Australia’s fifth annual First Nations dance competition, Dance Rites, will see more than 300 performers from all over Australia converge on the Sydney Opera House forecourt for a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance, language and culture. Taking place November 23 and 24, the event is free to all to attend.
The First Nations groups will each perform three dances, a welcome, a farewell and a “wildcard” dance. An judging panel will assess the participating groups on the technical aspects of their performance and their engagement with language, skin-markings and traditional instruments.
The winning group will receive $20,000, one runner-up will receive $5,000, and $3,000 will go to the highest-scoring “wildcard” dance. The Rite of Passage Award acknowledges a dance troupe’s outstanding contribution to revitalising cultural knowledge and practices.
The program includes a professional program, staggered through the Dance Rites heats and finals. That program includes performance by
• The Narli Ensemble, curated by Tura MusicRhyan Clapman aka DOBBY, a drapper (rapper and drummer) of Ngemba, Muruwari and Filipino heritage
• OKA, an international collective lead by Stu Boga Fergie (aka DidgeriSTU)
• Indigenous Enterprise - a professional Native American group made up of champion dancers from tribes and nations across Canada and the United States and
• Returning Dance Rites 2018 winners Nunukul Yuggera from the Nunukul, Yuggera and Yugumbir nations in Queensland.