The Chooky Dancers from Elcho Island performed at Yelangi as part of the Healthy Lifestyle Program.

Yelangi in partnership with Kooemba sponsored the Chooky Dancers to undertake a mini tour of Brisbane. The Chooky Dancers performed at the Murri School, QUT, Kobara, Yelangi and at Musgrave Park. The members of the Chooky Dancers are recognised in their community and in Northern Territory for campaigning against petrol sniffing and drugs and alcohol use amongst Indigenous youths and communities.

The Chooky Dancers presence at Yelangi supported the theme of the Healthy Lifestyle program that was run at Yelangi. The Healthy Lifestyle program was sponsored by Department of Local Government, Planning, Sports and Recreation. The Healthy Lifestyle Program promoted the introduction of healthy lifestyles amongst indigenous parents and students. It also focused on assisting parents to develop and build resources and methods to introduce simple ingredients into their households and lifestyle, that would kick start a healthy lifestyle.

The program proved to be very successful. Several activities such as the underwater running classes would continue until the end of the calendar year.

The Chooky Dancers presence at Yelangi sent a clear message to parents and the community that our culture and lifestyle is forever evolving and that we have to make the best of it. The Chooky dancers performed several traditional dancers and jeered the crowd with their performance of Zorba the Greek. To date the Chooky Dancers have had over 700,000 hits on their You Tube Site. They are expected to visit Yelangi again in June this year.

Children aged between 3-6 years old have an instinctive need to move and keep active. In fact, at three years of age children are more active than any other age in the human life span (Maude, 2001:37). Yelangi intends to develop a program that incorporates the whole family, and which harnesses the energy of the early years. Through this program, Yelangi intends to develop a holistic program which incorporates healthy lifestyle training and physical education learning experiences. The program will include:

• Indigenous cultural aerobics with Marcus Pedro.
• Swimming once a week under the supervision of a swim instructor.
• Development of an interactive computer game for children which reinforces healthy and active lifestyles.
• " Incorporation of the 'Healthier Lifestyle' Program into our centres service delivery in partnership with QHealth (includes several workshops with both the parents and children to learn the importance of a healthier lifestyle).