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Miriki Performing Arts and the Australian Ballet exchange ideas

Culture and Capability
A large group of youth and a few adults stand or sit on a purple-lit stage. The background is black.

When the Australian Ballet Education Unit meets annually with the young dancers of Miriki Performing Arts, the teaching of ideas and techniques goes both ways.

Pauline Lampton is the Artistic Director of Miriki Performing Arts based in the Nintiringanyi Cultural Training Centre in Cairns.

‘In 2016, Nintiringanyi’s Miriki (formerly Biddigal) was invited to attend a residency with the Australian Ballet Education Unit (TAB-EU),’ Pauline said.

‘During this residency, we had the opportunity to do a cultural exchange and a collaboration. As both Miriki and TAB-EU saw a mutual benefit of sharing greater knowledge with each other through our exchange, we decided to make our exchange an annual event.’

Since then, the two groups have been combining ballet stories with dreamtime or personal historical stories and working with partners across the region introducing young Indigenous people to dance.

‘For the past two years, we have invited our regional partners, Mulungu Health Service who bring children and young people from Mareeba, Kuranda and Innisfail to attend the residency. Next year we are looking at taking the program out to Yarrabah,’ Pauline said.

During the residency, students take part in warm-up and technical exercises. They learn repertoire from a ballet and explore choreographic elements. 

They participate in a contemporary ballet workshop where they have the opportunity to create co-authored work and develop choreographic skills. 

‘TAB-EU had a team of 6 this year, and this year was the first time they brought special guest Aboriginal Australian Ballet dancer, Ella Havelka,’ Pauline said.

‘Ella is the first Indigenous person to join The Australian Ballet. This was exciting for the children and youth to meet an Aboriginal person who has excelled at that level within the performing arts sector.’

The program has been a huge success with positive feedback from students and parents.

‘We had a packed theatre with family and community members attending the performance showcase,’ Pauline said.

‘It was great for them to see how their children engaged with the program and they were impressed with the performance. They could see that their children learned and implemented a variety of employability skill-sets, such as working in a team.’

Bundjalung and Juru woman Meridah Tautu, a previous Miriki performer, has been involved in Miriki and The Australian Ballet collaboration since 2016.

‘I heavily enjoyed my experience. It has increased my understanding of ballet and the dedication you need for it,’ Meridah said.

‘Not only the dedication but how to create a fun and creative relationship with a pretty strict form of art. I also learnt that performance is not the only area within the dance industry; there is education, teaching, choreography and so on.’

 The residency is not just about learning to dance and cultural exchange. It has the power to reshape young minds and set them on a sustaining and fulfilling life path. 

‘I soon after pursued teaching dance and later became employed to create an RTO [Registered Training Organisation] that aims to teach dance and the performing arts to school kids,’ Meridah said.

Find out more

The NIAA supports Nintiringanyi Cultural Training Centre to deliver a Sport and Recreation Programme in the Cairns and surrounding communities for First Nations youth and their families through the Indigenous Advancement Strategy. The School Holiday Dance Performance is one of the community activities that Nintiringanyi Cultural Training Centre deliver with this funding, as a strategy to ensure diversionary support is available for young people to reduce contact with the criminal justice system and increase their levels of health and fitness.