Closing Party | Dance of Dissent
Yolanda Lowatta, Australian Dance Party, Chamaeleon Collective | Curated By Liz Lea
14 November 2026
Day + Time | Saturday | 6pm – 8pm
Location | National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, 1 McCoy Circuit, Acton ACT 2601
Entry | General Public $30 | Craft + Design Canberra Members $24 | Become a member here | Booking required
Access | Auslan interpretation, audio described, wheelchair accessible, accessible parking, accessible bathroom, assistance animals welcome
Join us in the courtyard of the National Film and Sound Archive to close the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival with an evening of dance, design and celebration under the Canberra sky.
Curated by acclaimed dance artist Liz Lea, Dance of Dissent brings the Festival theme to life through the most immediate medium of all: the human body. A series of solo performances by leading female dancers open the evening, each a distinct act of creative resistance through movement, costume, and presence. We are thrilled to present Yolanda Lowatta's acclaimed solo performance in partnership with Australian Dance Party.
The night closes with an ensemble work by the Chamaeleon Collective, Canberra’s first inclusive dance company of dancers with disability.
Dance is the Festival’s closing argument: bodies in motion, in space, and in community, dissenting against expectation, against exclusion, and against the limits of who is seen.
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Yolanda Lowatta is a Geidei woman from Iama, Zenadth Kes and is also of Papua New Guinea & Fijian heritage. In 2016 Yolanda was awarded a Helpmann award for Best Female Dancer in a Dance or Physical Theatre. During her four years with Bangarra Dance Theatre Yolanda danced nationally & internationally. Studying at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) Yolanda graduated in 2013 with her Diploma in Performing Arts. Throughout her professional dance career Yolanda has danced for Ochre Contemporary Dance Company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Yt Dingo, Jannawi Dance Clan, Australian Dance Party, Melanie Lane & Hot Brown Honey. Most recently Yolanda has been performing with Opera Australia in Leah Purcell's The Drovers Wife, performing seasons across Brisbane and Sydney.
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Celebrating 10 years in 2026, AUSTRALIAN DANCE PARTY (ADP) is a leading contemporary dance company based on Ngunnawal Country, Canberra. We create bold, socially responsive work that energises public space, activates cultural dialogue, and inspires audiences.
As the ACT’s largest employer of professional dance artists, ADP plays a pivotal role in sustaining the independent dance sector. We are consistently offering opportunities for viable careers in contemporary dance, supporting established artists, fostering emerging voices, and enabling return pathways for artists with strong ties to place.
Our work thrives at the intersection of dance, place, and purpose, presented in unconventional spaces such as national institutions, botanic gardens, solar farms, urban developments and waterways. Based at Gorman Arts Centre, we lead unique cross-artform collaborations and grow the visibility of Canberra’s cultural voice nationally.
SEE WEBSITE HERE -
The Chamaeleon Collective are a boutique offering of artistic excellence who epitomise the vision of a forward looking Canberra. The company provide professional mentoring and artistic pathways for emerging performing artists living with disability, with the aim of leading to empowerment and employment - Professional, Capable and Fabulous. The dancers have performed across the ACT, Australia and Asia. Most recently they have performed at the Sydney Opera House. They received an ACT Chief Minister's Award for Excellence in collaborating with people with Disability and are currently touring their children's show Buzzz ACT.
SEE WEBSITE HERE -
Liz Lea is a nationally and internationally recognised dance artist, choreographer, and producer. She directs three festivals (DANscienCE, BOLD, and I Dance) and was named 2017 ACT Artist of the Year, receiving the 2017 Australian Dance Award.
SEE ARTIST WEBSITE HERE -
The BOLD Festival celebrates the legacy of dance. Their events are an international presentation of intercultural, inclusive and intergenerational dance programming. BOLD draws on the legacies of cultural elders, celebrating the empowerment of aging. It provides a platform for older artists, to celebrate their longevity and nurtures intergenerational exchange seeding new works from emerging artists and their cultural legacies.
First presented in 2017 then in 2019, 2022 and 2024 BOLD has become an integral part of the dance world in the ACT and across Australia with strong international connections.
SEE WEBSITE HERE
Proudly supported by ACT Government and Bold Festival
Images | Ancient Knowledge Future Power | Photo by James Hiscutt 2026