Monday, 19 September  2005
Presenter: Kate Sieper

How's your Pitjantjatjara? Been working on it lately?

A mob of theatregoers in Melbourne are going to be put through their paces before one of the hottest shows at this year's Melbourne International Arts Festival.

A work in progress, the performances are nonetheless sold out, and incorporates a lesson in "language."

It's called Ngapartji Ngapartji, which is a desert concept of reciprocal relationship; you give me something, I'll give you something.

Principal performer Trevor Jamieson explains that is central to the whole project.

"We find connection, common ground. People get to understand from us a certain type of structure that we have, in that we talk about certain issues within the language, for example body parts and connection with the land, the kinship between each other and I guess a few some of the stories that give audience a kind of warmth and including where they come from and the way they see most indigenous cultures."

Next year it will be even bigger according to organiser Alex Kelly.

"This year audiences will be taught live at the performance for about forty minutes before the show, but next year audiences will buy a ticket six months before the show and undertake a six month online Pitjantjatjara language course, which is taught to them by young Pitjantjatjara speakers from the Central Desert. So we've been working with about ten young Pitjantjatjara people who are living in Alice Springs and they've been producing language videos which are going up on the website in the next few days."

Listen online: http://www.abc.net.au/central/stories/s1463080.htm