Finals

Northern Territory, Dhalinbuy

Djakapurra was the cultural advisor for Bangarra Dance Theatre for 30 years, and has performed internationally. He is the song man of the group and a choreographer. We are a little group of family from all different areas.

New South Wales, Central Coast

The inspiration for our wildcard is to have fun with blending traditional cultural dance with modern contemporary dance. Our modes of storytelling have always been prominent in our culture and we believe utilising modern modalities of telling these stories are a big part of our future. Whilst always paying respect to and holding onto our cultural roots and beliefs.

Torres Strait Islands, Saibai Island

We are originally from Saibai Island, but all my dancers are born and bred in Bamaga, our traditional language is Saibai, but we also speak Creole and English. Most songs and stories are from Saibai in Saibai language, but we also create new songs and stories and dances.

Queensland, Sunshine Coast

Gubbi Gubbi dance are based on the Sunshine Coast QLD and have been performing together for the past 25 years. We are Coastal Salt Water People. Our lands are well known for long days of sunshine and warm winter ocean temperatures. We are proud to showcase our Stories of Country and Language through our song and dance with all of the community.

Queensland, Injinoo

We will use the Bu shell to call, like a trumpet. It is for welcoming to the island from my grandfathers, as soon as the bu goes, everyone knows when and where to assemble, we will use the Bu shell in our dance. Bu is welcoming, a call out to the community, the village, to come to the place where they always meet.

Western Australia, Broome

I was a young man sitting amongst my old people there were nearly 100 altogether and they taught me to twist my tongue to sing the right way, now I carry the song on for them.

Queensland, Boigu Island

Kutaw Zoeru (evening sunset) is a Torres Strait Islander dance group , based in Brisbane. All performers are from Boigu Island which is the the Northern most inhabited island on the Torres Strait (And Australia). There are 5 generations of families performing from elders to young children. The performers share their traditional songs and dances that have been passed down from generation to gerneation and which are based on everyday life of island stories.

Queensland, Mornington Island

Mornington Island artists are heavily influenced and connected to their Land and Culture in their artistic interpretations. Their remoteness means the artists concentrate heavily on cultural and spiritual subject matter – all centred on connection to Country.

Torres Strait Islands, Bamaga

In 1947 saltwater from a tidal surge on Saibai Island contaminated the drinking water supply and flooded gardens on the island. The remaining fresh water could only sustain a small population. This forced some clan leaders to make a difficult decision to relocate their families elsewhere to the mainland. In 1947 and 1947 with the approval of Department of Native Affairs the men worked hard on their pearling and trochus boats, amassed enough money for fuel and supplies, which enabled the families to relocate to Muttee Head, an abandoned World War 2 camp and later established the settlements of Bamaga and Seisia. This made the Saibailgal of Bamaga and Seisia arguably the first environmental refugees in Australia. The rising sea levels brought about by climate change and global warming is very real to us, as the rising sea and its effects on people, land and culture is our heritage. Our Wildcard dance will tell this story the tidal surge and the power of mother nature.

Queensland, Brisbane and Stradbroke Island

We have been exploring other forms of expressing our cultural values in a contemporary way. We have sat with elders to look at these ideas and have come up with doing traditional song and dance to contemporary music. This is something we have been working on for the past few years. So this has been the inspiration for our wildcard dance.