Chooky Dancers
"Yolngu Zorba," a three-minute clip of 10 Yolngu boys in loin cloth and body paint dancing Aboriginal-style to a disco version of Zorba the Greek, has scored almost 800,000 hits on YouTube since October and resulted in the crew, from remote Elcho Island, nabbing performance dates in Darwin, Queensland, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.
Troupe, dubbed the Chooky Dancers, started getting attention after broadcaster Frank Djirrimbilpilwuy posted grainy footage of their dance.
The hourlong act now includes traditional songs as well as contempo numbers, but was developed originally as a way to alleviate boredom in their sparsely populated island.
The troupe, aged 15 to 26, speak English as a sixth or seventh language, so Djirrimbilpilwuy has assumed management of troupe's increasingly hectic schedule.
In August, a tour to Greece, the U.K. and mainland Europe beckons, but "at the moment we're working on the local level, taking it really slowly," Djirrimbilpilwuy says.
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