Celebration of Dance

Meet the Artists

• Ngioka Bunda-Heath

  

  Ngioka Bunda-Heath is Wakka Wakka, Ngugi from Queensland (matrilineal); and Birrpai from New South Wales (patrilineal). She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) at the Victorian College of the Arts- the first Aboriginal woman to graduate in her field.  

   Ngioka is the current Hutchinson Indigenous Fellowship and Residency recipient at the VCA.   

  She worked for Bangarra Dance Theatre in “Rekindling” their youth education program; and is the First Peoples Partnership Coordinator at Chunky Move.   

   Ngioka has performed in works by the esteemed choreographers Mariaa Randall, Sarah Aiken, Rebecca Jensen, and Amrita Hepi. Internationally, she’s participated in dance conferences, festivals and residencies in New Caledonia, France, Canada, and the USA.   

  Ngioka’s choreographic work includes Blood Quantum (2019), Birrpai (2021) awarded Dance Best Duo/Ensemble at the Greenroom Awards and Bridge (2022).    

  Email: ngioka@chunkymove.com.au  
  Instagram @missngioka 

• Joshinder Chaggar

  

  Joshinder Chaggar is a Melbourne based dance theatre artist. She is a dancer, choreographer, actor, teacher, writer and film-maker. She is currently undertaking her PhD candidature at Deakin university, researching identity and interculturalism through dance. Her work is influenced by physical theatre, Indian folk, classical and Bollywood dance. Joshinder spent ten years in Karachi, Pakistan (2007-2017), working in theatre, television, live events and films. She also taught ‘Movement for Actors’ at the National Academy of Performing Arts in Karachi. She has participated in many festivals locally and internationally such as the Edinburgh showcase 2017, Mapping Melbourne 2017, NAPA International theatre festival (Karachi), Karachi Biennale 2017, Kunstareal Fest 2017 (Munich), Emerge in Yarra (2018), India @Mindil 2019 (Darwin), Dancing Between Two Worlds (2019) and IndiaFest 2022 (Townsville). She is the recipient of a collaborative Green Room Award (2022), ‘Best Cabaret’, for the work TakeBack (Role – performer). 

  Joshinder works extensively with the senior community, teaching a Bollywood Seniors class since 2018, at Studio J Dance. She also runs Bollywood workshops at school for young children during the school holidays and during Indian festivals, such as Diwali, through Sapphire Dance. Additionally, she runs Laughter Therapy workshops at Laneway Learning.  

  Email: Joshinder@gmail.com
  Instagram: @joshinderkaurchaggar
  Facebook: Joshinder Kaur Chaggar