The words 'considerable sexual license' promote an idea of a liberal sense of sexual ambiguity – in today’s world, that sort of idea is still in many senses an uncomfortable subject, or even act, to broach.
From Joel Bray, a performer/artist/dancer and Wiradjuri man, comes 'Considerable Sexual License', a choreographed dance-theatre hybrid at this year’s Brisbane Festival that looks to let loose on those primal proclivities.
“Historically, for a lot of ancient First Nations people, sex, sensuality and touch, it wasn’t something you hid. People would share campfires and have sex around the campfire,” Joel begins on his take of what sex and sensuality means. “The Anglo-Saxon distaste for sex, it was something private and hidden – only since the 1970s are we starting to dismantle that.”
When factoring Joel’s descriptor of sex and sensuality, it’s interesting to hear what 'Considerable Sexual License' will put on display at Brisbane Festival, and how it will break open historical sexual taboos, particularly those in Australia.
“The starting point for me when I was making this [show] was an intriguing line written about a Wiradjuri ceremony that happened around the 1890s. It was this brief, one line written in a very Victorian, starched disdain – ‘considerable sexual license is allowed’. And that’s all we know. But it sparked my imagination.
“It made me think, when the colonisers came, everything got changed. Not just language lost and loss of lifestyle and ceremonial life, but the ancient sexualities and ways of interacting with each other sexually was also lost.”
All of Joel’s works explore an intersection of Aboriginality and queer sexuality, he says. “'Considerable Sexual License' is an imagining of what sex and sexuality might look like here in Australia if we hadn’t been colonised by starched Victorian missionaries.
“From a personal lens, that intersection feels the most natural place for me. As the specific community of other queer Blackfellas that I live in, a lot of my work is about letting the light in and letting other, broader audiences see that community, that we exist.
“As Blackfellas, we’re not all footballers and boxers and inmates, we can also be femme, drag queens, and queer and intellectual and all these other facets of humanity.”
Delivering these ideas will be a combination of Indigenous, non-Indigenous, cisgender, and queer performers. “I like to work with people from a mix of cultural backgrounds, but the cast is very queer.”
“My work is not traditional dance – I work with a lot of theatre, and I work with spoken word and a lot of audience participation. It’s not a normal piece of theatre, it’s something that happens around you and through you.
“I really invest very heavily in the work into making sure that participation is consensual, and the audience feels invited.”
Ultimately, this show is trying to break down some significant stigmas and taboos, Joel says. “I’m a dancer and choreographer by background and passion,” he explains, “and all my work starts with my body. That prudishness, it’s not just about sex and sensuality, it’s also about our bodies. Our heritage makes us uncomfortable about our bodies, about being seen, about being naked, being in contact with other bodies.
“'Considerable Sexual License' is a celebration of the body – it’s not about just coming in and watching, it’s about bringing your body in, dancing with us, celebrating.”
'Considerable Sexual License' plays Brisbane Powerhouse as part of Brisbane Festival from 15-17 September.
