Luke Currie-Richardson is a storyteller working across dance, photography, poetry and activism. A proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait man, Currie-Richardson’s love of dance and storytelling began in childhood, dancing with the Gerib Sik Torres Strait Islander Dance Group in Canberra. After studying at NAISDA Dance College and QUT, he joined Bangarra Dance Theatre in 2012 where he had the opportunity to travel the world and remote communities showcasing Mob. He is now a member of Muggera, a traditional Aboriginal dance group based in Sydney.
Currie-Richardon’s movement is strong and powerful, portraying an intensity akin to his passion for representing Mob. This passion led him to pick up a camera and begin photographing protests, capturing a myriad of Indigenous experiences and portraying Blakness in all its magnitudes. Representation and identity are strong themes in his photographs – he states boldly that there is not one kind of Blak nor one definition of indigeneity. In 2020 Currie-Richardson made his directorial debut alongside Benjamin Ling, directing the music video for ‘I Can’t Breathe’ by DOBBY ft.BARKAA, a project in response to the murder of George Floyd and the parallels felt amongst Indigenous communities in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In this Colour Box Studio interview, Currie-Richardson discusses using art as a journal, his first leap into choreography with the Stephanie Lake Escalator Program, and the importance of keeping his work accessible to his community on social media.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
My name is Luke Currie-Richardson. I’m a proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander man whose bloodlines run through many lands on this continent. My Aboriginal heritage consists Kuku Yalanji, Djabugay, Mununjali and Butchella mob and my Torres Strait Island side hails from the Samsep Meriam Clan of Mer.
How did you start your creative practice and why?
My performing career began in the family backyard in Canberra learning Traditional Torres Strait Island dances with my cousins. It was an after school and school holidays type vibe with the goal of keeping us connected while so far away from the mother lands. It wasn’t till I was 19 that I took my first contemporary dance lesson at Quantum Leap (know known as QL2)
Photo credit: Vishal Pandey
Where did you grow up and how has it influenced your practice?
I moved around a lot during my childhood and continue to do so in my adulthood.
I was born in Cairns, primary schooling in Brisbane, High Schooling in Canberra then I moved up to Gosford and back to Brisbane to study dance, before ending up in Sydney for a decade. All that moving around has allowed me to adapt my expression and be exposed to many different landscapes and artists as well. I talk a lot about my identity as a Blak man in contemporary Australia and my sense of belonging and question my identity within society is always at the forefront.
Tell us about your past creative projects. What has been a highlight so far?
I’ve been spoilt for choice in terms of my dancing/performing career. My number 1 highlight would be dancing my traditional dances which I learnt in Canberra on my grandmothers traditional island of Mer (Murray Island in the Torres Strait). In saying that, getting to walk and dance in the first ever ALL Indigenous fashion show at Australian Fashion Week was an unbelievable moment as well as performing on the same stage as one of my favourite companies, Alvin Ailey, who I saw perform just 2 years earlier in the same theatre in New York City.
Tell us about your current project?
As of the 16th of August, I’m about to premier my first choreographic piece to the public in Stephanie Lake’s Escalator program. It’s an exciting chapter in my theatre career and a new undiscovered pathway for me on this journey. I’m also working on an exciting piece directed by Jacob Boheme for Adelaide Fest 2024…
Who or what inspires your practice?
As cliche as this might be, it’s my culture and bloodlines. I obviously come from a culture very rich in history that I continue to be inspired by each day. It’s the reclamation of cultural knowledge and existing in modern day Australia that fuels majority of my practice.
What gets you through creative challenges or tough industry times?
My support base! My parents have been a huge support, so has my fiancé. These people have allowed me to dream and navigate a tumultuous industry. Something that sits with me is when I walked away from my full time dance job, I said to my father that I’ll go get a real job now to which he replied “don’t do it, your spirit will die” . For my father who doesn’t really understand the artsy fartsy world, this meant a lot. My mother has always allowed me to dream the most outlandish dreams and realise that they’re all possible. Early memories around the dinner table doing homework with her telling me I can be the 1st Blak Prime Minister if I wanted to be, nothing was out of reach for me if I wanted it and put my mind to it.
Where do you feel most creative and why?
For me it’s the gym. It’s the only moment I get to full invest in myself from a day to day perspective. I have written most of my poems in the gym and a lot of my concepts are dreamt up at the gym.
What do you hope audiences take from your work?
I don’t worry too much what the audience takes away from my work and more focus on what I can express for myself and take from the creation journey. I learnt early navigating white institutions as a Blak man that white artists and audience/theatre goers most likely won’t resonate with what I put out there. I use my art as a “journal” a way to express my thoughts and frustrations.
What future projects are you looking forward to?
I look forward to creating my own theatre work. I’m currently looking for a producer that’ll help me with my many endeavours. I’ve already had a few festivals who saw my solo work reach out and want to support my vision, I just need a team behind me to help me grow and focus on the creating while they do the dirty work haha.
Whose work are you digging at the moment?
One of the most underrated, under appreciated artists in my eyes is rapper Rhyan Dobby Clapham. A rapper, jazz drummer, producer, composer, writer and open minded, inquisitive creative genius and all round good guy.
Where can we find and follow you online?
I don’t have a website like all the legit artists haha but I do have an Instagram @balaluke. If you’re into photography I use @bl_snaps as well but not as often. I kept my work social media based because I wanted to be accessible to my community who might not have access to art galleries and theatres. My writing and poetry might not be in books (yet) but someone in a remote community on the other side of Australia can get it the same time as someone in the bigger cities.