keela dreaming festival
Images | Keela Dreaming Festival 2013: Giant 8 metre Keela - Ant made by the Kellerberrin community, Static Crew & Lil Sparks performance, 600 strong crowd, Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse beautiful performance | Photos by Tash Nannup and Richard Watson.
The Keela Dreaming Festival is a celebration in the name of the ant – an enduring symbol of the Noongar people of the South West. Over three biennial concerts, Keela Dreaming has grown into a fantastic showcase of Noongar culture, music and traditional dance in the Eastern Wheatbelt.
In partnership with the Kellerberrin Aboriginal Progress Association (KAPA) and the Shire of Kellerberrin, CAN WA acts to facilitate ways in which the Aboriginal community can tell their stories through artistic expression.
The Keela Dreaming Festival in 2011 marked the biggest yet with over 3000 people attending. CAN Production created the CAN WA ExtravagANTza in conjunction with the community for the festival. A series of workshops ran in Kellerberrin and Quairading, to choreograph hip-hop and traditional dances, glowing ant costumes, lanterns and a giant six metre long illuminated ant sculpture – created by the community and with the guidance of community artists. The Voices of the Wheatbelt: Wheat Beats project participants also had their debut on stage, with young people performing hip-hop songs that captured the experiences of growing up in the Wheatbelt.
‘In any community when you bring a whole bunch of people together to create something ... then you connect ... and that’s what makes this work pretty special,’ Francis Italiano, Artistic Director, Keela Dreaming ExtravagANTza showcase.
Dreaming in Kellerberrin, ABC Radio Interview, 29 March 2011 Henry McKintosh, Chair of the Kellerberrin Aboriginal Progress Association (KAPA), talks about the success of the Keela Dreaming Festival 2011, and what's next on the agenda for the community.