Dance Protest, Project Banaba 2025

when: 04 May 2025 - 25 January 2026 | venue: Chau Chak Wing Museum | cost: Free | address: University Place, University of Sydney, Camperdown NSW 2006 | website: https://www.sydney.edu.au/museum | tickets: https://www.sydney.edu.au/museum/whats-on/exhibitions/dance-protest-project-banaba.html?cid=organic-signage-z8ebsO

published: 30 Jun 2025, 5 min read

Dance Protest, Project Banaba is the latest in an exhibition series by artist Katerina Teaiwa and curator Yuki Kihara, exploring the history of Banaba, an island in the central Pacific.

In the 20th century, the British Phosphate Commissioners, a partnership between the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, mined 22 million tons of phosphate from the island. In 1945, Banabans endured forced relocation to Rabi Island, Fiji.

Expressing their identity and resistance to this colonial project, Banabans revitalised their song and dance repertoires. In the 1970s, when they sued the British government and company for the decimation of their island, dancers led the protest marches that accompanied the legal proceedings.

American-Australian dancer Beth Dean documented Banaban and other Pacific peoples' choreography in the lead-up to the 1st South Pacific Festival of Arts, 1972. Some archival documentation and Banaban dance regalia collected by her, held in the Chau Chak Wing Museum collection, form part of the exhibition.

Dance Protest, Project Banaba reframes Banaban dance and cultural authority from a Banaban matriarchal perspective. Taking the dance notation of Te Karanga (spear dance) as inspiration, Katerina Teaiwa has created new artworks in collaboration with her dancer-athlete daughter, Tearia. The exhibition is a dance riposte to Dean and the patriarchal forces that sacrificed ancestral land for short-term economic gain.

Go see Dance Protest, Project Banaba 2025.

Dance Protest, Project Banaba 2025 is on 04 May 2025 - 25 January 2026. See start and end times below. Conveniently located in Camperdown. Call 02 9351 2812 for details. Visit their website at https://www.sydney.edu.au/museum.

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Event Details

what: Dance Protest, Project Banaba 2025
when: 04 May 2025 - 25 January 2026
venue: Chau Chak Wing Museum
phone: 02 9351 2812
city/suburb: Camperdown NSW
All start time/end time: Weekdays, 10am to 5pm | Weekends, 12pm to 4pm | Thursday 1 May to Sunday 25 January 2026Closed public holidays

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