The Cockies and the Children's Dance Event

The Children's Dance Event started in Tasmania as part of the Salamanca Arts Festival in 1980. On that occasion, about 200 children danced to taped music at Salamanca Place in Hobart. Since then, the event has grown in stature to become a highlight of the school dance curriculum.

In the early years of the Dance Event, Steven and Jane Ray undertook research for the event, with Steven co-ordinating the dances on the day. Since 1987, when The Cockies performed live at the event for the first time, the band has taken a leading role in its staging. By 1990, over 20,000 children were dancing to a program of dances arranged, choreographed, recorded and performed by The Cockies, at a variety of venues across Tasmania.

Many organisations supported the event during those years, providing the facilities that help produce dance tapes and instruction booklets. However, in 1991, for the first time since it started, the event was not staged because of resource constraints in an era of cost cutting.

Rather than let the event slip from the calendar, The Cockies took the initiative, and in 1992 produced dance kits themselves, releasing the first two volumes of The Cockies' Dance Collection ("Family Dances" and "Dances from Everywhere"). The band collected all the dances and the music, welcoming the help of local school children to design and test the choreography, and this formed the foundation for the event. In 1996, The Cockies released the third volume, "Dancing All Over The Place", following this in 1999 with a compilation CD "One and two and . . ." containing the best of the first two volumes.

The Children's Dance Event became a biennial in 1998, but soon after expanded to take in the regional areas of Tasmania, alternating between the metropolitan and regional centres each year. It reflects the diverse nature of Australian society today, drawing on the many folk traditions that form the Australian musical heritage, including American, Bulgarian, Canadian, Celtic, French, Greek, Israeli and other traditions.

Children dancing to The Cockies in 1991, drawn by Amy Gardner (then aged 7)

Kids dancing to The Cockies in Launceston

last updated by mikko; 13 November, 2001