Meet the Djoondal Creative Team
These are the brilliant minds behind Djoondal, our free opening event!
For three nights in February the sky at Lake Joondalup will be lit up by our spectacular immersive show that links the stories of the cosmos and the beauty of the lake.
Cutting-edge technology and ancient storytelling come together to tell the Noongar story of Djoondal – the spirit woman with the long white hair who created the milky way above, and whose name lives on in Joondalup.
Before you join us at Djoondal meet some of the talented creative team behind the project!
Check out the FAQs and key event info ahead of the event.
Ian (Moopa) Wilkes
Ian (Moopa) Wilkes is a Noongar man with connection to the Wadjuk and Ballardong people. He is a multidisciplinary artist - theatre maker, director, performer, writer, dancer -and a graduate of Aboriginal Theatre at WAAPA. In 2021, Moopa won the Perth NAIDOC award for Artist of the Year. He has a long association with Perth Festival, currently creating Djoondal and in 2021 as co-writer and lead performer in Galup and artistic associate for WAYTCO’s Beside.
He has directed several plays including York by Ian Michael and Chris Isaacs in collaboration with Clare, Yirra Yaakin’s Boodjar Kaatijin, Hobo and Songbird for The Blue Room Theatre, and has helped devise and create many others. He has performed numerous roles including Yirra Yaakin’s Hecate which premiered in Perth Festival and Honey Spot by Jack Davis at the Sydney Opera House. Ian is also a regular performer in the long running WA show Bindjareb Pinjarra.
Performances in dance include Ochre’s Kwongan for Perth Festival and CO3’s The Line. Ian’s also teaches traditional and contemporary dance to the younger generation by combining his knowledge of culture, theatre and performance.
Moopa is a born leader, he leads with strength, confidence and kindness. He listens deeply and collaborates whole heartedly.
Rubeun Yorkshire
Rubeun Yorkshire is a visual artist, dancer, stage combat choreographer, and actor who is well known for his performance as Banquo in the award-winning production of Hecate – a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in the endangered Noongar language of southwestern Australia.
Yorkshire was a key collaborator on Boomerang and Spear’s Noongar Wonderland presented at the 2022 Perth Festival, co-choreographing a series of dances for a new collection of Noongar-language dance tracks by Maatakitj (Clint Bracknell) with ARIA award-winning Australian music icon Paul Mac.
After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 2010, Rubeun performed in schools touring shows Kep Kaatijin (2015), Boodjar Kaatijin (2016 – 2017), Djinda Kaatijin (2017) and Kaarla Kaatijin (2018) for Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company. Yorkshire also performed in West Australian Youth Theatre Company’s award-winning Fringe World show, Rest (2019).
From 2016 – 2018 Rubeun received triple-crown-award training from Andy Fraser, a fully certified Fight Director and Stage Combat Instructor holding accreditation from both the Society of Australian Fight Directors and the British Academy of Dramatic Combat. Rubeun then served as fight choreographer on the productions Hecate (2020) and Conversations with the Dead (2017).
Yorkshire has completed a range of public art for corporate, major festivals and education institutions including a large 40 metre mural at Port Hedland High School in collaboration with local Kariyarra/Pilbara artists. His public art ethos is to consult with local community and create work that is site specific.
Rubeun’s voice is also featured on the ground-breaking language reclamation film Fist of Fury Noongar Daa (2021) – the first feature to be dubbed in an original language from Australia.
Chloe Ogilvie
Chloe Ogilvie is a Yamatji Nanda woman from Western Australia, where she graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts Specializing in Lighting Design. Chloe works mostly as a designer but has crossed over into other areas such as Production Management and Producing. Chloe was a resident Artist with Black Swan for three years and during that time co-curated the inaugural Maali Festival alongside Ian Michael. Chloe Ogilvie is also a Co Artistic Director of The Farm Dance Company where she has designed and production managed a range of shows including Throttle, Cockfight (Drover Award Winner), Ninth Wave, Tide (Helpmann Award Winner) and Cowboy. Other highlights include Bigger and Blacker (Laboite Theatre, LD), Spinifex Gum (LD/ALD), Buŋgul (Perth Festival ALD), The Visitors (LD), Blue, Cursed!, and At What Cost (Belvoir, LD), Weredingo (Karul Projects, LD), and Tracker with ADT (LD).
More info
Djoondal is happening Fri 10, Sat 11 and Sun 12 Feb at Lake Joondalup.
FIND OUT MORE
Photos by Jess Wyld