The 50th Sydney Festival will feature Garabari, a Wiradjuri choreographed work by Joel Bray, performed as an open-air piece at Bennelong Point along the Opera House broadwalk with audience participation.

Centered on a drought-era creation story, the performance portrays goanna women challenging goanna men over water, with Balana climbing a nearby mountain to form the Murrumbidgee River, a feminist tale reflecting modern concerns about resource hoarding.

Bray collaborated with Wiradjuri elders and language speakers, including Letitia Harris and his father Uncle Christopher Kirkbright, to reconstruct a new corroboree after the loss of the original dances and songs.

The 2026 Sydney Festival theme invites audiences to find common ground through ceremonial acts, reinforcing the festival’s role in shaping community and Sydney’s identity.

Garabari reimagines First Nations storytelling by inviting non-Indigenous audiences to participate in the dance as the tale of the Murrumbidgee River’s creation unfolds.

The work nods to a historical Bennelong Point corroboree in which whitefellas were invited to join, tying together past cross-cultural engagement with contemporary celebration.

Beyond Garabari, the festival lineup features Mama Does Derby, a play about a single mother and her daughter in roller derby, Tibetan-Australian artist Tenzin Choegyal, and Efectos Especiales, a production turning a Walsh Bay street into a live film set.

Sydney Festival runs from January 8–25, 2026, with Garabari at Bennelong Point serving as a centerpiece of the program.