As you sit before Palti Yerta dance ground with the night sky above, you will experience a tradition that is ages old as visitors to Kaurna Country you're presence is welcomed with a smoking ceremony performed by Paitya Dance Group, you will hear Kaurna language sung by the Kaurna Plains Choir who will bring to the festival the spirit of youth. Created specifically for this welcome Grayson Rotumah and Jamie Goldsmith on Yidaki perform an evocative musical fusion of past and present sounds. The Kaurna nation will then perform traditional cultural dances to formally welcome you the audience and performers to the Spirit Festival on Kaurna country.

As a gesture of appreciation and a custom that connects Indigenous culture's songlines and trading routes across the nation, a formal exchange of gift ceremony will be performed by the visiting dance groups from the Torres Strait Islands and Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara dancers and singers from central Australia. This half hour ceremony allows the dancers to perform on Kaurna land and secure the relations between the groups involved.

In all, the Spirit Dance Ceremony will showcase a wide variety of genres from contemporary to traditional dance. This three hour ceremony brings together a unique collaboration of dances from across the country. We have carefully selected a balance of performance not only on the merit of their performance but necessity of their involvement. Please sit back and allow yourself to be immersed in this very special event.

Gina Rings
Artistic Director

Paitya (But-Cha) -  which means brown snake, in the Kaurna (Gar-Na)language are a dance group that have been based in Kaurna country for over a decade. Led by senior Kaurna culture bearer Karl Winda Telfer, the group have been sharing story, culture, ritual and ceremony with many Aboriginal cultures throughout South Austr alia, Australia and the world. This collective of dancers are diverse and share many various language group relationships between them.

The Tal-Kin-Jeri Dancers have been performing their traditional Ngarrindjeri dances throughout the world for over 10 years.
Ngarrindjeri Nations are those of the River Murray, Coorong and Lower Lakes regions of South Australia.
Tal-Kin-Jeri practice and perform traditional dance and story of the Ngarrindjeri people by area and totem.

The Ngarrindjeri Miminar Kaikain choir will perform songs in the  Ngarrindjeri language leading into Tal-Kin-Jeri.

Tal-Kin Jeri will be performing at Palti Yerta (dance ground) in  the Spirit Dance Ceremony on Saturday night from 7:30pm as well as Sunday at 12:15

All the way from Mimili in the APY Lands these guys were last year’s dance sensation. 

Thought you could dance? We’ll wait there now for some of the deadliest moves you’ll see all year. Spirit Festival is delighted Zibeon Fielding and Mark Campbell are back to do it all again!

Stylin' up big time! Do not miss these guys!

NGRILKULUN RINGBALUN-AMALDAR INMA SINGING AND DANCING

This performance is the culmination of a cultural exchange workshop to revitalise and strengthen songlines and ceremony between Ngarrindjeri/Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Dancers and Singers. The performances will include Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters), Wati Ngintaka (Goanna Man) and Madthani (Crow) and will be presented during the Spirit Festival Dance Ceremony.

The Spirit Festival is the first public performance of this collaboration and is thrilled to be able to present this in collaboration with Ananguku Arts.