In the last week of April, a team of theatre, music and digital media professionals gathered in Roebourne to commence working on the Yijala Yala Project major performance piece, Hipbone Sticking Out. The week included the visitors being guided through the community of Roebourne, learning about Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi culture and history and visiting significant places in the region, as well as workshops and collaborations between the talented group of artists. The scope of the week was for the look, sound and feel of the theatre work to begin to emerge, with the landscape, history and industry all providing inspiration and ideas. The team will come back together in June for further workshops with the community, focusing on performance and script.

First there was the Love Punks zombie film. Then there was the Love Punks online game. Now everyone in Roebourne wants to be a Love Punk! These 7-13 year olds weren’t content with just being film stars and creating their own game, so now they’ve opened up the gang and have branched out into junk percussion!

Through their involvement in weekly music workshops at the Roebourne District Highschool with Dudley, some of the students took a particular shining to percussion and began jamming after school. Together they came up with a backing track using iPad applications and started practicing on a huge junk percussion rig with Ben and Dudley. The new Junk Punks had to come up with their own punk identities and design their own costume and makeup with Chynna.

After heaps of rehearsals in our donga (now our jam room), two film shoots with everyone helping out in the blazing Pilbara sun, a week of recording extra bangs and shouts – we are all very proud to present the latest film from the Yijala Yala Project- THE JUNK PUNKS!

To read more about the Love Punks evolution click here.

Help us spread the Junk Punk love by clicking the ‘bookmark and share’ button above and keep your eyes peeled for more Love Punk Junk Punk action! Next thing in the pipeline is a mega 60 page interactive comic called NEOMAD…. stay tuned!

Here are a few short dance films we made last year.

RIVER GIRLS

Back in May 2011, the initial Love Sweet Love Punks vs Zombies film proved to be a great means to engage the kids and we were able to use the ripple affect of the Love Punk’s positivity to start working with the girls.  The idea of using the river came from a small piece that was developed with the older women for the ICAF festival in March 2011. This proved to be a great opportunity to gain insight into the girls’ own relationship and stories of the river. We learnt about secret cubby houses that the girls would visit when they were at the river, how they loved swimming, fishing, and how special fish were caught in ceremonial stories and shared time with their families at the river. We created character names for the girls and ‘River Girls’ was a great way to build rapport with the girls and give them something of their own.

As the girls emerge from the banks and surrounds of the river, they venture within the secure environment of what is their Wunduwa (river). It being a gathering place to wonder, play, fish, swim, laze in the sun and dance. When the wind and laughter subside they slowly trace the landscape and return to their place within Ieramugadu.

WHERE THE DESERT MEETS THE SEA

The next film made on the Yijala Yala Project was an attempt to encourage the girls and boys to work together. It shows more of the beautiful landscape around Roebourne.

Stay tuned for more short films coming soon!

We’re very excited and proud to announce that the LOVEPUNKS online game is now fully launched, live and ready to play! To play the game click here

Here’s a sneak peak behind the scenes, with a few young people from Roebourne explaining how they made the game. Welcome to Photoshop class with FutureSmash!

WE MADE THE LOVEPUNKS GAME from Yijala Yala Project on Vimeo.

LOVEPUNKS online game is live! Choose your character and start playing!

The Love Punks online game was created by a gang of 9,10 and 11 year old Love Punks from Roebourne in WA. For the last 8 months the Love Punks have been sweating it out, in 40 degree heat, on computers creating stop motion animations of themselves and friends in photoshop and flash.

Last night the Love Punks, together with their friends and family, launched the online game in a park in Roebourne. With sausages in hands and smiles on faces, everyone was delighted to see each of the 13 Love Punks guiding us through the Love Punks universe.

Where the ocean meets the desert is a wonderous place, a place of magic and mystery. A place where the Love Punks dream. We dare you enter this land.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME 

We had an awesome game launch in the park last night in Roebourne where the awesome talents of the kids were showcased and some of the ‘young at heart’ members of the community were able to see what their kids/grandkids have been up to. Thanks to Woodside and Wacom for making it all possible.

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of a Yindjibarndi elder and cultural statesman who recently passed away at the age of 105.

Our thoughts and love go out to the Cheedy family and all who knew and held him dear.

A wonderful life lived and a national treasure that the whole nation ought to be proud of.

Painting by Robert Hannaford

Love Punks with the Yijala Yala Team

2012 is already off with a flying start with new workshops being offered to the community and new comics, stories, songs, dances and films are being created.

Deb has been here for almost two years, Stu C and Chynna have been living and working Roebourne for more than a year, with Stu T, Mariaa and a few others coming up to run workshops. Now the big hART team is expanding with new artists joining the team.

All the way from Tasmania, Dudley and Cho now run music workshops in the prison, the high school and after school, Cho helps out with admin as well. Wah is helping Stu C with illustrations and digital media workshops, Ben is here to make films and Elspeth works with Deb on producing.

There are lots of exciting things coming up, so keep an eye out for:

• The Love Punks Online Game, which will be launched this month
• Better Than Michael Jackson, a dance tribute to MJ from the Eaton boys with Mariaa and Chynna
• Junk Punks, the Love Punks jam with a huge junk percussion structure

Check us all out filming the Junk Punks (above) with some Love Punks.

From October 2011, the Yijala Yala project has been doing animation and Photoshop workshops in the school, alongside the IT & Computing teacher. The kids are assisting Stuart Campbell to make an interactive online game – starring themselves and their school mates! Watch this space, as the game will be online soon!

In 2011, a core group of ten to fifteen young people, a FIFO miner from Perth and two young mothers from Roebourne, have come together under the mentorship of a professional filmmaker, choreographer and actor to make a short film exploring the energy of youth and how that energy can transform their communities. The process of making the ‘Love Sweet Love Punks’ film has included workshops in camera and sound set up, operation and technique; steady camera operation; sound composition; song writing; lighting; set design; choreography; costume design and makeup; acting; directing, photography; and behind the scenes documentary making . It’s an example of how fun, contemporary story-telling and digital media skill-building is effective in engaging and inspiring young people in the community.

Love Sweet Love Punks vs Zombies from Yijala Yala Project on Vimeo.