In 2000 Betchay was a core artist in the Sticks ‘n’ Stones project that worked predominantly with youth from refugee and migrant backgrounds. This also led into the Two Fold Journey performance conceived by a young Sri Lankan woman and dancer Rukshana Ramachandaran.
In 2001 and 2002, through an Arts NT grant, Betchay was Multicultural Artist in Residence with Tracks. During this time, we worked together to bring cultural activity into the mainstream performances of Tracks. This passion of Betchay’s led to shows such as Mother Daughter performed on the main stage of the Darwin Entertainment Centre, Ignite where our youth dance leaders program began with a core of 8 diverse youth, and a strong cultural presence in Rivers of the Underground.
We continued a strong relationship with this community with Julia Quinn as our Dance Animateur, two youth Dance Animateurs, (Marko Taopo and Erwin Fennis), a large component of the Arafura Games Opening Ceremonies, and Without Sea.
In 2007 the company, led by Betchay, had a research trip to the Philippines, to engage and interact with the culture in situ. This was important for the Artistic Direction of the company as the Filipinos were such a key part of our work, and to more fully understand some of the roots of their love of singing, dancing, and culture in general. We were able to take a group of Filipino youth (Erwin, Marko, Estelle Esperanza Quindara, Vera Tabuzo), along with Kelly Beneforti (Anglo-Italian), Imanuel Dado (Chinese Indonesian), Julia Quinn (Filipino Irish), and Julia Gray (PNG).
Dancer Julia Quinn, of Filipino descent, worked with the company over the years. She danced in Gathering Ground in 1993 and shared several programs with Tracks as co-Director of Juniper Tree Dance Company. In 2003 Julia became our Dance Animatuer after being a core choreographer for Ignite in 2002. Julia oversaw our Youth Dance leaders program, and the was choreographer of our major youth shows Fast, Struck, Mr Big and the Arafura Games Opening Ceremony. As Animateur Julia also worked with and choreographed for the Grey Panthers. Julia continued to perform and had lead roles in A Bowls Club Wedding, and Crocodile Man Pineapple Woman.