Ausdance WA's Indigenous dance collaboration

Ausdance WA has announced its support for Indigenous dance, with workshops provided to the Bibulmun Gurlonga Dance Group.

To support and expand Indigenous dance scopes, Ausdance WA will be presenting workshops of hip-hop dance for the Bibulmun Gurlonga Dance Group. The group will be provided with weekly sessions so that its young dancers can learn an energetic dance piece.

Bibulmun Gurlonga Dance Group is run by dance instructor Abigail Ware. The group is part of a program that operates under secular community organisation, Relationships Australia - named the Moorditj Yarning program. The dance group, which meets weekly, is one of the aspects of the Moorditj Yarning program that seeks to encourage Indigenous culture awareness and support.

Ausdance WA is part of the national network of Ausdance, a multi-faceted organisation that delivers various programs and promotes all forms of dance in each state of Australia. The director of Western Australia’s Ausdance organisation, Michelle Saunders, said of the collaboration; “Ausdance WA is pleased to be supporting the dance group along with Relationships Australia who project manage the workshops for the dancers.”

The hip-hop dance workshops will begin in February, teaching a tailored hip-hop piece to around 20 young lovers of the dance. The end result will be tracked to The Be Active Australian Dance Week, a national wide celebration of dance from the 28th of April to May 6th, 2012.

Australian Dance Week, presented by Ausdance, has run since 1982 and first began in Sydney, facilitated by Ausdance NSW, eventually merging with celebrations on April 29 for the birthday of Jean Georges Noverre, a Parisian dance master. Jean Georges Noverre’s birthday is now known as the International Dance Day, which Australian Dance Week begins from.

Bibulmun Gurlonga Dance Group will perform on the final day of the week of dance festivities at Rigby’s Bar & Bistro, as part of The City of Perth’s ‘Dance Live’, which encompasses several performances by many dancers of all levels and genres in one event.

"The Be Active Australian Dance Week comes to a finale with the City of Perth
Dance Live event in May," said Ms Saunders.

"The public will then have the opportunity to see the Bibulmun Gurlonga Dance Group hip-hop dancers perform, along with other performances by schools, dance companies and independent dancers from the community.”