Indigenous Students' Careers Day
Our Community
BADANAMI ALLOWAH DANCERS
Badanami Allowah (Learning Together) Dance Group.
The group was originally formed with Artstart funding in 2005 and was made up of 4 boys and 14 girls from Year 7 and Year 10. The majority of students were Aboriginal but there were non Aboriginal students in the group. Since then the group has welcomed new students, especially year 7 in 2006 and now in 2007.
The students were taught by Thulli Dreaming tutors, Peter and Sharon Williams. Peter gave Windsor High students permission to sing his songs and helped us to compose some Darug songs with the help of the Darug dictionary we received from Aunty Edna Watson.
The group perform six dances with boys and girls alternating.
- The WELCOME DANCE introduces you to our dancers.
- PELICAN DANCE - Note la is a Darug song about the pelican who is flying lower and lower until he lands on Deerubbin, the Hawkesbury River .
- WILLIE WAGTAIL – Thipi Yuam Pajilinya is a Ngemba song about the willie wagtail.
- HAWK DANCE - Pipachere Parawaanaa in this song the river hawk is flying over the river, sees a fish, catches it and gives thanks to the fish spirit. In the next dance the girls imitate the movements of the Emu and the boys imitate the movements of the Kangaroo.
- CANOE DANCE - Our last dance is the darug canoe dance. It is a happy song where the girls send the boys down the river to catch food. The girls continue to sing a happy as the boys row back with food.
The dancers have performed at: local events including surrounding schools, the Hawkesbury Music Festival and market days; regional events including Rejoice Australia and the Aboriginal Students' Leadership Forum; and the state event Schools Spectacular.
BADANAMI ALLOWAH DANCERS 2007
During Term 3 2007, students have been participating in dance workshops run by Shannon and Duan. They have been learning many new dances including a mermaid dance and a gathering dance.
BADANAMI ALLOWAH DANCERS 2008
The Dancers have continued to perform and in 2008 they have been attending primary schools and conducting workshops teaching younger students. They have performed at Westmead Hospital and the NAIDOC celebrations in the Hawkesbury.
Click the links below to read more about each of these.
Hawkesbury Music Festival
Sydney West Region Aboriginal Students' Leadership Forum
Schools Spectacular
Rouse Hill Town Centre Opening Parade