Women from diverse cultural backgrounds will come together to explore the meaning of home in a heartfelt free outdoor dance performance in Balga.

Choreographer Sonya Stephen leads this weekend’s STRUT Dance performance of Mudh, which means home in the Mabuyaagi dialect of the Kala Lagaw Ya language spoken in part of the Torres Strait Islands.

“Home is something every person understands, regardless of where they come from. Yet it can mean something different for every individual,” Stephen said.

“For me, Mudh is where my heart resides. It is a place of belonging, safety and connection.

“Through this project I realised that home is not always a physical place. It lives within us.”

Performers include First Nations, migrant and local women who explore nurturing, belonging and connection through movement.

The family-friendly performance is set under the parkland’s trees and dancers will move within, across and in front of the beginner BMX track.

Co-director James O’Hara said Mudh grew from the company’s Locale initiative, in which 20 artists worked with award-winning choreographer and producer Annette Carmichael before three, including Stephen, were supported to develop a pilot project.

“Sonya began developing the project through a series of workshops across the City of Stirling, inviting women to connect through creativity, explore movement and consider what home means to them,” O’Hara said.

“Sonya also led sessions hosted at Edmund Rice Centre WA, MercyCare and ISHAR Multicultural Women’s Health Service.”

The 18-month process culminated in a showing at Nollamara Community Centre and Stephen’s work gained further support for her to develop it into Mudh, where the performers gather several times a week over the past month.

“The result is a project that brings together artistic practice and community connection, with the potential to create a lasting impact beyond the performance itself,” he said.

“It is the next stage of a process that has already brought people together, and an opportunity to invite a much wider community into that experience.”

Stephen said as a Torres Strait Islander woman, she was reflecting on her connection to family and heritage while listening to women who had very difference experiences such as having migrated or been displaced.

“Yet despite those differences, we kept returning to the same theme: everyone is searching for a place where they can be fully themselves and know they belong,” she said.

“That is why home became the heart of this work. It gave us a way to honour both our unique stories and the things that connect us all.”

She has found the creation process “constantly rewarding”, as well as emotional and healing.

“I have watched women support one another, listen deeply and build genuine friendships across cultures,” Stephen said.

“What emerged is a strong sense of sisterhood.”

Mudh promises a relaxed, family-friendly evening, with pre-show activities, free sausage sizzle and food trucks from 5pm before the show starts at 6.30pm.

O’Hara believed the setting reflected the spirit of the project in welcoming people from different backgrounds and connecting them through a shared experience.

“We hope that all this opens the door for people who might not ordinarily attend contemporary dance,” he said.

“You don’t need to know anything about dance, or feel comfortable in a traditional theatre, to come along.

“The invitation is simply to gather, share some food, enjoy the spring evening outside, watch, listen and experience the work in your own way.”

Stephen wants audiences to leave feeling “hopeful, connected and proud of who they are”.

She said people underrepresented in society were rarely able to tell their stories in their own way but Mudh gave them a space where their voices mattered.

“My hope is that audiences will see their strength, recognise aspects of their own experiences, and leave with a deeper understanding of the power of compassion, acceptance and community,” she said.

The event is on November 13 and 14, with activities from 5pm and the

performance at 6.30pm, at Bina Parkland’s beginner BMX track in Balga.

More information at strutdance.org.au.