SCIENCE Week was celebrated in dance with a sunset performance in Civic by a large ensemble of dancers drawn from different schools and troupes from around Canberra.

Choreographer Liz Lea’s “Galaxy Project” was performed in Garema Place. She told the crowd the existence of gravitational waves had finally been proven, 100 years after Albert Einstein came up with his theory of their existence, and with that in mind, the dancing began.

Dancers from Fresh Funk created shapes and movement, centred around two dancers, set to a warped, galactic-inspired soundtrack. This gave way to hip hop numbers by crews from Bom Funk.

The performance included a reprise of dances presented at Stromlo earlier this year, for Dance Week. Dancers from the GOLDs group, dressed in shimmering, navy costumes presented as celestial beings were joined by Lea for their dance, set to ethereal music. The graceful fan dance, to Don McLean’s “Starry Starry Night” was also performed, the dancers smiling and fluttered fans over onlookers in the front row.

A Bollywood/jazz fusion segment had the crowd clapping along and lit up Garema Place with costumes of silver, red and blue sequins.

“Galaxy Project” included dancers of all ages, levels of experience and different cultures with a focus on hip hop and Indian dance and Bollywood. The dancers and choreographers were performing to celebrate science, exploring how it inspires dance and sharing those dances with the community in a readily accessible manner.

There will be another performance of “Galaxy Project” in Garema Place this afternoon at 3pm (Saturday, August 12).