Bowie's 'political tune still resonates'

More than 30 years on, one of the young Indigenous stars who featured in David Bowie's hit, Let's Dance, says the political tune still resonates.

Bowie's 'political tune still resonates'Bowie's 'political tune still resonates'

Bowie's 'political tune still resonates'

The iconic film clip for David Bowie's smash hit, Let's Dance, put Australia on the world stage.

More than 30 years on, one of its young Indigenous stars says the political tune still resonates.

Rachael Hocking has more.

Those are the memorable lines from David Bowie's hit, Let's Dance.

The film clip for the iconic song is just as memorable -- shot in Australia, showcasing its vast outback, and small town pubs.

And, giving a voice to Indigenous Australians.

David Bowie chose two students from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dance Company to play the clip's starring roles.

At just 22-years-old, Joelene King was one of them.

She says, at the time, she didn't realise the significance of the film clip or her role in it.

I really didnt think that the video would make such a noise in the world and in music.... I'm just so humbled and very very grateful. It's something I will take for the rest of my days.

One of the most confronting scenes in the music clip shows Joelene scrubbing a busy road in Sydney, while traffic passes her by.

Fellow dancer, Terry Roberts, pulls a large piece of machinery down the middle of the same road, with a rope.

In a 1983 interview with Australian music show, Countdown, David Bowie explained his inclusion of Ms King and Mr Roberts, was a political statement.

My idea was to present an Indigenous people in a capitalist, white, mainly white society and the problems of the inter-relationships between the two.

Ms King says his message was effective because of the way he delivered it.

He used his music to get a message across, you know? And to let the world know something that he felt very strongly about, and without throwing it in people's faces. He did it through the best way that he could: through the music, and through the video.

She says it was a shock to hear the musical legend behind that message died at the weekend.

I was driving home, the other day, and I heard the "Let's Dance" tune come on and the guy on the radio said "I've got some really bad news," They played that song, and I'm thinking "Oh, okay," and then after the song, "We've just got news, ten minutes ago that David Bowie's passed. I was driving the car and I just sort of felt a loss, and I'm thinking, "oh."

For the woman who danced the blues, David Bowie left a memento.

More than 30 years on, Joelene King has kept the original suede dress she danced in for the music clip.

She says the red shoes have been lost somewhere along the way.

But her memories of the Starman have stayed.

Once we did our last scene, and the guy said "cut," and that was it. And I looked at him, and he looked at me, and we just grabbed each other. Yeah.

 






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