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Day 7: When Puppets Dance with Orchestras
Federation Square, Melbourne. Where concrete meets sky, where First Nations conductor Aaron Wyatt prepares to weave together hundreds of voices across cities for "Tomorrow's Sun" - a song born from Black Summer's ashes, reaching toward climate action. The cameras are already rolling, capturing every moment of this music-led community climate project that will speak to world leaders at the UN Climate Summit.
Six days of performance have brought us here. Six days of building trust, sharing joy, learning to move as one. The AIME troupe arrives carrying more than just puppets in bags - we carry the wisdom of Uncle Bruce's farm, the wonder of school children's eyes, the rhythm of tank-moving and weed-pulling. Each experience, each lesson, each moment of connection has been preparation for this confluence of art and activism.
Morning light catches the steel and glass of Federation Square as we begin to move. Wanni leads us through fire-dance rehearsal, our bodies remembering flames that once threatened to devour a continent. Every movement speaks of destruction and rebirth, of climate crisis and human resolve. Each gesture carries the weight of what was lost and the hope of what might still be saved.
The puppets wait in their bags, patient as ancient stories. We hold them back deliberately - in a world of instant gratification, some magic needs perfect timing. These aren't just performances tools; they're carriers of imagination, ready to help a crowd believe in possibility again.
When William Barton's didgeridoo calls across the digital divide from Sydney, its vibrations seem to shake loose something ancient in the Square's modern angles. We stand still, patient as hunters, while his music - recognised as some of Australia's most powerful didgeridoo composition - builds bridges between traditions, between cities, between ways of knowing.
The orchestra swells, the choir lifts, and we wait. Then - eruption. Our arms become flames, but these flames don't destroy; they illuminate. We dance between individual expression and collective power, each movement a letter in a message about hope and transformation. Through the cameras, our energy will travel beyond this moment, beyond this square, to the UN Climate Summit where decisions about Earth's future hang in the balance.
The crowd grows with us, their energy feeding ours. Children point, adults lean forward, phones lift to capture something they sense is more than just performance. We're not just dancing; we're writing new possibilities in air, showing how art can carry truth when facts alone feel insufficient.
Then comes the moment that's been building since Day 1 - twenty Professors of IMAGI-NATION {University} emerge like dreams taking form. They move in ever-decreasing circles, each puppet a guardian of different wisdom: Death teaching us about renewal, Art showing us new ways to see, Water reminding us what we must protect, Tools demonstrating how to build better futures, Imagination leading us beyond what seems possible.
They are no longer just puppets; they are imagination made visible, hope with strings attached. Each Professor carries a different aspect of the wisdom we've gathered along this tour - from Uncle Bruce's smoke ceremony to the mirror maze's reflections, from school children's wonder to Uncle Noel's tank-moving lessons.
As the Professors create their final circle, something shifts in Federation Square. The boundary between performance and reality blurs. These aren't just puppets entertaining a crowd - they are mirrors reflecting what we could be, what we must become to face the climate crisis. They are Indigenous wisdom meeting orchestral power, ancient knowledge dancing with new urgency, showing how unlikely connections might just save us all.
The music peaks, and in this moment, everything we've been building becomes clear. The seven principles that guide us - Death, Art, Improv, Unlikely Connections, Non-Human Knowledge, Water Shareholders, and Tools - aren't just organisational framework; they're a map for transformation. Each puppet movement writes this wisdom in space, each dance step grounds it in reality.
The puppets bow, but this isn't an ending. Like the carnival of clowns we were christened to be at Black Duck Farm, we've brought serious joy to serious work. Because sometimes the best way to face tomorrow's challenges is with today's imagination. Sometimes the most profound messages need to arrive wearing wonder's clothes.
As the last notes fade and the puppets return to their bags, we know something has shifted. In combining Indigenous wisdom, orchestral power, puppet play, and climate action, we've demonstrated what IMAGI-NATION is really about - finding new ways to carry ancient wisdom into tomorrow's challenges.
Your AIME Correspondent,
Watching puppets conduct climate change while Earth herself keeps time
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Vitae congue eu consequat ac felis placerat vestibulum lectus mauris ultrices cursus sit amet dictum sit amet justo donec enim diam porttitor lacus luctus accumsan tortor posuere praesent tristique magna sit amet purus gravida quis blandit turpis.
At risus viverra adipiscing at in tellus integer feugiat nisl pretium fusce id velit ut tortor sagittis orci a scelerisque purus semper eget at lectus urna duis convallis porta nibh venenatis cras sed felis eget neque laoreet suspendisse interdum consectetur libero id faucibus nisl donec pretium vulputate sapien nec sagittis aliquam nunc lobortis mattis aliquam faucibus purus in.
Nisi quis eleifend quam adipiscing vitae aliquet bibendum enim facilisis gravida neque velit euismod in pellentesque massa placerat volutpat lacus laoreet non curabitur gravida odio aenean sed adipiscing diam donec adipiscing tristique risu amet est placerat in egestas erat imperdiet sed euismod nisi.
“Nisi quis eleifend quam adipiscing vitae aliquet bibendum enim facilisis gravida neque velit euismod in pellentesque massa placerat volutpat lacus.”
Eget lorem dolor sed viverra ipsum nunc aliquet bibendum felis donec et odio pellentesque diam volutpat commodo sed egestas aliquam sem fringilla ut morbi tincidunt augue interdum velit euismod eu tincidunt tortor aliquam nulla facilisi aenean sed adipiscing diam donec adipiscing ut lectus arcu bibendum at varius vel pharetra nibh venenatis cras sed felis eget.
