Q&A with Robina local Lucas Proudfoot

Performing across the nation

Meet Lucas Proudfoot – multi-talented Indigenous storyteller, children’s performer and former world number nine professional long-board surfer.

The long-time Robina local and member of the Tweed Coast’s Aboriginal and Islander community, has been performing to over 200,000 children across the nation annually for the past six years with his show, Circular Rhythm. The one-man high-energy performance features guitar, didgeridoo and stomp box with the goal of helping the next generation feel proud of where they have come from.

After many years travelling Australia and the world, Lucas has decided to put his experiences to paper. His latest endeavour, a six-part adventure series named The Proud Foots, is written for six to ten year olds and highlights Australia’s diverse Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander cultures, while touching on other cultures from around the globe.

We sat down with Lucas to pick his brain on his eclectic journey and how he wound up in Robina.

Tell us about your journey?

My heritage, as a member of the Tweed Coast Aboriginal and Islander community, ignited my flame for storytelling.

I began dancing and performing back in high school, when I joined an Indigenous cultural dance group on the Tweed Coast, which led me to perform all around Australia, as well as overseas in Asia and Brazil.

When I left school, I took on the professional surfing circuit for five years and became an internationally-ranked long-board surfer, reaching a career high of world number nine.

While surfing, I formed a band called Max Judo, which played gigs in Northern New South Wales and the Gold Coast. Eventually, we found ourselves performing all over the world for the decade from 2000 to 2010 in countries including Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, Portugal, Hawaii and South Africa.

After 15 years’ travelling, I found myself back in Robina to start my little family.

Why did you decide to get into live shows in schools?

When I hit the age of 30, I realised I had some pretty awesome educational experiences from over the past 15 years that would be perfect to turn into a fun and educational show. I wanted to demonstrate the power of music, culture and travel for the next generation in an entertaining and interactive way.

I wanted children to feel proud of their heritage and where they come from, so I started my show, Circular Rhythm, and for the past eight years I’ve been travelling to schools all around Australia for six to eight months of the year.

After awhile, teachers started to ask me what else I could bring to the table besides a live show, as they wanted to provide more information about Indigenous culture to their students.

I started to put my ideas down on paper and created a nice story about my travels around Australia and overseas, communicated through make-believe characters.

This began three years ago, but I really started honing the drafts in July last year. It’s been an amazing journey and I have recently released my very first book in a series of six, called The Proud Foots: Shaka Shaka Hawaii.

It is aimed at six to ten-year-olds, with the goal of keeping them entertained while delivering powerful messages on a range of topics, which parents and teachers can then discuss further in classrooms and in homes around Australia.

It is fun to see how children react to the characters and fantastic to know their imaginations are getting lost in a completely new world for a fleeting moment.

How many schools and children have you visited during your time on the road?

I average close to 300 shows a year, visiting 10 to 20 schools each month and reaching around 200,000 kids annually.

By doing this for the past eight years, I have been able to gauge an understanding of my audience, which has been vital information in producing my books.

This year, I aim to tour with the show less to spend more time with my family, including my wife and my 22-month-old daughter.

What do you love about Robina?

I’m born and bred on the Tweed Coast and am very passionate about the education and awareness of Indigenous culture down there. However, I now work in Brisbane three to four days a week and my wife works in Broadbeach, so we decided to make the move to Robina 12 years ago because of its central position. We both absolutely love it here, the location really is second-to-none. We are so close to all of the services we could possible need, everything is around us.