File size must be less than 2Mb
You must have online publishing permission or full ownership of this image
File types (jpg, png, gif)
14 July 2021
The entire July 14, 2021 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!
Contemporary indigenous dancing opportunities for First Nations children are proving to be a hit in the Wimmera, with participation numbers growing in a Dimboola program.
Melbourne contemporary dance company Chunky Move hosted a second workshop series at Dimboola VRI Hall last week as part of annual NAIDOC week celebrations.
Article continues below
A $10,000 grant from Vic-Health enabled Dimboola’s First Languages and Arts Training Indigenous Corporation to partner with the dance company to run the program, with support from Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative.
Chunky Move First Peoples partnership co-ordinator Ngioka Bunda-Heath said participation had increased since the program launched in the Wimmera earlier this year.
“We had 20 or 30 in the first school holidays and now we’ve got 38,” she said.
“With consultation with Wotjobaluk elders, we are teaching the kids contemporary indigenous, lyrical-fusion dance.
“The kids are really loving it and are full of energy.”
Dance co-ordinators describe the style as ‘future historic’, dissolving the past to remix the present.
The program ran for three days during NAIDOC Week, coinciding with the school holiday period.
– Dylan De Jong
