Students across the Mandurah and Rockingham areas put on their dancing shoes on Friday afternoon to learn some of Bangarra theatre dance’s best dance moves at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre (MPAC).
The dance group, who are currently on tour across Western Australia and South Australia with their new work Terrain, deliver contemporary dancing workshops to local high schools and local indigenous community groups in each location.
Through their education program, they aim to encourage young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to preserve their cultures, and create the next generation of performers and storytellers.
During the workshop, students learned dancing routines and exercises and spoke about finding one’s own identity through reconnecting with one’s culture and background.
Bangarra dancers Waangenga Blanco, Jasmin Shappad, Deborah Brown and Tyrel Dulluari encouraged students to talk to their elders, learn their communities’ stories and take ownership of their identity.
“I love making the connections with young people around Australia particularly indigenous young people, to open up their awareness so that they can be great story tellers in the future,” Ms Brown said.
Bangarra dance theatre group is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation which aims to change society through inspiring performing experiences.
The group takes pride in their close links with local indigenous communities, where they get inspiration for their repertoire from traditional stories gathered from community elders.
They performed in Mandurah on Saturday evening, before setting off to Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Marree, Whyalla, Port Pirie, Mt Gambia and Renmark.
Their new work Terrain was inspired by Lake Eyre in South Australia, and explores the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and country, and how landscape becomes a second skin.