This panel discussion is presented as part of the Generative Dancing Roundtable Series 2025, a series of hybrid talks developed in partnership between VCA Dance and Dancehouse.

Music, Rhythm, Ritual and Dance: Honouring ancestral practices & re-imagining ceremony

Guest Speakers: Lamine Sonko, Noriko Tadano and Kialea-Nadine Williams with facilitation by Julie Ann Minaai and Kialea-Nadine Williams

A roundtable / panel talk exploring music, rhythm, ritual, and dance through embodied practices, sacred ceremonies, and cultural traditions. Featuring interdisciplinary artist and Guewel (hereditary cultural role) from Senegal, Lamine Sonko, Japanese shamisen virtuoso Noriko Tadano, award-winning British-born Jamaican dance artist Kialea-Nadine Williams, and Japanese dance artist Julie Ann Minaai, this conversation delves into cultural and embodied knowledges from both traditional and diasporic perspectives—honouring ancestral practices, returning to cultural roots, reimagining ceremony, and weaving diasporic experiences.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Lamine Sonko
Lamine Sonko is a director, composer, researcher, and cultural educator who draws on traditional wisdom to create interdisciplinary, multi-sensory arts experiences, informed by his heritage as a Guéwel (hereditary cultural role) from Senegal, West Africa. As a Guewel, his role is to be a keeper and communicator of history, customs, rituals, and sacred knowledge through music, film, and theatre.

Sonko’s artistic practice is shaped by a lifetime of embodied cultural learning within his community, beginning in early childhood under the guidance of elders through observation and participation in sacred rituals and ceremonies. As an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne and a Higher Degree Researcher at the Australian National University, he conducts advanced scholarly inquiry into how traditional knowledge systems can be adapted and applied within contemporary artistic frameworks. More about Sonko’s work: https://www.1312.com.au/

Noriko Tadano 
Noriko Tadano is an award-winning, virtuoso master of the Japanese tsugaru shamisen (a 3-string, banjo-like instrument), composer and a traditional Japanese vocalist, who has performed all over the world. Born in Chiba, Japan, she has been playing shamisen since she was 6 years old and performs both as a soloist, as well as in collaborations. Noriko's ability and drive to cross over between traditional and modern Japanese music has recently seen her perform with renowned world musicians as well as traditional Japanese artists. 
Since moving to Australia in 2004, Noriko has received numerous awards including: Australian Busking Championship (2008) in Mortlake, Victoria with George Kamikawa, Head Judge's Special Award at the Hirosaki Tsugaru Shamisen World Cup (2009) in Hirosaki, Japan, and finalist for the South Australian Governor's  Multicultural Award (2021) for her work in promoting multiculturalism in the South Australian community through the arts or cultural activities. 

As a culturally diverse female musician and performer, Noriko seeks out unique collaborations and creative practices that extend well beyond her music into acting and theatre, sound art and composing. She strives to empower and encourage women by making art that inspires and connects while also showcasing the beauty of difference.

Kialea-Nadine Williams 
Kialea-Nadine Williams brings 20 years of professional performance knowledge to her teaching practice. She trained at London's Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance before joining Phoenix Dance Theatre and Michael Clark Company. Kialea-Nadine Williams was the recipient of the 2007 Best Female Dancer UK, Critics Circle Award for the performance of the acclaimed work Harmonica Breakdown (1938) choreographed by Jane Dudley.  

In 2008, Kialea-Nadine joined Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) under the direction of Garry Stewart. During her time with ADT (2008 - 2012), Kialea-Nadine was an original cast member of Stewart's G, Be Yourself, Worldhood, and Proximity.  

Since 2012, Kialea-Nadine has been working as an independent dancer, creator, actor, puppeteer and educator, fulfilling mentoring and rehearsal director roles. Selected credits include: Tasdance's Luminous Flux, Madame: A Story of Joseph Farrugia: Torque Show, Daniel Jaber’s Reassessment & A Dying Swan, Larissa McGowan’s Mortal Condition, Windmill Theatre Company’s Beep, and Lina Limosani Projekts’s The Spinners.  

As an educator, Kialea-Nadine previously worked at Adelaide College of the Arts for five years as a contemporary dance, classical ballet, acrobatic tumbling teacher, choreographer, and rehearsal director in the BA Creative Arts (Dance) course. Kialea-Nadine is currently the Tutor in Dance at the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts. 

Julie Ann Minaai 
Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, Julie Ann Minaai is an international award-winning dancer, choreographer, rehearsal director, teacher and artist of Japanese heritage. She has trained in both the US and UK, and completed her MA in Contemporary Dance from the London Contemporary Dance School. Julie spent 12 years in the UK and was recognised as an Artist of Exceptional Promise by the Arts Council England. She has toured internationally (UK, US, Norway, Israel, China, South Korea, Colombia & Peru) performing, teaching and creating her own works.  

Since moving to Australia in 2021, she has worked with Meryl Tankard AO, Elena Kats-Chernin AO, Regis Lansac OAM, Form Dance Project, Adam Blanch, Configuration Company, Bronwyn Kidd, Carol Brown, Monica Lim, Sunny Kim, Bella Waru, Jackie Sheppard, REMUSE Designs, L2R Dance (Mentor for IGNITING LEGENDS 2022), Multicultural Arts Victoria (RESONANCE 2023, Art Souk 2024), The Bowery Theatre & St. Albans Community Centre, Immigration Museum and Japanese art and music elders and communities (Noriko Tadano, Toshi Sakamoto, and Junko Azukawa).  

Julie is currently a Lecturer in Dance at the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts (VCA).  Her interdisciplinary practice explores stories of immigration, cultural identity, and ancestral memory through a Japanese diasporic lens, weaving embodied practices of rhythm, music, ritual, and dance. 

RECORDING

Each roundtable / panel talk will be recorded including the Q&A with the audience.

PARKING

The City of Melbourne has recently changed the parking restrictions around the Southbank Campus. Parking control hours are now expanded to 7am–10pm, seven days per week, and are capped at three hours. A $2-per-hour fee after 7pm is also now in place. There is no change to the $4-per-hour peak rate between 7am–7pm. Parking inspectors are regularly in the area fining drivers who overstay their meter, so we encourage everyone to be aware and avoid an expensive fine.

ACCESSIBILITY

All venues at the Southbank campus are wheelchair accessible. To read more about access services available at our venues, please visit: https://finearts-music.unimelb.edu.au/access-our-events.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

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