News edition for 11 July 2026. Added to Nungya on 22 October 2026 as part of our retrospective news archive. Reporting reflects information available by the edition date.

A butterfly’s opening and closing wings provide a starting point for movement. In Imbala – The Dance of the Butterfly, that movement carries a family story into a public performance.

CIAF’s announcement, listed in its current archive on 17 June, scheduled Kawanji Dancers to present the work on 11 July. The presenter identifies the performers as Western Gu Gu Yalanji and describes a story carried through generations of the Kawanji Brady Family.

The public account connects the work with language, movement and intergenerational storytelling, within the festival’s Reclamation & Regeneration program. A related documentary is also described as part of the presentation.

There is a difference between reporting that a story is being shared and retelling every cultural detail available in a publicity article. This edition keeps the attention on the people presenting the work and the form they have chosen. Audiences can follow the original announcement for the context the presenter has made public.

Performance can hold continuity and change together: a story passed on, a contemporary stage, a new audience. The interesting question is not whether one cancels the other, but how the makers bring them into relationship. Read the program as an invitation to listen to those makers, with care for the boundaries that remain around their knowledge.

Read the original report: Butterfly songline takes flight at CIAF 2026.