Entertainment
15 October, 2022
The Laura Quinkan Dance Festival
RETURNING in July 2023, the Laura Quinkan Dance Festival is determined to go back to basics to bring the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities a touching and significant Festival celebrating their oldest and most precious traditions.
The 2023 Laura Quinkan Dance Festival will be held at the Ang-Gnarra Festival site in Laura from July 7-9 for a three-day camping festival where dance groups from Cape York and the Torres Strait gather to share dance, culture, and history.
CEO of the Ang-Gnarra Aboriginal Corporation, August Steven, said the Festival lost its direction in the hands of the wrong organisers which is why in 2023 it will return to its roots.
“We’re going to have the Festival step backwards as in what we’ll put on show instead of being commercialised,” Mr Steven said.
“This was a concern that it was being over commercialised, and this is coming from previous years when other organisers started bringing live bands and things like that,” he said.
“It was inappropriate to have these sorts of things because that site is a burial ground, so we need to be more respectful.
“In that sense, we’re stepping back into the old ways of having traditional dancing, didgeridoo competitions and arts and crafts.”
Mr Steven said the 2023 Festival would also be exceptional because of the performers in the lineup.
“Today we had our Quinkan dancers, and it was the first time in 2021 that we had our countrymen perform in the Festival,” he said.
“And I’m happy to say they’ll be with us in 2023 to open and close the ceremony.”
Quinkan dancer and Traditional Owner Nash Snider and his family will be in charge of opening the Festival. Mr Snider said this was an opportunity to grow their knowledge of Country and transmit it.
“To my family and me, this means a lot,” Mr Snider said.
“Our family was a big part of getting the dancers back on Quinkan Country, back to Ang-Gnarra; there were other organisations before that didn’t have Laura in their best interest, and now it’s back with AngGnarra, and we support it.
“And for us to be part of the opening ceremony means a lot, we are the seeds of our forefathers, and we’re growing.”
For more information on the Laura Quinkan Indigenous Dance Festival and to purchase early bird tickets, visit: https://bit.ly/3CtEtbh
