Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Australian dance company that works with traditions going back at least 40,000 years, while also reflecting the lives and attitudes of Aboriginal people today. Stephen Page, the companys Artistic Director, discusses the relationship between his Aboriginal heritage and the creative process in Bangarras work.
Bangarra Dance Theatre blends traditional Aboriginal history and culture with world-class contemporary dance to create a truly Australian dance language. As well as performing across Australia, Bangarra has a prominent place on the international touring circuit. A sell-out USA tour in 2001 established the company as a global dance phenomenon. Since then, Bangarra has performed in China, Monaco, New Zealand and Japan, as well as returning to New York in 2004 to perform at the Next Wave Festival by special invitation. In September this year, the company will tour the UK with its show Bush including London performances at Sadlers Wells.
The mediums I work in are physical, poetic, spiritual and emotional. In those moments as we sit in the darkened theatre or around the night-time campfire, we share a community of the soul, a coming together of people prepared to give themselves over to a shared cultural experience. As a young urban Aboriginal man, I went on a remote area tour to Arnhemland in north east Australia where I experienced traditional culture for the first time. I could see that there was a culture thats living and breathing the old ways. I was adopted into the families of Bunduk Marika and Djakapurra Munyaryun and became connected with the customs, values, religions and traditions. This was a profound experience that has informed my creative work ever since and continues to do so.
The medium of dance theatre is closest to the artforms of traditional artistic kinship. Traditional Aboriginal culture is always sung, danced and painted. If the dreamer is going to tell a story its done through song or dance. I draw from these sacred connections to research and create my works.
The true leaders of our Bangarra clan are the traditional elders, who are the cultural custodians. It is a great honour to be trusted by them to interpret their traditional stories and put them in the public domain, bringing them into the mainstream. I feel and live the responsibility of being a caretaker of these customs and traditions. I have to treat them with the same respect and integrity. Cultural protocols add another level to the process of creating a work. A choreographer like Meryl Tankard doesnt have to go and talk to Hans Christian Anderson and sit with the family and ask permission to re-tell the tale of the Wild Swan although maybe shed like to be able to!
The elders provide the stimulation and the stories that are the creative spark for my work. In turn, I talk in images in my discussions with the dancers telling stories and sharing our experiences. I like to think there is an honesty to that process. And I hope that through Bangarras works, it is possible for audiences to share in the significance of that process.
The dancers are also grounded by their experiences working with Indigenous communities, whether theyre in the central desert or in the heart of the city. The young kids dont want to do culture anymore theyre into pop culture, theyre into petrol sniffing and all the social dilemmas. We go there as teachers, and we go to bridge the gap between them and the elders so that they can see this young, sassy, urban company that is proud of its culture. It psyches the kids into understanding the dreaming, and if its strong enough it will challenge their perceptions. This grassroots activity keeps Bangarra strong and feeds our inner cause and purpose. n
Stephen Page is Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre.
w: http://www.bangarra.com.au
Bangarra Dance Theatre is touring the UK in September as part of Undergrowth.
w: http://www.undergrowth.org.uk
Salisbury International Arts Festival, which opens this week, boasts a large Aboriginal Cultural Showcase.
w: http://www.salisburyfestival.co.uk