The eyes said it all. They sparkled with curiosity, amazement, wonder and delight. In a world of wonderment, created by Compagnia TPO and Come Out in co-production with Italy’s Teatro Metastasio Stabile della Toscana, the target audience of 4–8 year olds were gently lured into the heartland of Aboriginal culture and spirituality.

Children’s Cheering Carpet–Saltbush took its audience, both young and old, on an amazing journey that opened the hearts and souls of its audience to a world too often ignored, sadly taken for granted and denied its vast contribution to Australia’s land and its people.

But Saltbush did not inhabit the world of moral grandstanding. Instead it taught the lessons of humanity, understanding, love for the land and its animals and compassion for all. Saltbush bewitched with mesmerising digital and visual artistry from Compagnia TPO and Indigenous artist Delwyn Mannix; the exquisite dance of aboriginal contemporary dancer, Deon Hastie and Italian, classically trained Anna Balducci, and the softly spoken charm of Yorta Yorta/Dja Dja Wurrung narrator/singer and musician, Lou Bennet. Directed by TPO’s Davide Venturini and Come Out artistic director Jason Cross, the entire magical experience that is Saltbush was both a triumphant affirmation of collaboration and a gentle, often moving introduction to the fundamental truths of the human spirit through the culture, lore and beliefs of the Indigenous people of our land.

The journey began in the gallery of Tandanya National Aboriginal Culture Institute, where eager, wide-eyed Year 1 and 2 children knelt around the edge of a large map of Australia, coloured in reds, browns, orange and yellow to show the many countries of the aboriginal peoples of the land. It was a sobering revelation for an adult of the vast occupation of this land by its Indigenous people for forty thousand years prior to the arrival of white settlers. But Saltbush was no time for political musing. Narrator Lou Bennet had a far more spiritual and awareness–raising role to fulfil, concerning the relationship between all people and the land they live in. It was a gentle message, not lost on the young, enchanted audience, whom she led into the theatre to the rhythmic beat of her traditional rhythm sticks.

As the soulful tone of the didgeridoo sounded its echoes of the mystery of time, the children, seated at first on scaffold on either side of the Cheering Carpet, watched as the lithe and graceful figures of Hastie and Balducci conjured the colours of the carpet to life. Their dance evocatively fused the traditions of their separate cultures into a unified state of awareness. It magically brought images of the landscape, its features and its animals to life in a kaleidoscope of changing patterns, emerging creatures and vivid colours that trekked across the continent from the hot, harsh, sunbaked lands of the arid centre to the fertile plains and valleys to the rushing rivers and the cold, hard, perilous city streets. Throughout the journey, Bennett sang with purest pitch and beguiling melody the songs of the land and its people. ‘If we look after the river, it looks after us’ she told the children as digital imagery brought the rushing river to life. It was an environmental lesson that is not lost on the young audience.

As the landscape changed, a beautiful butterfly fluttered across the landscape and Mannix’s pointillist art transformed into a turtle before the audience’s eyes. The dancers, transformed too by the changing images, invited the children to join them. Giggling delightedly, they chased the moving patterns of the sun, dodged the speeding traffic on city streets to the pulsating percussion of Spartaco Cortesi’s sound design, and nestled securely beneath the splendour of a starry sky. Digital designer, Elsa Mersi and technical designer, Rossano Monti collided with conventional expectations of art by fusing technology with the wonder of Mannix’s art and the live performances. This creative collaboration lifted the perception of life and experience to new levels of appreciation. Seated once again about the edge of the Cheering Carpet, the young children placed their hands along the edge, and lifted them to reveal a sea of silhouetted hands, joined together in a communal celebration of the land, its people and its spirit.

‘Wow!’ gasped a young voice. Saltbush had woven its spell in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration that will forever be the Children’s Cheering Carpet’s gift to a future generation.

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