Registrations Open For Dance Rites 2019 At Sydney Opera House

Thursday 18 April 2019. Registrations for the Sydney Opera House's celebrated national First Nations dance competition Dance Rites are now open. The fifth annual competition will be held from 23-24 November on one of the world's most spectacular outdoor performance spaces: Bennelong Point. Formerly known as Tubowgule, Bennelong Point has been a meeting place for ritual celebration and dance for tens of thousands of years.

Dance Rites endeavours to safeguard and revitalise vanishing First Nations cultural practices, including language, dance, skin markings and instruments, to ensure they are shared from one generation to the next. Dance groups from around Australia - many spanning several generations - are expected to join the high-profile event to share their culture and compete for a grand prize of $20,000 or three additional awards totaling $12,000.

Sydney Opera House Head of First Nations Programming, Rhoda Roberts AO, said: "Dance Rites is a significant national event that has seen groundswell support over five years and reclamation of our cultural heritage. We invite audiences to take part in ancient language, dance, skin markings and traditions of the world's oldest living culture. By engaging with culture, we preserve and celebrate it for future generations."

Since its inception in 2015, Dance Rites has promoted youth empowerment and cultural knowledge in First Nations communities, and increased confidence through custodial leadership at a grassroots and local level. Dance Rites also provides a space for Australia's First Nations peoples to host, engage and share knowledge with international First Nations communities, such as Native American collective Indigenous Enterprise who performed at Dance Rites 2018.

More than 230 participants from 13 dance groups participated in last year's Dance Rites competition, culminating in a stunning final watched by a capacity crowd on the Opera House Forecourt. Over the years, groups across Australia have travelled to Sydney Opera House to take part from New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.

Last year's winning group, Nunukul Yuggera from the Nunukul, Yuggera and Yugumbir nations in Queensland will return to perform as part of the professional program.

Nunukul Yuggera Aboriginal Dance Company Director Leanne Ruska said: "Dance Rites 2018 was an exciting time for Nunukul Yuggera Aboriginal Dance Company. We felt so proud and honoured to have represented our people. It gave us the confidence to continue to share our culture with the wider community and young people.

Since winning Dance Rites 2018 we were able to purchase a bus, which helped to establish a cultural program and provide transport to teach and mentor our disadvantaged young people. We also established a youth dance group called Nunukul Yuggera Jarjums for 3 - 16 years old who hope to continue our cultural song, dance and language for many generations. We would like to thank Dance Rites for giving our people a platform to educate wider communities and the world about the diversity of our people, our languages, our stories and our ceremonies."

Last year's runners up, Meuram Murray Island Dance Group hailed from Townsville, while the Wild Card Dance prize (awarded to the group that presents an original performance that fuses contemporary with traditional) was awarded to Buuja Buuja Butterfly of Wiradjuri Nation. The Rites of Passage Award, introduced for the first time in 2018, acknowledged all-female group Djirri Djirri from the Kulin Nation's commitment to revitalising knowledge and practice and celebrated their transfer of knowledge between generations.

During the 2019 registration period, Rhoda Roberts AO and Sydney Opera House First Nations Producer, Letila Mitchell will travel to remote, rural and regional areas around Australia to work with individuals, community groups, Aboriginal Land Councils and local councils to engage participants and local communities.

KEY INFORMATION

How to register
All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia who have, or would like to develop, a dance group can enter Dance Rites. Each contestant group will present three dances: a welcome and farewell dance, one of which must include a chant in local language, and a third Wild Card dance of the group's choosing.

Register here before midnight 27 September 2019.

For more information on how to register call Dance Rites Coordinator Ali Buckley on 0407 535 111 or email dancerites@gmail.com.

Prizes

• The winning group will receive $20,000
• One group will be awarded runner-up with a prize of $5,000
• One group will be awarded the best Wild Card dance with a prize of $3,000
• One group will be honored with Rites of Passage award with a prize of $4,000

The Opera House will underwrite a Travel Fund to support the travel expenses of eligible groups.

As there have already been a number of Expressions of Interest for Dance Rites 2019 and performance slots are strictly limited, we encourage groups to submit their registrations as early as possible. If the number of registrations received outnumbers the performance slots, the Dance Rites team will select groups to participate based on their adherence to the competition criteria.