Ausdance ACT Workshop Series with Joel Bray Director & Choreographer of 'Garabari'

Ausdance ACT is thrilled to offer a contemporary dance workshop for local dancers, led by Garabari’s Artistic Director and Choreographer, Joel Bray.

Garabari is a high energy dance gathering where Wiradjuri story meets a pulsing techno beat. Step onto the dance floor, join the movement and feel the shared spirit of corroboree as traditional song and modern sound come alive together.

The workshop will focus on repertoire from Garabari, and Joel will also delve into his performance‑making approach, including his improvisation method, En Route.

Open to dancers 14 years plus, independent dance artists, dance teachers and adult dancers with an intermediate to advanced level of training in contemporary dance.

Cost $50, Ausdance ACT Member $35

Save $15 on the class price by signing up as a member, concession memberships start from $33. Check out the many ongoing benefits and join here https://www.ausdanceact.org.au/memberships

This workshop is presented with support from Canberra Theatre Centre and Gorman Arts Centre.

Photo Credit: Jeff Busby

About Joel Bray

An artist living on Kulin country (Melbourne), Joel Bray is a proud Wiradjuri man and Artistic Director of Joel Bray Dance. He trained at NAISDA and WAAPA before pursuing a career in Europe and Israel with Jean-Claude Gallotta, Company CeDeCe , Kolben Dance, Machol Shalem Dance House, Yoram Karmi’s FRESCO Dance Company, Niv Sheinfeld & Oren Laor and Roy Assaf. He returned to Australia to work with CHUNKY MOVE. Joel’s choreographic practice includes making dance, experimental performance and work for screen.

About Joel Bray Dance

A part of the current renaissance of the First Peoples cultures of Australia, Joel Bray's contemporary choreographies breathe new life into ancient ceremonial practices. His works invite audiences to genuinely consider colonisation and create spaces for play, conversation and, ultimately, healing. 

Joel Bray Dance was established in 2017. They create, present and tour high calibre works of immersive dance-theatre for metropolitan, regional and international venues and festivals.

Garabari by Joel Bray Dance Produced by BlakDance

Garabari is a powerful gathering where performer and spectator, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, all become part of a thrilling dance party.

A gripping dance of story and rhythm where Wiradjuri culture meets pulsing techno energy, Garabari invites you to plunge into the swirling depths of a new civic ritual and experience culture as a living connection between people and Country. This is your chance to participate in a millennia-old ritual on a monumental scale.

Developed on Wiradjuri Country with Elders and artists, Garabari shares the Giilang (story and song) of Marramalngidyal Marrambidyagu, the making of the Murrumbidgee River, gifted by the late Uncle James Ingram.

Bodies, light and sound weave together in a contemporary experience of gathering. Guided by performers, audiences gain a visceral sense of how story, song and dance continue to live and evolve today. With ethereal costumes by Wiradjuri designer Denni Francisco (Ngali), driving beats by Byron Scullin and enthralling projections by Katie Sfetkidis, Garabari is unlike any corroboree that has come before it.

Join the party in an inclusive, immersive, multi-sensory event like no other.

“★★★★ An enlivening experience that celebrates our earth, our first peoples and everyone else in the freest way imaginable.” – Limelight Magazine

19 - 20 February, The Playhouse Canberra Theatre Centre

Tickets Garabari | Canberra Theatre Centre