More than 40 dancers took part in last year’s Barradambang workshops and founder Ella Havelka is hoping for more in 2025. Photo: Supplied.
Dance and performance are major components of storytelling for many First Nations cultures.
For many Indigenous storytellers, it’s a personal touch to share knowledge through movement and song. It’s a tradition that Wiradjuri dancer and founder of the Ella Foundation, Ella Havelka, aims to share with many young people during the Barradambang Community Dance Workshops.
“Barradambang Dance is a First Nations’ youth-led group that is primarily provided to high school-aged children through the Department of Education’s art unit,” Ms Havelka said.
“It’s a free four-day workshop where all First Nations’ youth aged seven to 21 can come along and be taught and mentored by myself and other artists from The Australian Ballet’s education outreach touring team.
“This year we’re focusing primarily on the beautiful Brolga stories that Aunty Lorraine Tye has been curating at her yalbayarra giilang | telling stories exhibition at the Station Art Gallery.
“It’s an amazing space. I’m so excited to take the kids there. On the first day of the workshop, we’re actually going to have a look at all of the beautiful animations that Aunty Lorraine has put together.
“The kids will talk to Aunty Lorraine about what these significant stories are about and how we can then imagine or recreate a dance based on these stories. The children will then take what they’ve learnt back to PCYC, where they will re-imagine the stories through First Nations’ song and dance.”
Ms Havelka said The Australian Ballet’s education and outreach team had been consistently supportive of the work that she and other members of her team have done to get the workshops up and running.
“I’m very grateful for the support that I’ve received from The Australian Ballet’s education and outreach team,” she said.
Dancers will be adapting stories told by elder Aunty Lorraine Tye through her exhibition at The Station Art Gallery. Photo: Supplied.
“They have been backing me to do this for the last few years and have always engaged with me in a way that’s also very culturally grounded and respectful.
“It offers that capacity for that exchange, for them to understand First Nations’ cultural protocols and what needs to be done in this space.
“It’s a really beautiful relationship, where they’re learning from us and we’re learning from them. That’s the essence of what First Nations’ relationships and community building are all about. It’s that reciprocal relationship building.”
Last year’s workshops were attended by more than 40 kids, with some travelling from as far as Newcastle to attend. Ms Havelka said she would love to see the program grow even more in 2025.
“So far, we have 26 participants signed up and that was only after me putting the call out once on social media,” she said.
“I’m expecting, like last year, we’ll probably have about 40 sign up. We had this amazing flourish last minute of new people coming in, and we’d love to see that happen again this year.
We’re inviting a lot of community Elders to come and participate in that final showcase and to see the work as well.”
The program is free, but places are limited. Applications close 14 September. To apply, visit the Ella Foundation website here.
