For the festival’s Opening Night dance pageant punters were invited to bring a seat, slip on their street shoes and celebrate the abundant dance and musical talent of the region.
Part show ride, part street procession, and all danced, the Opening Night pageant drew upon our long history of agricultural show street parades and processions and melded it with the spin of a ride, the dynamics of dance and the spirit of a country street.
It began with a Wominjika welcome to country, and a dance specially created in collaboration with Jaara Jaara elders and hip hop dancers and finished with an 'all in' Samba. More than 150 central Victorian dancers and 2,000 audience members were joined by ‘Rocco Grimaldi and his Pandemonium band’ on the night.
