The Opera House just celebrated the 5th anniversary of itsr Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and announced a revamp of the initiative as well as preparations for this year's Dance Rites, Indigenous Dance competition.
Head of Indigenous Programming, Rhoda Roberts says that the Opera House's RAP has gone from strength to strength with more Indigenous programming.
Rhoda Roberts added that the Opera Houses' Reconciliation Action Plan seeks to create an Indigenous visibility including capacity building of a lot of the gaps in the arena of creative industries and in the areas of production, back of house security, right through to the programming.
Ms Roberts also said that the Sydney Opera House works closely with high schools such as Canterbury, inner city schools but also Western Sydney schools. Because the relationship has developed, a good point of communication with young people has been established.
In the past, First Nations people felt that the Opera House was inaccessible to them. Now, Aboriginal and torres Strait islander people know that the Opera House is their building as well.
When we spoke to Rhoda Roberts she was just about to go on a trip to promote Dance Rites.
Although this year will mark the second edition of this event, Dance Rite has been in the making for a number of years.
In this national Indigenous dance competition, participants don't have to be professional dancers. The gathering is primarily a celebration of traditional dances as they are practiced in the communities.
Rhoda Roberts mentions that in a recent past traditional dances, rites and practices were outlawed, hence a lot of the traditions have been lost.
Dance Rites seeks to reconnect with custodians of those dance rituals and link them to younger generations so we don't lose those song lines and rituals.