Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming Indigenous Australian artist Jacob Boehme to Findhorn as part of our planning for RISE 2026, with a focus on First Nations artists and performance.
Jacob is a Melbourne born and raised artist of the Narangga and Kaurna Nations, South Australia. A multi-disciplinary theatre maker and choreographer, creating work for the stage, screen and festivals, Jacob has led the artistic direction of countless large scale public events in Australia.
For RISE 2026, Jacob is looking at presenting a new adaptation of his work Guuranda, which explores Narungaa creation stories and would be delivered in collaboration with local participants.
On Thursday Jacob was our guest at a small gathering of potential collaborators in the Sunshine Room, where we learned more about Jacob’s ancestry and work, with a reciprocal sharing from others in the room.
Earlier in the week Jacob was joined by Karl on a visit to the Edinburgh Fringe and a pitstop in the fishing village of Pittenweem to explore the residence of his great great great grandfather Sir Walter Watson Hughes, an opium trader and founder of the University of Adelaide.
Jacob also visited the Highland Archive Centre in Inverness, accompanied by Liz, and found time to record an episode of Dance North Conversations…, which will be coming to our Spotify channel very soon.
We are incredibly grateful to Jacob for joining us and being such a warm, funny and kind-hearted guest, and would like to extend our thanks to Creative Scotland, British Council Australia, Creative Australia and our partners at BlakDance for their support in making the visit happen.
As part of our planning for RISE 2026, later this week we’ll also be joined by Gary Lang, Artistic Director of the Indigenous owned Gary Lang Northern Territory Dance Company, who creates sensual and evocative works presenting what has been described as ‘Aboriginal Ballet’. Gary will be accompanied by Shannon King of Blakdance.
