the Darwin Festival in August, with hopes that it will later go on tour.
"I'm really excited to be able to share it with people in the NT first, it's important that family can access it first," Pearson told AAP.
Pearson, who grew up between the Yolŋu communities of Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy in East Arnhem Land, said it was vital to develop the performance on country.
With her husband, composer and sound designer Andrew Grimes of the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band, Pearson recorded elders singing their song spirals, which are also known as Milkarri.
At first, the aunties and grandmothers didn't understand why Pearson wanted to record them: Milkarri are part of ceremony and not made for performance.
But then the women began asking the couple to record their Milkarri, and even providing recordings of relatives who had passed on, said Pearson.
It was a development that gave the project an extra layer of significance.
"It's just so important to have the works mixed and mastered so that the voices are heard really clearly - it's like having that person again a part of their lives, which is incredible," she said.
Thanks to the project, the Milkarri are being preserved and shared with family, as well as with places like Yolnju radio, which broadcasts across Arnhem Land and into Darwin.
The performance also features video projections of East Arnhem Land, with images of fire, Koel birds, paperbarks and pandanus, created by Darwin video artist Naina Sen.
Pearson's relatives are "super excited" about the show, and are travelling from East Arnhem Land for the premiere on Tuesday night, while some of the authors of Song Spirals are travelling from Sydney.
During the final preparations to stage the dance at Darwin's historic Brown's Mart Theatre, Pearson sounds satisfied that the piece is ready to go.
"It's quite a beautiful blend of traditional Milkurri with classical contemporary style, it's incredible," she said.
Song Spirals runs Tue 6 till Sun 11 August at Brown's Mart Theatre in Darwin.
The Darwin Festival runs August 8-25.
