Kingaroy State High School’s Indigenous dance group welcomed in a crop of new and eager members ahead of its Harmony Day performance on Friday.
The group’s 25 members performed a contemporary dance in front of the student body of Kingaroy State School on 20 March, showing off their ability to quickly learn and master a new routine.
A new addition to the group was the inclusion of male dancers, who previously could not participate owing to Aboriginal protocol preventing group leader, community education counsellor Toni Phillips-Petersen, from teaching them.
“Being an Aboriginal woman, I can’t teach boys traditional dance,” she explained.
“Aboriginal protocol and lore [prevent me], but I have so many young boys in our school that embrace it. They want to do it – they yearn for the culture.
“I thought I could put together an Aboriginal contemporary piece with both boys and girls.”
Ms Phillips-Petersen said she realised her students’ potential to teach themselves and their peers when she could not – and the new arrivals proved their aptitude in rapid fashion.
“On Monday [16 March] I called up all the boys and girls that wanted to do a dance,” she recounted.
“They started at first break and worked during second break on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
“You would think that they had been practicing for a very long time.”
The group, which now counts almost 30 students among its members, also received help from Solomon Island man Matt Galé.
“They’re all keen, these kids,” Ms Phillips-Petersen said.
“The fact that they give up their lunch breaks to come and perform together in the same place, I’m just so proud of them.”
Kingaroy State High School has close to 160 Indigenous students, a number of whom worked to share their culture with their younger peers at KSS’s Harmony Day event by way of running face-painting and food stalls.
“We hear all the things that are happening in the community; a lot of negative stuff,” Ms Phillips-Petersen said.
“We work with our Indigenous kids to stand up there and be proud and perform together in front of their mob. It’s beautiful.
“I’m proud of that – and they’re proud of themselves,” she said.
“We have fun – we joke around, we laugh. It’s a really beautiful environment.”
The efforts of the Indigenous dance group also garnered praise from KSHS’s principal, David Thomson.
“I’m immensely proud [of the dance group],” he said.
“It’s so well-led.
“Our staff are passionate, and that’s reflected in that building of pride the kids have in their culture and families,” Mr Thomson said.
“They’re really representing. That’s wonderful.”
