Cultural Pride in Motion
Natalie de Rozario
1 Festival, 3 Grandmothers, and a 12-Hour Road Trip
Last week, I packed my two nieces (aged 8 and 6) into the car and headed north to Coral Bay. Twelve hours, countless “are we there yets?”, and several pit stops later, we arrived at the Jamba Nyinayi Festival (JNF) – a celebration of connection, culture, and community on Baiyungu Country. Located at Cardabia Station, the festival is run by the Baiyungu Aboriginal Corporation with Cultural Director Hazel Walgar. Entering it’s third year in 2025, the festival brings together local and national Aboriginal artists to share culture through music, dance, film, workshops, food, and storytelling around the campfire.
I was there to meet our April ‘Artist(s) of the Month’ – the Seaside Dancers, a collective bringing together two of the region’s most inspiring contemporary Indigenous dance groups – the Pundarra Performance Group and the Coral Spawn Dancers.
The dance collective, made up of 18 dancers spanning three generations – 3 grandmothers, 3 mothers, 1 aunty, and 7 daughters, granddaughters, and nieces – carries a rich history of strong women. The grandmothers recognised the importance of cultural connection and dance as a way to nurture confidence in young Aboriginal girls. These women, who came to be known as Pundarra Gantharri (meaning ‘Star Grandmothers’), established a legacy of empowerment through movement and storytelling. The Coral Spawn Dancers, all with blood ties to Baiyungu, were initiated in 2023 by Baiyungu Elders Hazel Walgar and Gwen Cooyou, to tell the mesmerising story of the Ningaloo Reef’s annual coral spawn – when the sea turns pink with new life, a spectacular event made even more magical during the 2023 solar eclipse in the region.
Set against the backdrop of the coral coast, I watched as dancers from different language groups, came together under the guidance of Carnarvon locals, Cheryl Moncrieff, Bianca Mongoo, Lomasey Mongoo and Janine Oxenham. Their process is beautifully collaborative. Working closely with Dave Mann and Andy O’Neil, musicians from Perth and the South West, who compose their music, the groups workshop each piece together. “We all get together,” one of the dancers, Aunty Kay, explained during a break between rehearsals, “We listen to the music, talk about what it makes us feel, and then we start moving.”
Over the past eleven years, the dancers have become a cornerstone of cultural celebration throughout the Gascoyne Region, performing at a range of events from the Ningaloo Centre opening to NAIDOC Week celebrations. But what makes their work truly special is the safe space they’ve created for young women to express themselves through movement and story.
At the Jamba Nyinayi Festival, I watched as my nieces, initially content to just watch from the sidelines, were drawn into the circle, caught up in the infectious energy of the workshops. This, perhaps, is the greatest achievement of the Seaside Dancers – creating a movement that celebrates cultural pride, connects generations, and reminds us all that, in their words: “You can be anything you want. You put your mind and your soul and your heart into anything, you can do anything you want.”
