Tharnpa Dancers Take DanceRites Prize Back to Wadeye

“We are proud of ourselves to take the win back home to the Territory,” representatives of Tharnpa Dance Group said after winning the top prize at DanceRites 2026, held at the Sydney Opera House. The group came from Wadeye in the Northern Territory; its representatives said families back home were proud. The dancers brought the award home. The institution supplied the stage.

The dancers tell their stories

Tharnpa competed against First Nations groups over two days in the Song Cycle, Cultural Dance and Wild Card categories. The groups shared stories from Country and presented First Nations dance traditions and ceremony. A representative of Tharnpa said, “It's so special to us, we came from a long way to get here for the performance and now we winners.”

The Sundowners Kalkutungu Dancers were runners-up for the DanceRites Cultural Award. Island Stars (Lagaw Titui) won the Wild Card award. Brolga Dance Academy and Shalom First Nations Dancers jointly received the Rhoda Roberts Rights of Passage Award, given to groups the judges considered to have demonstrated a strong exchange of culture between generations.

Held on Gadigal Country at Tubowgule, the ninth edition brought together hundreds of performers representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations and Clans from across the country. They arrived at a major cultural venue to share traditions, ceremony and stories from Country. The event’s competition categories placed those performances before judges, while the dancers’ representatives described what the win meant to their families and community.

A festival built around First Nations leadership

DanceRites began in 2015 as part of the Sydney Opera House's Homeground festival under the leadership of the late Aunty Rhoda Roberts AO. Participation doubled in its first two years. In 2018, the event became a standalone festival and moved from the Western Broadwalk to the Opera House Forecourt.

The festival paid tribute to Aunty Rhoda Roberts AO, a Widjabul Wia-bul woman of the Bundjalung Nation and a trailblazer in First Nations media, arts and culture. She founded DanceRites and served as the Sydney Opera House's Head of First Nations and SBS's inaugural Elder in Residence. Her work included uplifting First Nations voices, creating platforms for Indigenous stories and culture to reach the world stage, and supporting the next generation to follow Elders and ancestors.

Her son, Jack Roberts-Field, gave a speech and joined Jannawi Dance Clan and singer Dyagula in a tribute to his mother on Saturday. He recalled dancing in front of her as a child, before DanceRites existed. “I remember being like, how beautiful would it be if we could create a competition for First Nations dancers and we could just get all Blackfullas in from all over the country,” he said. “Fast forward two years, this was created.”

The stories continue across generations

Jack said it was special to see dancers bring young people to share their culture and continue telling stories from the world's oldest living culture. He described seeing young people welcomed into that work and hearing what the stories meant to dancers. “Tears, just constant tears,” he said of the tribute. “We could feel her spirit, everyone could.” He added, “It's just so special. For her to be my mum is just extra special too.”

The festival also included special performances, including an international guest performance, as part of its focus on cultural knowledge and exchange. No legislative or electoral solution was part of the account of the event. What it records instead is a festival founded by Aunty Rhoda Roberts AO, performers carrying culture across generations, and Tharnpa representatives bringing their win back to Wadeye.