The Ochre Contemporary Dance Company officially kicked off their residency program with the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre on Wednesday.
The official opening kicked off with a Welcome to Country from Troy Bennell who gave a moving performance on the didgeridoo.
Mayor Gary Brennan came down to take part in the celebration.
The Perth dance company is hoping their time in the South West will improve their performances and give them the opportunity to help local creative talent get off the ground with rehearsals for their performance of Kaya beginning today.
The dancers have been collected from around the globe to work towards creating the new performance to tour the state.
The company are also offering workshops on contemporary dance, traditional Indigenous dance, music writing and story telling.
Ochre holds dance classes in indian, maori, hip hop, indigenous dance as well as workshops for promising playwrights and musicians.
BREC general manager Sharon Custers said during the five weeks the company and BREC will be working together Bunbury will have a range of opportunities presented.
“Bunbury will benefit from the work Ochre will do, the program will provide a next level experience for local actors, directors, dancers and performers,” she said.
Ochre art director and ex-Busselton local Mark Howett said their time with BREC will help develop regional talent.
“This is what we want to do here in collaboration with BREC, we want to start a fire of creativity in Bunbury, to inspire and build on local performing artists is important to us,” he said.
“We need Bunbury to get excited about our work here and hopefully we’ll be able to continue our work here,” he said.
The final presentation of Kaya will be in the Cube theater at BREC on Thursday, September 15 and Friday, September 17 before setting out on tour around the state.
For more information on Ochre Dance Company and their workshops contact Kelsie Miller at BREC on 9792 3111.