Grind Online: Darwin's "for youth, by youth" magazine » dance

Darwin Festival Programme… FTW

editor — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:10:13 +0000

Another year, another Darwin Festival. And the festival’s line up is looking bigger and better than last year’s frankly awesome line up. We managed not only to get a sneak preview on the festival’s program, we also managed to get an interview with Joe Duffy, the artistic director of the festival. There is also a snippet of what to expect from the festival as well, which we have put together into a short clip so you can see what Joe Duffy has to say and the interesting performance.

So what about the line up itself? Well, there are sorts of things, from the comedic genius of former ROVE Corinne Grant to the famous names of music like John Butler Trio and The Cat Empire, just to name a few. There are 75 events, 47 of them involve artists from around here! Similar to last year, there are plenty of free events, like Dancing in the sand, and the famous Teddy’s Bear picnic makes a return. There are dancers from all over the world as well as people from local areas. And aimed squarely at the youth of Darwin, events such as Silent Disco, Hip Hop battle and an all new event, En Route, based around mobile phones and IPods. All this will happen between 12th and the 29th August in Festival Park, otherwise known as Civic park, with the lighthouse, in the amphitheatre and other places. Tickets are to be sold online, and from box offices in DEC, Festival park and other places, so look out for places that sell tickets.

So watch, Grinders, and see you at the festival! And check out their website

Traditional indigenous dance

editor — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:35:19 +0000

This traditional performance from the Kenbi Dancers, Red Flag Dancers and Pukatja, was both an enjoyable and spiritual experience. The dances told of hunters looking for mud crabs and buffalo, each individual dancer has their own style of dance, which was demonstrated to the audience. We had a special performance by the Pukatja dancers from the central Australian community of Ernabella; they showed us an intriguing performance that included Ernabella school students performing Desert Acrobatics from their new show “Pukatia”. Towards the end of the performance the dancers asked if some of us wanted to join them. It was good fun learning how to dance in the traditional way Aboriginal people have been dancing for centuries. What I liked most about the performance was that we were able to learn their dance and have fun with them. The thing I wished could have been changed was the venue; I don’t know how to say it but I think it would have been better in a more traditional setting instead of being held on the Star Shell stage, because that would have given it more impact.

Over all I’m going to give it three stars, because it was enjoyable and an experience I won’t soon forget. The impact would have been amazing if in a more traditional setting.

Tracks dances presents Lipstick and Ochre

editor — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:33:21 +0000

In a celebration of 20 years of senior women dancing with Tracks in the Northern Territory, they combined two great local dance groups with very different style. The Gray Panthers and The Yawalyu dancers, joined to do a show where cultures that are so different, come together to make an amazing performance. I personally know one of the Gray Panthers and so I wanted to go and see this performance all the more; they didn’t disappoint. It was an interesting set, The Lawns at Frogs Hollow Centre for the Arts. While every one was sitting down and finding their friends and seats, The Yalwalyu dancers were sitting on a circular carpet in the centre of the stage, painting each other in the traditional style while singing quietly. Meanwhile some of the Gray Panthers were sitting at small dressing tables with lights around the mirrors making them selves pretty for the performance. The performance felt like it took forever in some bits but overall it was a good show. Just before half time in the show, they received a “present” from “Victoria Beckom.” They rolled out this big box and it stood up and started running around. The man inside threw the box off himself and started to strut around, thrusting his hips to the crowd. Much to my distress my seat faced the middle of the stage and stood out like a sore thumb to the performers; he stopped looked at me made kissy faces and gestured for me to call him. He was a pale, skinny older man, wearing a short cave man costume; I was a bit stunned.

Over all I liked this performance a lot, it mixed cultures and wasn’t what I expected it to be. The only thing I would change was the tree above the stage; there were so many bats in it making so much noise and dropping their left overs on the stage and on the performers that one of the male brake dancers had to come on in half time and sweep the stage. I give this four stars-really enjoyable.