Darwin Festival is returning this year, running from Thursday 6 to Sunday 16 August. The show has been reimagined for its 2020 edition to show off the best of the Northern Territory with live and online events across its eleven-day run.
The festival kicks off with an opening night concert, which includes a performance by Darwin’s NT Dance Company, featuring its professional contemporary dancers with Aboriginal, Filipino, Torres Straits Islander, African and Anglo heritage. The NT Dance Company performance is headed by the Company’s founder, Gary Lang, Indigenous Larrakia man, choreographer, dancer and artistic director.
The dance program includes North of Centre, a three-part performance that celebrates the diversity of the Northern Territory and the cultural artistry of South East Asia, in collaboration with Darwin’s Tracks Dance Company, Central Austrtalia;s GUTS Dance company and the founder of Darwin’s Balinese dance group, Tuna Mekar Cultural Collective, Putu Wati, with Jocelyn Tribe. The performance’s three works are performed as a solo, duet and trio in which dancers explore their connection to the Northern Territory and their understanding of its people.
Also in the dance program is GIF of Dance, a daily, global simultaneous project from choreographer, Matt Cornell with dancer, Kelly Beneforti and local guests.