Laura is a small town about 800km from the tip of Cape York Peninsula and about 350km north-west of Cairns. Every two years the aboriginal communities of Cape York come together for the Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival. The Festival motto is "Uniting the Cape Through Corroborree".
In 2015, 17 communities participated in the Festival and the Dance Challenge.
The Festival is all about the dancers and their music. Dancers come from all communities on the Cape York Peninsula.
This year the Dance Challenge was won by the Lockhart River Dance Troupe from the mid-east coast.
The Naygayiw Gigi (Northern Thunder) Dancers from Bamaga in the far north took out the Most Visual award. They were camped near us and we were able to watch them practising.
Visitors come from all over Australia and overseas to see the diverse dancing, music and cultures of the Cape York Communities.
The Festival takes place over 3 days, this year on the 19/20/21 June, and has a very full programme. The days are long, starting at around 9am and running well into the evening.
The location is a natural amphitheatre 15km south of Laura where ceremonies have been performed for thousands of years.
Shortly after we arrived and set up camp on Thursday 18th June the roving crew from Channel 7's Sunrise TV programme camped next to us. They did a short live broadcast from the Festival on the Friday morning.
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