Raymond D Blanco
Sunday, 06 June 2010 21:41
Raymond is of Pajinka / Wik (Cape York) Aboriginal heritage mixed with Magarem of Mer Island (TSI) on his paternal side and Erub Island (TSI) and Malay on his maternal side.
An acknowledged leader in the development of Indigenous dance and the performing arts of high repute both in Australia and internationally, Raymond has received the inaugural Robert Tudawalli Award for Best Actor on Screen, the National Indigenous Artist of the Year Award in 1998 an Ausdance Award for his Contribution to Australian Dance and more recently has been inducted into the Innisfail Conservatorium Hall of Fame.
A 1984 graduate of the NAISDA College in Sydney, Raymond has, over the past twenty-five plus years worked in a wide range of theatre and dance including theatre-in-education, opera, contemporary dance, film and television. A strong motivation in nurturing Indigenous Youth through the arts has also seen Raymond work, live and produce work in and from Indigenous communities throughout Australia.
As well as his dancing career, Raymond has forged a notable career in acting starring in the award winning ABC TV series, Dancing Daze and soon after appearing as the solo Aboriginal character, Jacky in Opera Australias world premiere season of Richard Meales Voss, directed by Jim Sharman; along with leading roles in State of Shock by Tony Strachan for Toe Truck Theatre; Munjong for the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust; Whispers in the Heart for Sidetrack Theatre as well as the highly successful ABC TV childrens series Goldfish Bowl and playing Patrick White in The Burning Piano, a docu-movie based on the life of Nobel winning novelist, Patrick White.
Direction was a natural progression for Raymond and in 1989, he was appointed the Artistic Director of Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre, Australia's first indigenous dance company which he forged into an elite ensemble of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island dancers and toured them around the world. For AIDT he choreographed major works throughout his ten year tenure and toured them nationally enjoying moderate local success whilst internationally the company was celebrated with extended seasons in South America, Asia & Europe.
In 2000, Raymond was commissioned by the Sydney Festival to collaborate with the French street theatre company, Plasticien Volants. The work, Ngalyod, premiered at the Brighton Festival in the UK and toured throughout Europe in 2000. The production had its Australian premiere in the 2001 Melbourne Festival and a Sydney season at the 2002 Sydney Festival.
At the 2001 Perth Festival, Raymond choreographed the Marrugeku Companys' production Crying Baby and toured with it to Europe in July/August that year, taking in Holland, Belgium and Ireland.
Since moving back, Raymond has worked with Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park as the Performance Manager/Creative Director and with Active Health clubs as a Supervising Manager. The move into physical health and fitness was a natural progression from dance. More recently Raymond worked with Arts Nexus on the closing months of the NQ Regional Arts Program as the Cultural Development Officer, a contracted position that brought him into close contact with current NQ & FNQ communities affording a strong vantage of the arts in regional Queensland.
Raymond is currently enjoying the next stage of his journey by continuing his fascination with the physical form in Fitness and Health by setting up programs mentoring Indigenous communities through the arts toward health and fitness with the PCYC Cape Mentor Program. Raymond is also conducting research into a Dance Strategy for Cairns and the FNQ and hoping to stimulate further interest in the Performing Arts as a serious career choice for FNQ youth.
Performing at: 2Whyte
- Fri 16th & Sat 17th July
- Preview Thurs 15th July
- COCA Theatre, 96 Abbott St, Cairns
- Doors 6.00pm, Show 7.00pm
- Tickets: $20 / 15, preview: $15/10
- Ticketlink: 1300 855 835 -
- www.ticketlink.com.au