Woodford Folk Festival 2013

Woodford Folk Festival 2013

A brand new venue featuring, a giant 3 metre bamboo crocodile, underwater special effects and a 15 metre earth stage near Woodfordia's village green will breathe exciting new life into the heart of the Woodford Festival site.

The race is on to get this ambitious new development finished in time for the start of the 28th Festival, beginning on 27th December 2013.

The iconic -pond' in the centre of the festival precinct has recently been drained, wetland wildlife lovingly relocated, and the banks reshaped to create this new space.

Last week it took five days to clear the pond of hundreds of tonnes of silt which was a result of a number of flood events. The renovations are part of a project called Malpa, which has been specially commissioned and produced for the Woodford Folk Festival. 

Festival Director, Bill Hauritz is very excited about this innovation at the Village Green." It's the view from our ceremonial bell and it's a favourite place for people to congregate, connect and relax.  From a performance perspective, we wanted to bring the audience much closer to the performers for a more intimate theatre experience, and produce a precious cultural performance, which befits the space."

Two Indigenous dance groups from the very top of Cape York will travel to Woodford to perform a spectacle of ancestral dance, traditional song and sound against a stunning backdrop of traditional artwork and sculpture, on the new Village Green stage, surrounded by water.

The Pormpuraaw and Injinoo clans will travel to Woodford on the 21st December, to work with Project Director, Jeremy Geia (a former NITV reporter, political correspondent and artist), and Woodfordian Producer, Kate McDonald, to assemble a unique and dramatic performance.

'It's going to be a must-see feature of our festival.  These dancers perform with an intensity of precise timing, focus and spiritual energy which will transform this new and quite spectacular venue," says producer, Kate McDonald.

The project, which is a massive logistical undertaking, is supported by Arts Queensland and is being funded through the Playing Queensland arts grants.  One purpose of these grants is to give artists in regional and remote areas the opportunity to engage in broader arts and festival experiences on a much larger scale.

For the Injinoo community members just getting to Woodford Festival will be an epic journey. First there is a ferry to Thursday Island, another to Horne Island, then from there they will fly to Cairns and then onto Brisbane and Woodford by air or road.

The dancers were asked to take the festival's theme, -Facing Your Fears Away', as the starting inspiration for their performances.   The groups will produce a collection of performances which reflect their spiritual, physical and contemporary fears. 

However, in developing these concepts, by far the strongest fear that resonated with the Cape York performers was the fear of losing their traditional knowledge and cultural practices in the generations to come.  It's a motivation which makes the journey worth it, however long.

It's a sentiment shared by fellow Festival performer, Shellie Morris, who will bring the Borroloola Songwomen to perform outside of their Yanyuwa community in Borroloola for the first time.  Shellie collaborated with the Songwomen on a recent album, Ngambala Wiji li-Wunungu (Together We Are Strong), in the Yanyuwa language, which is nominated in the upcoming ARIA Awards.

Sharing the Yanyuwa traditions and language, which has fewer than 10 fluent speakers, has a special significance for the performers and for festival organisers.

'We've found that our patrons yearn to find those genuine connections with traditional Indigenous culture and really treasure these types of experiences at the festival.  Both Malpa and the Borroloola Songwomen represent the sharing of culture, knowledge and song that are rarely seen outside of their communities, so it's going to be a special part of this year's festival," says McDonald.