Canberra boasts some of the best museums in the country, but the real question is, can the staff dance?
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The Museum Dance Off competition has asked that question for the past four years, with staff from museums, galleries, libraries and archives all around the world putting on their dancing shoes and getting in front of the camera to compete for a tropy and bragging rights.
Run by website When You Work At a Museum, this year's competition includes entries from the USA, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Hungary, Ukraine and Australia.
From Canberra, both the NFSA (National Film and Sound Archive) and the NPG (National Portrait Gallery) are participating this year, and both institutions have looked to the past for inspiration in their clips.
At the NFSA it's all about Kylie Minogue, with a dance chorographed to her '90s hit Step Back in Time. The clip features a huge number of staff from their offices all over the country, including curators and others who typically work behind closed doors, dancing through the archives, complete with plenty of feather boas, and even an appearance by a cardboard Hugh Jackman.
The NPG has focussed on the hits of 1998 in celebration of their 20th birthday. With a soundtrack featuring everyone from Fatboy Slim, Madonna and Lauryn Hill to Britney Spears, the Beastie Boys and Will Smith, the video shows staff, dancing, singing, juggling and playing air guitar throughout the gallery.
Director Angus Tumble makes an appearance with some impressive lipsyncing to Cher's Believe, and even the security staff feature, showing off their Irish dancing abilities to B*Witched's C'est La Vie. You can see their clip here.
Given the amount of entries from around the world, museums are first going through heats, with the public able to vote for who progresses to the next round. Both the NFSA and NPG will go up against the History Trust of South Australia in Adelaide this week
Voting for this heat opens at 10pm Thursday, April 19 and will be open for 24 hours at whenyouworkatamuseum.com.
The winner of this round will go on to the Australian final on May 7, and a national winner will then participate in the international ‘Thunderdome’ final on May 14.
