Ep. 46: Merendiando with Ghenoa Gela
March 3, 2021
“Life is way too short to be learning everything by yourself.” – Ghenoa Gela
Our guest this week is Ghenoa Gela, a strong Torres Strait Islander woman from Rockhampton, Central Queensland. She’s a Sydney based independent performing artist working across dance, circus, television and stage. Ghenoa is a recipient of the Keir Choreographic Award and winner of the Deadly Funny Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award 2017. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook!
In this interview we talk about traditional dance as an artform and a lifestyle, what makes Ghenoa laugh, the connection between performer and spectator, and “leveling up”.
Show Notes:
- Fragments of Malungoka – Women of the Sea, choreographed by Ghenoa Gela and winner of the 2016 Keir Choreographic Award
- Mura Buai (Everyone, Everyone), choreographed by Ghenoa and co-directed with the Artistic Director of Force Majeure Danielle Micich. Presented in Toronto as part of the 2019 CAMINOS Festival.
- Move-It Mob Style, a dance-based fitness program for television and online broadcast that showcases Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander hip hop and popular music. Ghenoa was a dancer and host!
- Carole Johnson, founder of the the first Nationally recognized Indigenous Dance School in Australia.
- Ghenoa is the winner of the 2017 Deadly Funny Championships at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, a national comedy competition open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
- Ghenoa was the first female to win a state title of an Air Guitar Championship in Australia!
- One Piece is Ghenoa’s favourite anime at the moment.
- My Urrwai, Ghenoa’s celebrated one woman show.
- Ghenoa’s merienda is anime, mango and watermelon – an amazing combination!
All Merendiando episodes are in Spanglish, English, or Spanish. New episodes of Radio Aluna Theatre are released on Wednesdays. Follow and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and wherever else you get your podcasts.
Radio Aluna Teatro is produced by Aluna Theatre with support from the Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and the Metcalf Foundation.
Aluna Theatre is Beatriz Pizano & Trevor Schwellnus, with Sue Balint; Radio Aluna Theatre is produced by Monica Garrido and Camila Diaz-Varela.
For more about Aluna Theatre, visit us at alunatheatre.ca, follow @alunatheatre on twitter or instagram, or ‘like’ us on facebook.