Barefoot Divas Head To NA

Barefoot Divas, a collection of six award-winning indigenous women from the Australian-Pacific region, is heading for North America with the “Walk A Mile In My Shoes” show.

U.S. Tour Poster

The group – Australian actor and singer-songwriter Ursula Yovich and soul singer Emma Donovan, New Zealand’s Whirimako Black, Maisey Rika and Merenia and singer Ngaiire from Papua New Guinea – was put together by Sydney artist manager Vicki Gordon for the Sydney and New Zealand International Arts Festivals in 2012.

Their combination of six-part harmonies, with original songs in five Aboriginal languages with a fusion of English and Maori in a contemporary setting, saw the show become a hit at the current Australian summer festival season.

The show garnered four standing ovations at the Mullum Music Festival.

The Jan. 30 to Feb. 17 North American tour is organized by Karen Fischer of Pasifika Artists Network in Wailuku, Hawaii.

Stops include Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, Calif., the Leeward Theatre Pearl City Hawaii, the Banff Centre for Performing Arts in Canada and the Town Hall in Seattle.

Barefoot Divas will also outreach to disadvantaged communities, youth and young women, and engage with First Nations people in North America.

Full details, barefootdivas.com.au.