Thank you for the music: Canberran dancers and singers uniting for Sing Australia’s National Gathering

Posted on 16 September, 2026

For three days in October, over 150 Canberra musicians and dancers will come together alongside music lovers from around Australia to bring some of Sydney’s most iconic venues to life with the sound of music (corny, I know, sorry).

It’s all thanks to Sing Australia’s National Gathering, which invites members of their singing groups across Australia to unite.

Canberran Charles Miller is the National Director of Sing Australia and is gearing up for what will be his first National Gathering.

“There is quite an excitement around the network. It is largely based around singing obviously, but it’s also the fact that it’s such a great opportunity for people to come together and have a dance and sing with each other,” Charles says.

Charles won’t be the only Canberran in attendance, with members from all three of the ACT’s Sing Australia groups coming along to the convention.

“There are 67 groups across Australia, and of those, 61 have at least one person coming. I’ve got three groups in Canberra – Belconnen, central Canberra, and Tuggeranong, so there’s about 70 people from Canberra coming.” Charles says.

But it’s not just singers who are making the trip.

The Stellar Company, a local not-for-profit group, has been invited to perform at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday 31 October as part of the National Gathering.

There will also be 80 ACT community dancers, emerging artists, and independent professionals who will unite with the singers on stage as they perform dances to accompany the songs.

The dancers will be coming from the Chamealeon Collective, BOLD Moves, Project Dust, the GOLD Company, Hilal Dance Australia, Bom Funk, as well as some independent professionals.

Under the watchful guidance of Liz Lea, the company’s Artistic Director, the dancers are learning the moves and preparing for the big day.

“When I reached out to a number of the dancers, and I said, ‘What do you think about performing at the Sydney Opera House?’, they all just kind of passed out and fell off their chairs,” Liz recalls.

“They didn’t exactly, but everyone was excited.”

Liz is excited for the whole experience to be rewarding, and not the high-stakes pressure environment you might expect when performing on such an iconic stage.

“The idea is that it’s about going up there and having the opportunity to experience performing, whether it’s singing or dancing, on that stage.”

Each of the groups are learning their dances individually, and will come together to practice as a group closer to the day.

Not all the dancers and singers will be on stage at the same time, as Charles explains – there’s simply too many to fit!

“There will be two acts on the Saturday, so 50 per cent of the dancers and the singers will perform to an audience of their peers plus an audience of family and friends,” Charles says.

“In intermission we’ll do the crazy swap over of everybody and then do act two with the other dancers and singers performing in front of those who were just on stage.”

Liz says the dancers will be performing to a variety of songs, including Rocky Mountain High, You Raise Me Up, and Dancing Queen.

“We’ve got a bit of funk, we’ve got some showgirls, there’s quite a lot of contemporary dance and open movement that’s accessible for dancers of all ages and abilities to be able to do,” Liz shares.

“But also, it’s the kind of movement that responds really closely to the music, so that hopefully an audience who’s not necessarily into dance could feel like they could be up on stage doing it too.”

Liz and Charles have worked closely in preparing for the event, pouring over the 13 different songbooks and the songs contained inside at their disposal.

During the event, the singers will be performing songs from the songbooks which are used every week, meaning the members are familiar with all the tunes and lyrics.

While the dancers are debuting during the Saturday event, Friday and Sunday will see the singers partake in what Charles is calling a ‘reverse performance’.

“For the major singing events on Friday and Sunday, there will be a conductor and accompanist, but the audience is actually the performers, so they’ll stand in the seats and sing to the front.”

On Sunday, the singers will perform in the bowl of the Sydney Cricket Ground, in the same format as Friday – the conductor and accompanist on the oval facing the performers in the stands.

Taking a step back, Liz believes this event is a great example of how alive the arts scene is in Canberra.

“I think what is very exciting about it all, though, is the breadth of the performers coming from Canberra from all different backgrounds, going to perform in this particular venue,” Liz says.

“From my perspective, it really speaks to the power of the arts world in Canberra and the community arts world where everybody is really excited to collaborate, engage, connect and to make this happen.”

Images: O&J Wikner Photography.