Manning Valley Anglican College's Indigenous students will be in the spotlight as they dance at Newcastle's Christ Church Cathedral in a special NAIDOC service.
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Up to 24 students from MVAC will be performing two traditional dances from Biripi country in front of the gathered Anglican Diocese of Newcastle community on Sunday, June 7, the beginning of NAIDOC Week.
The students, ranging from kindergarten to year eight, will be accompanied on didgeridoo and clapsticks by Todd Saunders and Tamika McCarthy, while they perform a Welcome and Cleanse dance, and a Transformation dance.
"The Welcome and Cleanse is to clear any negative energy, negative spirits, to create positivity," MVAC teacher, Todd Saunders explained.
"And the Transformation dance displays the students evolving into a variety of different animals in traditional ways to invoke and tell stories to people who are present on the day."
An elder attached to the Newcastle Anglican Diocese invited the dance group to take part in the service in Newcastle.
"We wanted to really push culture in a positive way so that people could see all the good things which are occurring at MVAC, and the positivity and energy that can come from that, and just how devoted and passionate the students are to perform traditional dance," Todd said.
"We love dancing as much as we can in the community; we love connecting with the community.
"We like to connect outside of the school and showcase and exhibit the passion for culture.
"We think it's really important to to share culture with the community, to connect with the community and to connect with other schools in our area," Todd said.
Passing down the dances
Only Indigenous people can perform Indigenous dance, and the dances are passed down to the dancers appropriately from other members of the community, in this instance, Biripi people. Males pass on the male dance roles, and females pass on the female dance roles.
At MVAC, the dances have been passed down from Uncle Russell Saunders, Joshua Wood, Mikah Gibson, and Mayarla Morcombe.
We'd like to make sure that the students get as much opportunity throughout the year to display traditional dances.
- Todd Saunders, Manning Valley Anglican College teacher
In addition, dancers from other school Indigenous dance groups, such as Taree High School, have come to pass down the dances.
"They come across and help pass these dances down to the younger generations, but these dancers have been passed to them by elders in the community. Originally it gets passed from the elders, to the young ones, and then when these young ones start growing up, they also help pass down these traditional dances, but they're dances which come from Biripi country," Todd said.
"We'd like to make sure that the students get as much opportunity throughout the year to display traditional dances."
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times since 2014. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times since 2014. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings.
