Lena Parkes is a proud Malyangapa and Ngiyampaa woman who was born and raised on Wiradjuri Country in Albury, New South Wales. Lena is currently studying for her Advanced Diploma at NAISDA. Prior to this, she was a member of the Bouncing River Kids Program at the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. Lena danced with the Wiradjuri Echoes throughout high school and performed at Multicultural Festival in 2019.
Lena performed in NAISDA’s 2021 End of Year production ‘yadhaba ngura’ created and choreographed by Angie Diaz, Pamela Williams, Sean Byrnes, Dujon Niue, and Tahlia Watton.
Lena has developed choreography with Jannawi Dance Clan and performed their work at Mardi Gras 2022. She also performed in NAISDA’s ‘ATI’ directed and choreographed by Deon Hastie at Carriageworks Sydney in 2023 and ‘The Trees have Voices, the Feet have Ears’ in 2024 directed by Vicki Van Hout.
Lena has a passion for hip hop and Contemporary Indigenous Dance. She aspires to use her skills to develop her own future work.