Based in Cairns and co-ordinated through Arts Nexus Inc., Blackrobats is a collaborative community project that evolved out of free workshops facilitated by Circus Trainer, Kelli Craig in response to a need for activities aimed towards indigenous youth in regional North Queensland.

Blackrobats fuses diverse cultural elements such as traditional Aboriginal dance, with contemporary youth cultures including hip-hop, break dancing, circus and physical theatre in a performance-oriented framework.

It is well documented how circus skills and performance-based projects positively contribute to the development and motivation of young people in terms of self-esteem and confidence building.

A broader focus of the project is to involve training opportunities for the whole community in all areas of performance arts, technology, design, choreography, production and workshop facilitation. This would contribute to the professional development of our participants and encourage the consideration of career options in the performing arts industry.

Blackrobats aims to expand the horizons of the young people from the indigenous communities in Far North Queensland. Through workshops and performance opportunities, the young people are encouraged to develop skills and experience combined with safe and professional practices.

Blackrobats currently have approximately fifty young people between the ages of two and eighteeen and ten adults between the ages of nineteen and thirty seven that participate regularly. We are in the process of establishing outreach workshops that will be held in indigenous communities throughout the region.

We are fortunate to have the full support of Arts Nexus at a crucial time in our evolvement into a formal company structure. They provide access to their extensive networks and are able to provide many opportunities.

It is as a direct result of this partnership with Arts Nexus that we have been offered exclusive use of some of these new pieces. This will ensure many hours of excitement for indigenous youth all over the cape and audiences alike for many years to come.

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