Not a Dry Eye at Awakening Spirits Sell-Out Show

The PCYC’s Awakening Spirits 2026 moved audiences on Wednesday 11 March with touching stories told through dance.

An audience of more than 1000 was drawn to watch 200 performers in a sold-out session at the Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre.

Awakening Spirits is an annual performance that brings together young people from 13 schools across Mackay, who take part in PCYC's Cultural Arts in Dance program. Since beginning in 2022, the audience has rocketed from just 175 people to a sold-out audience at the convention centre this year.

The piece performed was ‘The Waterhole’, a concept and story developed by PCYC Queensland’s First Nations Coordinator and the man behind Cultural Arts In Dance, Patrick Thaiday. It is inspired by the magical stories of The Myths and Legends of the Torres Strait, a book written by the late Margaret Lawrie.

The story begins with Tilly, a white sulphur-crested cockatoo, who watches as a plume of smoke rises from the canopy of the Australian outback bush lands. Indigenous warriors and hunters from communities conduct a cultural burn – a land management practice refined over thousands of years. From her vantage point, Tilly observes the hunters moving alongside the fire’s perimeter, tracking animals displaced by its flames.

As the story goes on, the waterhole, long a point of convergence for countless species, begins to change. Tilly notices a dark, viscous substance appearing beneath the surface. Drawn by concern she descends to investigate. As her feet touch the water, the substance adheres to her feathers releasing harsh toxic fumes that engulf her feet. She takes flight only to be flipped over by the weight of her wings. Her bright plumage darkens rapidly, and her beak blackens under the spreading poison. When Tilly rises again, she is no longer the white cockatoo she once was. Transformed by the dark waters, she takes form of a willy wagtail – a creature associated with omens, messages, and transitions. This metamorphosis positions her within a larger conflict, linking her fate to forces that extend far beyond the waterholes edge.

Now known as Willy the Wagtail, she becomes a bearer of warnings and stories, navigating a world where ancient myth and emerging threats collide.

When the story of ‘The Waterhole’ ends, all performers returned to perform a choreographed dance to The Seekers song, I am Australian.

We are one, but we are many

And from all the lands on earth we come

We'll share a dream and sing with one voice

"I am, you are, we are Australian"

The bright smiles, excitement, and emotion from the performers did not leave many dry eyes in the auditorium; the room filling with a feeling: this is what we want our Australia to be.

Contributed with thanks to PCYC Queensland’s First Nations State Partnerships Manager Michael Cedar

1-4 - Spirits were high as Mackay’s young dancing stars took to the stage. Photos supplied.