Students from across Western NSW converged on Dubbo’s Delroy Campus on Wednesday to take part in the 2018 Aboriginal Secondary Dance Workshop.
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Organised through the Department of Education's Arts Unit, together with the Bangarra company, the aim of the workshop is to inspire young, Aboriginal students to connect with their culture and interact with world class dance tutors.
Students in Years 7 to 12 from Dubbo Campus’, Yeoval, Cobar, Peak Hill, Trangie and Wilcannia schools, were lucky enough to participate in the workshop.
There were approximately 77 students in total who learnt a range of traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dances.
The students were split up into male and female groups to learn dances which included hunting and gathering and dingo.
The annual workshop can help develop students artistic careers, as participants in these school workshops can be selected to dance with the NSW State Public Schools' Aboriginal Dance Company.
From there the Company’s dancers can perform at the School’s Spectacular at the end of the year.
Sidney Saltner, from Bangarra, said they were looking for students with raw talent, a willingness to learn and an interest in progressing.
The program has been going for about 8 years, and travels to 12 regional centres across the state to conduct the dance workshops to hundreds of students each year.
Dubbo students have had much success at past workshops.
Just recently in 2016, three Dubbo College students were chosen from 1000 students from across the state to join the NSW Public Schools Aboriginal Dance Company after participating in the workshop.