First Nations dance ensemble

Participation in the ensemble is open to groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who currently attend a NSW public school from Kindergarten to Year 12 (in 2027).

Groups comprising students of all abilities are encouraged to nominate.

There is no audition video required to be part of the First Nations dance ensemble and no upper limit on the number of students each school can nominate. We encourage all schools to extend this opportunity to the widest range of students possible. 

Teachers will be informed of the final numbers accepted into the event once all applications close. Changes to nominated numbers may be required due to considerations around venue capacity for rehearsals and performances as well as ensuring access to the event is open to as many schools as possible.

At this time, teachers will also be informed if they have been allocated as Cast A – Monday 15 March 2027, Cast B – Tuesday 16 March 2027, Cast C – Thursday 18 March 2027, or Cast D – Friday 19 March 2027. As part of the application process, teachers will be able to preference dates they are available for the performance. In 2027, all members of all casts of the First Nations dance ensemble will rehearse on the same day (Monday 1 March) at Netball Central.

Students participating in their school group for First Nations dance ensemble may also participate with their school group in massed dance.  These students will be required to pay a separate resource fee for each category.

Please note, this category is for groups from schools, accompanied by a teacher. Individual students wishing to participate in massed dance should apply via the individual First Nations dancer (First Nations dance ensemble) category, which will open in early Term 4

Additionally, talented dancers should consider applying for the Pulse Alive Dance Company.

To ensure the ongoing viability of the show, the Pulse Alive team introduced some changes to the nomination process for the 2024 event, which remain in place for 2027:

• Submission of the online nomination form commits your school to paying the student resource fee ($55 per student), whether or not you end up participating in the event. All schools who apply will be given access to the choreography and choral music resources, as well as provided with a t-shirt for each student who applies. It will not be possible to issue any refunds if students or schools withdraw after the closing date of the online nomination form.
• The t-shirt order will form part of the nomination process – please ascertain your students' t-shirt sizes prior to submitting the nomination form. There may be limited opportunity for size swaps in early 2027 to accommodate changes in the make-up of your participating group.
• To assist in this process, the Permission to publish and participate form for Pulse Alive 2027 is now available – this will enable you to send information out to your students so you can confirm numbers prior to submitting your online nomination form. These forms should be kept on file at your school and not returned to The Arts Unit.

Thank you in advance for your understanding around these changes. They have been put in place to ensure that Pulse Alive is able to continue providing these opportunities for equity and excellence in arts education well into the future.

Dates: See key dates for more info
Time: 9 am – 2:30 pm
Venue: Netball Central – 2 Olympic Boulevard, Sydney Olympic Park

• All schools involved in the First Nations dance ensemble must attend a full-day preliminary rehearsal on Monday 1 March (Term 1 Week 5), prior to Pulse Alive 2027.
• Whilst all schools will attend the same rehearsal, schools will be allocated one of the three performance dates. Confirmed performance dates will be communicated to schools on acceptance into the show in early Term 4.
• Schools are expected to attend their preliminary rehearsal in person.  
• Schools will be required to attend their preliminary rehearsal for the full day. Transport arrangements must be made to ensure schools arrive before the start of the rehearsal and are able to stay all the way through until the end of the rehearsal.
• Provision will be made for schools more than 2 hours travel time from Sydney Olympic Park participating in the First Nations dance ensemble to attend preliminary rehearsals virtually if required.

• Performance day includes a compulsory final rehearsal, venue rehearsal and performance.
• Schools should expect to be in attendance from 8 am to 10 pm on their performance day. Final schedule details will be communicated in early Term 1 2027.
• All schools must attend these compulsory rehearsals in person.

The costume for the First Nations dance ensemble will be as follows:

• Coloured Pulse Alive t-shirt – this is the show t-shirt that is included within your student resource fee. The colour will be confirmed in early Term 4.
• Long black tights/pants – supplied by students. We are pretty flexible on what these are, as long as they are preferably full length. 
• White socks – supplied by students.
• White shoes with white soles – supplied by students. See photos for examples.

Any white shoes are fine as long as they also have white soles (this is so we don’t damage the flooring that we will be dancing on). It is fine if the top of the shoes have small sections that aren’t white – as long as white is the dominant colour. White shoes are available at a low cost from stores like Kmart and Big W.

As with previous years, an optional hoodie will be made available for ordering for students and staff that wish to do so. This information will be distributed in early Term 4.

There will be a resource fee of $55 per student. 

The resource fee assists with the costs involved in the conductors, choreographers and tutors working with the students, supports a number of music copyright costs and the creation of teaching resources and includes a Pulse Alive t-shirt, which will be worn by all performers as their costume during the event.

For school groups participating in the First Nations dance ensemble, the resource fee will be direct-debited in late Term 4, based on the number of students applied for during the nomination process. It will not be possible to issue any refunds if students or schools withdraw after the closing date of the online nomination form.

Third-party content attributions

Pulse Alive images, photographer: Anna Warr