An audio-visual guide to Dance Rites

Sydney Opera House, 2019

Every year, the Sydney Opera House holds Dance Rites, a national First Nations dance competition inviting groups from across First Nations in Australia to perform.

We wanted to create an engaging online 'handbook' that introduced readers to the groups, as well as teaching them about the lives of First Peoples through language.

I was inspired by the New York Times' 'This is 18' feature, as well as the 'Have You Heard This?' series, which uses the Soundcite library to create 'listenable' lyric snippets. We used the same library to create clickable audio definitions in language, which I recorded (narrated by Rhoda Roberts), edited and mixed in the Opera House's recording & broadcast studio. The full-width carousel was written using the Slick library. The website was developed using Shorthand, a platform designed for visual and interactive editorial features.

View the guide (opens in new tab)