Performing arts
Dance principles and protocols
and confidentiality. It is the responsibility of the
choreographer, dancers and those working
on the project to discuss any restrictions on
use with relevant Indigenous groups.
Secret and sacred material
The reproduction or unauthorised use of sacred
or secret material may be a transgression of
Indigenous law.
‘Secret and sacred’ refers to information or
material that, under customary laws, is:
• made available only to the initiated
• used for a particular purpose
• used at a particular time
• information/material that can only be seen
and heard by particular community members
(such as men or women or people with
certain knowledge).
Most material that is sacred has customary law
restrictions on its use. The consultation process
should clearly state the proposed use and
observe any restrictions according to gender
or other customs.
Personal privacy
If you are planning to depict an identifiable
individual or community group, ask the
individual, community or relatives of the
individual for permission, and check whether
the details are correct and appropriate.
The privacy of Indigenous people should
be respected. Personal information should not
be disclosed without permission from the
people who will be affected by the disclosure.
This may be relevant to portrayal of people’s
lives in dances, and to publicity, promotional
material and media releases.
Disclosure of personal information about
an Indigenous person who has passed
away should also be cleared with the family
and community.
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Representation of deceased people
In many Indigenous communities, the
reproduction of names and images of deceased
people is not permitted. The deceased person’s
family or community should be consulted so
that the appropriate protocols are observed.
6. Attribution
Indigenous people should be attributed for the
use of their cultural heritage material in dance
or performance works. It is important to consult
on the form of attribution people may want,
such as proper wording and spelling of names.
The moral rights provisions of the Copyright Act
require that individual authors are identified as
the creator of the work – the law requires that
the choreographer of a dance work is identified
and acknowledged.
Woomera Aboriginal Corporation has engaged
in collaborative performances that melded
traditional and contemporary dance styles.
Lardil elders who supervised rehearsals and
performances ensured there was prior
agreement that the performance pieces were
exclusive to the production and could only be
performed in conjunction with Mornington Island
people. It was also agreed that attributions
were to be made to the choreographer of the
contemporary component of the work and to
Lardil elders. No separate rights to any work
containing traditional components were to be
given to a choreographer or artistic director.83
7. Proper returns and royalties
Although the Australian Government introduced
legislation84 in 2006 that fundamentally altered
the way award wages and conditions are set
and managed, the current award rates and
standard contracts still provide important
benchmarks for fair pay and conditions.
It is important to know the award rates of pay
for dancers and other aspects of work
Performing arts
Dance principles and protocols
conditions such as superannuation, workers
compensation and unfair dismissal. The MEAA
helps its members with those issues.85 It also
operates the Alliance Inquiry Desk for
members, and provides information regarding
rates of pay, contracts and commissions,
advice on superannuation, social security and
taxation, legal support and debt recovery.
Dancers should also understand their tax
obligations. The Australian Taxation Office has
a useful website at <www.ato.gov.au>.
There are now many successful Indigenous
dancers and dance companies, but it can
still be a struggle for dancers to get proper
recognition for their skills, proper fees and
work conditions.
Comment: National Aboriginal Islander
Skills Development Association
(NAISDA)
There’s not a lot of money out there. We get
asked a lot to do performances for nothing.
I won’t let the students perform unless they
are getting properly paid.
Some of the graduates from NAISDA are
doing quite well from their dancing at festivals
and other places. But they have to work really
hard for the money because of the attitude
that you should be performing for nothing.
You have to ‘show’ why you should be paid
the fee! But people need to understand all
the years of training, the hours of rehearsal,
the time it takes to develop a dance piece,
the constant training and work at maintaining
fitness that dancers have to do.86
Sometimes the distribution of payment includes
recognition and payment for the community.
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Case study: Marrugeku Company
Everyone in the Marrugeku Company gets the
same wage, that’s our way of acknowledging
everyone’s skills. The community receives
a 3 per cent royalty when the show is sold.
Sometimes the community has asked that
its royalty be paid in particular things the
member may feel [they] need rather than
a cash payment.87
It is also important proper returns be flexible and
include but not be restricted to royalties or fees.
Case study: Mornington Island Dancers
(working with Dance North)
We wanted to get something back from
working together with professional people
in a theatre; learning about lighting, sound,
discipline and doing yoga. There were
amazing things happening in the process.88
8. Continuing cultures
Productions and festivals of Indigenous
performance have an important role in keeping
culture strong.
Case study: The Dreaming Festival
and Mornington Island Dancers
The Dreaming Festival has been working
with a core group of men from Mornington
Island for three years now. It has been a
really valuable process because the
community lost some of its most important
songmen in an accident a few years ago.
They were very worried because the young
people didn’t seem to be learning the
culture. About three years ago we went to
Mornington Island and sat with the men and
recorded some of their music. We assured
them that we would look after it, and not
allow anyone to use it.