BLUE is the new favourite colour at St Andrew’s Catholic College in Cairns after former student Evie Ferris was announced as the new blue Wiggle.
The 24-year-old attended STACC until Year 7 leaving to pursue her dreams as a dancer and audition for the Australian Ballet Company.
As a Taribelang/ Djabugay woman, Evie Ferris is only the second Aborigional Australian woman to join the Australian Ballet company – and now she’s the first to join The Wiggles.
She first performed with The Wiggles for their song ‘We’re All Fruit Salad’ earlier this year.
Now the highly-versatile dancer will appear wearing a blue Wiggles skivvy as well as a pair of blue ballet shoes.
“She loves dancing, doing yoga and reading,” her profile on The Wiggles website reads.
Ms Ferris told the blogsite Artistic and Holistic that she started dancing at a ballet school in Cairns at the age of three.
“I loved dancing in general and trained in all genres; tap, jazz, ballet, acro etc,” she said.
“At nine I was accepted into The Australian Ballet School’s ITP (International Training Program), which led me to audition for their fulltime program.
“Both my sister and I were accepted, so my whole family made the big move to Melbourne.
“I remained at the school for six years until joining the company in 2016.”
Ms Ferris is one of four new main characters to join The Wiggles ensemble.
She joins Tsehay Hawkins, an award-winning ballet dancer of Ethiopian descent Kelly Hamilton, a Chinese/Australian woman who has previously performed as a dancer with The Wiggles, Sesame Street Live and Dora The Explorer, as well as former Justice Crew member John Pearce, who hails from a Filipino background.
As a First Nations Australian, Ms Ferris said she is trying to do her part to keep indigenous culture alive.
“Stories are passed on through vocal and physical means in Aboriginal culture and it’s the same in ballet,” she told Artistic and Holistic.
“Ballet doesn’t have the vocal, but it’s all through the physicality of dance, I feel that is such a beautiful way to tell a story.
“Maintaining my cultural connection reiterates to me how vital storytelling is and the importance of expressing it through art.
“Taribelang hails from Bundaberg and that is where my paternal grandmother is from, so it is part of my bloodline.
“Djabugay comes from where I grew up in Cairns.
“These connections mean I identify with both cultures.
“Our Taribelang totems are a pelican and lungfish, both of which carry different symbolisms.
“Pelicans are symbols of love and sacrifice, stemming from the legend of pelicans giving their own blood and life in order to save their off-spring.
“Lungfish symbolise connection to dreams and ancestors and understanding dormancy.”
