BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE Education Kit
Fire education kit - Merrigong Theatre Company
Fire education kit - Merrigong Theatre Company
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<strong>BANGARRA</strong> <strong>DANCE</strong> <strong>THEATRE</strong><br />
<strong>Education</strong> <strong>Kit</strong><br />
1
Contents:<br />
Page 3<br />
Page 4<br />
Page 5<br />
Page 6<br />
Page 8<br />
Page 9<br />
Page 11<br />
Page 13<br />
Page 15<br />
Page 17<br />
Page 20<br />
Page 24<br />
Page 27<br />
Page 32<br />
Page 33<br />
How to use these notes<br />
Company Vision<br />
Company Profile<br />
Company Chronology<br />
Key Aspects of Aboriginal Spirituality<br />
Message from Stephen Page Artistic Director<br />
Ochres<br />
Fish<br />
Skin<br />
Corroboree<br />
Walkabout<br />
Bush<br />
Unaipon<br />
Production Credits<br />
Suggestions for Study<br />
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How to use these notes<br />
These notes are designed to enhance studentsʼ knowledge about, and responses to,<br />
performance experiences. They provide information about the performance and suggest student<br />
activities.<br />
The notes will give you the ability to prepare your students for the process of reading and<br />
interpreting a performance whether that be through performance themes, form and style, or<br />
design elements. This material will help you lead students to discover information, to explore<br />
processes, and to respond in critical and creative ways.<br />
More information on the company is also accessible through Bangarraʼs website<br />
www.bangarra.com.au<br />
If you would like to be kept up to date with Bangarra news and performances please join our<br />
mailing list via our website.<br />
Bangarra Dance Theatre<br />
Pier 4/5, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay, Sydney 2000<br />
Ph: 61 2 9251 5333<br />
Fax: 61 2 9251 5266<br />
Email: bangarra@bangarra.com.au<br />
3
“… a mature, distinctive, contemporary dance ensemble with a sophisticated sense of<br />
theatricality and a unique repertoire” THE AGE<br />
Bangarraʼs logo represents:<br />
- a flame<br />
- the headdress of a Torres Strait Island warrior<br />
- the point of a spear used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island hunters<br />
ʻ<strong>BANGARRA</strong>ʼ MEANS ʻTO MAKE FIREʼ IN WIRADJERI LANGUAGE OF NEW SOUTH<br />
WALES<br />
Vision<br />
Bangarraʼs aims to maintain a link between the traditional Indigenous cultures of Australia and<br />
new forms of contemporary artistic expression with respect and integrity, and giving voice to<br />
social and political issues that affect us all.<br />
Objectives<br />
- To create and produce innovative contemporary dance theatre works of excellence.<br />
- To respect, maintain and nurture artistic and cultural links with Australiaʼs Indigenous peoples.<br />
- To provide an environment which supports artists in the creation of innovative forms of artistic<br />
expression.<br />
- To continue to develop a dance technique unique to Bangarra Dance Theatre.<br />
- To reach the widest possible audience and to act as cultural ambassadors, nationally and<br />
internationally.<br />
- To inspire Australian youth.<br />
4
COMPANY PROFILE<br />
“Thereʼs a wonderful trust and exchange with the audience at a Bangarra performance. We<br />
guide you on a journey. It is a meeting of the urban, the traditional and pure abstract dance<br />
– we speak to all people. Passion, emotion and respect – this is what we need to survive”<br />
Stephen Page<br />
Artistic Director<br />
Bangarra Dance Theatre was established in 1989 as a dance company that embraces,<br />
celebrates and respects Australiaʼs Indigenous peoples and their culture. Under the Artistic<br />
Direction of Stephen Page since 1991, Bangarra Dance Theatre has emerged as one of<br />
Australiaʼs most unique and innovative dance companies, taking its unique work to audiences<br />
across Australia and the world.<br />
The company bases its creative spirit on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions and<br />
stories producing a powerful new language which combines the traditional and the<br />
contemporary. This electrifying and distinctive style tells the stories of Aboriginal and Torres<br />
Strait Islander peoples everywhere in a modern day Dreaming which fuses the sacred myths<br />
and traditions of the past with the present.<br />
Bangarraʼs influence continues to resonate throughout the world, with the company earning a<br />
prominent place on the international touring circuit. A 16-city sell-out tour of the USA in 2001<br />
established the company as a global dance phenomenon. Since then, the company has<br />
performed in Monaco, returned to the US twice performing in New York and in Washington,<br />
visited Japan and New Zealand and in 2006, toured the UK, performing at Londonʼs prestigious<br />
Sadlerʼs Wells theatre. In 2008, the company travelled to London, Paris and Canada and this<br />
year, mounted a highly successful tour of Hungary, Austria and Germany.<br />
Bangarra travels the world, performs in regional Australia as well as capital cities annually,<br />
whilst always maintaining its connection with the communities and people which remain its core<br />
inspiration.<br />
In 2009 Bangarra Dance Theatre celebrates 20 years of bringing Australia and the world its<br />
unique, exciting and inspirational dance theatre and eagerly anticipates the possibilities of the<br />
next twenty years!<br />
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COMPANY CHRONOLOGY<br />
1989 Bangarra Dance Theatre founded by Carole Johnson<br />
Tour to Japan and New Zealand<br />
1991 Stephen Page appointed Artistic Director<br />
Up Until Now by Stephen Page (Sydney, North Coast NSW, Brisbane, Indonesia)<br />
1992 Praying Mantis Dreaming by Stephen Page (Canberra, Central Western NSW,<br />
Melbourne, Brisbane)<br />
Bangarra tours to China and Hong Kong<br />
1993 Praying Mantis Dreaming (Sydney, Cairns, WA, North East Arnhem Land)<br />
Bangarra tours to New York, Los Angeles and London<br />
1994 Ninni By Stephen Page (Sydney, NT, QLD)<br />
Best of Bangarra (Adelaide Festival)<br />
Ochres presented as a ʻwork in progressʼ at the ʼ94 Nambundah Festival at Belvoir Street<br />
Theatre<br />
1995 Ochres by Stephen Page and Bernadette Walong-Sene (Sydney, Canberra, Perth,<br />
Melbourne, Adelaide, Arnhem Land, Berlin, Tokyo, Noumea)<br />
1996 Ochres (Berlin, Japan)<br />
Bangarra tours to Hong Kong, India and Indonesia<br />
Flag hand over ceremony, Closing Ceremony Atlanta Olympic Games<br />
1997 Fish by Stephen Page (Premiers at the Edinburgh International Festival for the Arts,<br />
Edinburgh, South Korea, Festival of the Dreaming, Sydney)<br />
Rites with The Australian Ballet (Premiers at the Melbourne International Arts Festival,<br />
Melbourne, Sydney)<br />
1998 Fish (Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra NSW, VIC, Noumea)<br />
Bangarra tours to Korea, Taiwan, Italy and Germany<br />
DanceClan<br />
1999 The Dreaming (New Zealand, USA, UK)<br />
Fish (QLD, NT, WA)<br />
Womad (Adelaide, Johannesburg, Rivermead, Seattle)<br />
Rites with The Australian Ballet (Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Washington, Toronto)<br />
DanceClan 2<br />
2000 Skin by Stephen Page (Premiered at the Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Melbourne,<br />
Brisbane)<br />
Awakenings (Sydney 2000 Olympic Games)<br />
The Dreaming (Hawaii, Fiji)<br />
DanceClan 3<br />
2001 Corroboree a triple bill (Roo, Turtle, Brolga) by Stephen Page (Sydney, Brisbane,<br />
Melbourne, USA16 City tour)<br />
The Dreaming (Noumea, NSW)<br />
2002 Walkabout A double bill Rations by Frances Rings and Rush by Stephen Page<br />
(Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane)<br />
Skin (Adelaide)<br />
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Corroboree (Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Monaco)<br />
The Dreaming (VIC, SA)<br />
2003 Bush by Stephen Page and Frances Rings (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane)<br />
The Dreaming (NSW, NT, QLD, ACT)<br />
2004 Clan A double bill Unaipon by Frances Rings and Reflections by Stephen Page<br />
Bush (Washington, New York, Hawaii)<br />
Spirit (QLD)<br />
2005 Boomerang by Stephen Page (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane)<br />
Spirit (QLD, VIC, TAS, NSW)<br />
Bush (Japan, New Zealand)<br />
2006 Gathering with The Australian Ballet (Melbourne, Sydney)<br />
Clan (NT, WA, QLD, NSW)<br />
Bush (UK)<br />
Spirit (Hobart)<br />
2007 True Stories A double bill Emeret Lu by Elma Kris and X300 by Frances Rings<br />
(Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Newcastle, Canberra, Wollongong)<br />
Clan (SA, VIC, TAS, NSW)<br />
2008 Mathinna by Stephen Page (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Newcastle, Canberra,<br />
Wollongong)<br />
True Stories (SA, NT, QLD)<br />
Rites with The Australian Ballet (London, Paris)<br />
Awakenings (Washington, New York, Ottawa)<br />
2009 Fire – A Retrospective by Stephen Page (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Newcastle,<br />
Canberra, Wollongong)<br />
True Stories (NSW, WA)<br />
True Stories (Hungary, Austria, Germany)<br />
“This is compelling, enriching dance that takes us all to a deeper place and a stronger<br />
connection” Herald Sun<br />
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KEY ASPECTS OF ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY<br />
Aboriginal people lead a spiritual existence, where land and society are seen as mutually<br />
dependent. The land is both mother and father; it nurtures and provides shelter. The land is<br />
much more than economic good. It is a mystical phenomenon which forms the heart of<br />
Aboriginal religious beliefs and practices. To travel in Aboriginal countries is a religious<br />
experience because the landscape pulsates with power left by the Dreamtime beings as they<br />
performed their wondrous deeds.<br />
The Dreamtime is at the very core of the Aboriginal belief system. This is the time of the<br />
ancestor, the mythical period when the totemic Ancestral Beings appeared and transformed the<br />
world. The Dreamtime is transmitted through story telling, paintings and dance. They recount<br />
the ancestors wanderings across immense territories, modifying the landscape, creating flora<br />
and fauna, and humankind and teaching people their ceremonies.<br />
The Dreamtime came to an end when the Ancestral Beings left the earth but their departure did<br />
not mean the loss of this mystical past, for it can be periodically recovered through ritual. Thus<br />
the Dreamtime is not a static mythical period. It is once again present through the practice of<br />
rituals and customs.<br />
When the rituals are performed, the performers become the Dreamtime beings and are able to<br />
tap into the power of the land and the Ancestral Beings. Song men and women praise the<br />
abundance and beauty of their countries, they chant the names of various places, the location<br />
of water holes, swamps and rich food places. They recount the journeys of their heroes and the<br />
sacred story sites. In this way young people become familiar with all aspects of their country.<br />
By these songs and rituals, performers express their emotional connection to their land. It is<br />
their right and responsibility to sing the songs, relate the myths and perform the sacred dances.<br />
Other people may do so only if they are invited to participate.<br />
It is in dances and special ceremonies called corroborees that much of the religious beliefs and<br />
practices about the Dreamtime is given expression. In dreams the fantastic occurs and the<br />
Dreamtime beings sing and show themselves as they really are. A dreamer who has slipped<br />
into Dreamtime sings in his sleep, but it is really the Dreamtime beings singing through the<br />
dreamer. From what the dreamer sees in his dream a dance is made up. Anyone who was at<br />
the camp when the dream occurred has a right to participate in the dance.<br />
David McKnight “People, Countries, and the Rainbow Serpent” (Oxford University Press, 1999)<br />
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MESSAGE FROM STEPHEN PAGE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR<br />
Recently Bangarra was able to return to country, to pay our respects, and to listen and learn.<br />
We performed for the elders and, even though we’d performed in places like New York, this<br />
performance was daunting. Our audience changed from high excitement to quiet<br />
thoughtfulness as they watched following the shifts from traditional to contemporary.<br />
There’s no better way for cultural development than to spend time in rural communities sharing<br />
the songs and dances. As we joined the men hunting and the women yam digging, we<br />
experienced the labour and the process that brings life to our dance form.<br />
My dream has been to take the dancers back to the source of our traditional culture, something I<br />
have been fortunate to experience through my friendship and creative collaboration with<br />
Djakapurra Munyarryun. The Munyarryun, Marika and Yunupingu families have always been<br />
generous and welcoming, enriching Bangarra with their endorsement of our work.<br />
In portraying the strength and resilience of indigenous culture we are acutely aware of its<br />
ephemeral nature and the need to respect and nurture such treasures. The depth of feelings<br />
and insights from being with traditional communities reminds us all of the privilege we have to<br />
share the spirit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Australia.<br />
Underlying Bangarra’s work is the cross-over of traditional and contemporary cultures. Bringing<br />
together the heritage of thousands of years of traditional culture, with new contemporary forms<br />
of theatre, we hope to express the timeless spirit as well as the tensions and frustrations of our<br />
social world.<br />
I have had the great honour and privilege to lead Bangarra since 1991 and wish to thank and<br />
pay my respects to the founders of this great company. Over the past twenty years, Bangarra<br />
has been the focus for over 100 artists from the raw works like Praying Mantis Dreaming and<br />
Ochres to the highly produced contemporary works like X300 and Mathinna.<br />
Without the efforts of many, Bangarra would not be here today. The vision of our founder Carole<br />
Johnson and Cheryl Stone to establish a professional company for graduates of the Aboriginal<br />
& Islander Dance Theatre has well and truly been realised. And, for all those artists who have<br />
moved through Bangarra, there are many new initiatives and creative ventures informed by that<br />
experience right across Australia.<br />
Bangarra is about ‘making fire’ – a release of energy in the form of light and heat. Our creativity<br />
has been inspired by a release of energy in our creative processes and collaboration with cocreators<br />
in performance, music, design and choreography. I have drawn strength from my<br />
brothers David and Russell who have been a core part of this journey. David’s rich and textured<br />
music for works like Fish and Bush, and my late brother Russell’s extraordinary presence on<br />
stage as a dancer and choreographic muse have been instrumental to the success of Bangarra.<br />
Frances Rings has been, and continues to be, at the core of Bangarra’s creative energy. We<br />
have co-choreographed on a number of Bangarra works, and Frances has Rations, Unaipon<br />
and X300 to her credit as an outstanding and individual choreographic contribution.<br />
The Torres Strait Islander culture was reflected strongly in Bangarra’s early years with<br />
traditional consultants Jensen Warusam and Pinau Ghee, and later with artists Albert David and<br />
Peggy Misi. Elma Kris, one of our senior artists, has built our cultural ties with traditional Torres<br />
Strait culture creating her own blend of traditional and contemporary dance in Emeret Lu,<br />
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inspired from old stories from Mer Island.<br />
The clever creative inputs of Peter England in set design, Jenny Irwin in costume design and<br />
Steve Francis in music have produced exciting dimensions to our stage productions. It would<br />
take an entire book to mention the valuable contributions of everyone who has made this<br />
company ‘great’ so I will simply say ‘thank you’ to the dancers especially veteran Sidney<br />
Saltner, the rehearsal directors, the choreographers, the photographers, the production and<br />
technical people, the management, and the board of Bangarra.<br />
I would especially like to thank Aden Ridgeway for his leadership as Chairman of Bangarra and<br />
the dedication of board members over the years, in particular Danny Gilbert. It’s remarkable<br />
that over these two decades we have remained resilient, despite misfortune and, at times, the<br />
overwhelming challenges before us. The foundations of Bangarra have certainly been forged in<br />
fire. A special mention must also go to friend Catherine Baldwin for her tireless support and<br />
energy.<br />
The process of putting together this 20 year retrospective called Fire has been a time for<br />
reflection, for remembering the extraordinary artists who have made Bangarra what it is, and for<br />
reassessing our role as a cultural messenger and teller of stories.<br />
This mixture of excerpts from our repertoire shows how the cross-over of traditional and<br />
contemporary forms was seeded with Ochres. Djakapurra Munyarryun and I worked closely to<br />
ensure that the new was created with respect for the old. Regular contact was made between<br />
inner-city Sydney and remote Yirrkala to check cultural protocols, and it was this process that<br />
laid the foundations of Bangarra’s creativity. We embedded the connections to traditional<br />
kinship into the way we worked and from this found the direction we would take over all these<br />
years.<br />
Excerpts from Fish have been included to honour the powerful fusion in David Page’s music and<br />
the beginnings of a lasting collaboration with designers Jennifer Irwin and Peter England. Our<br />
capacity in the theatre to express the social issues facing both rural and urban communities is<br />
evident in our choice of excerpts from Skin, Corroboree, Unaipon and Bush.<br />
Over the last two decades as we have traveled Australia and the world, and taken up<br />
opportunities like the Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and major arts festivals,<br />
Indigenous Australians have struggled to gain a strong foothold in the mainstream and have<br />
suffered from the translation of modern ways on traditional life. I hope that Bangarra, through<br />
successive generations of creative leaders, will continue to bring energy through light and heat<br />
to our cultural and spiritual being, well into the future.<br />
On a personal note big love to my gorgeous families, my children and especially my mother and<br />
father, without them I would have no belonging.<br />
Stephen Page 2009<br />
10
Ochres 1995<br />
THE SHOWS<br />
Ochres is a work in four parts which explores the mystical significance of ochre, inspired by its<br />
spiritual and medicinal power: Prologue, Yellow, Black, Red and White.<br />
Notes from the Artistic Director:<br />
Ochres plays an essential part in traditional life. Working with cultural consultant/dancer<br />
Djakapurra Munyarryun has provided us with valuable insight into the presentation of traditional<br />
paint up and preparation.<br />
As a substance ochre has intrigued us. Its significance and the myriad of purposes, both<br />
spiritual and physical has been the driving force behind this collaboration.<br />
The portrayal of each colour is by no means a literal interpretation, but the awareness of its<br />
spiritual significance has challenged our contemporary expressions.<br />
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Sections of Ochres Featured in Fire:<br />
Yellow:<br />
I believe the landscape to be mother. Its flowing rivers she cleanses in, the yellow ochre she<br />
dresses in, the sun and the seasons she nourishes - gathering, nesting and birthing along her<br />
travels.<br />
Black:<br />
An ash storm has blown over. The call and pain of the initiation can only be viewed from a<br />
distance... Men's Business.<br />
Red:<br />
Youth, Obsession, Poison, Pain<br />
Custom, Law and Values placed on the relationships between women and men have been on a<br />
path of change since time began. In each of these relationships - the youth, the obsession, the<br />
poison, the pain - there is struggle.<br />
White:<br />
At dawn Mother Earth yawns, her call engulfs the white ochre spirits to spiritually bathe them in<br />
preparation for the day's journey.<br />
Notes from the critics:<br />
"... something momentous has occurred that has radically changed our thinking about<br />
contemporary dance... _"it's impossible to overestimate the importance of Ochres."_<br />
The Age July 11, 1995<br />
"... a potent expression of a distinctive choreographic talent at last finding its voice... _" it's that<br />
sense of the spiritual within the actual that marks Ochres out as unique and marks it as a<br />
watershed in Australian choreography."<br />
_The Australian November 10, 1995<br />
"Vibrantly alive... _"vivid body language... _" the choreographers skilfully combine, completely<br />
free from inhibition, the traditional with modern, so radiatingly fresh and powerful... "_<br />
Berliner Morgenpost August 13, 1995<br />
"Bangarra in one of the most exciting dance companies in Australia today. Ochres is a perfectly<br />
constructed piece: powerful, gripping and marvellously performed. The spiritual focus is never<br />
lost."_<br />
The Age March 31, 1995<br />
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Fish 1997<br />
Notes from the Artistic Director:<br />
Fish is Bangarra's second major work.<br />
Fish continues the story of the earth and the power of the elements, which began with Ochres,<br />
taking the journey to the vast bodies of water. As disparate, as diverse, as Aboriginal identity<br />
itself, Fish celebrates the seas, the rivers, the swamps, and the wealth of life and mystery they<br />
contain.<br />
13
Sections of Fish Featured in Fire:<br />
Traps _<br />
Traps juxtaposes Western ways with the ancient, challenging the notion of hooking and gutting<br />
with the slow lure and catch of old. Inspired by the craft and the intricate workmanship of the<br />
grand fishing traps from Ramingining, this most contemporary of ballets traces the fishing cycle<br />
- the drawing of fish from the water, to the restoration of remains to the earth. Stark<br />
consequences flow from disruption to such a cycle, to tradition born in the time of the Dreaming.<br />
Without the ritual of return the soul is lost in time and place, grasping after stolen memories, no<br />
way of getting home.<br />
Reef<br />
Inspired by the Torres Strait, the vibrant blues, the rich purples, the deep dramatic greens of<br />
Reef evoke the clash and contrast of culture and colour found at the water's edge. The salt in<br />
the air and the strength in the waves, the breath of the wind and the beat of the earth merge into<br />
one majestic whole. The exhilaration and energy of life and love are blended in a rich simplicity,<br />
as Australia's two Indigenous people celebrate the windswept tenderness of the reef.<br />
Notes from the critics:<br />
"It's the relationship between old and new - the tensions and the possibilities for change - that<br />
lies at the heart of Bangarra Dance Theatre's work and courses through this visually ravishing<br />
new piece..."_<br />
The Glasgow Herald, August 13, 1997<br />
"We get a flavour of centuries old experience mixed with contemporary energy..._" Bangarra is<br />
a dance company with a language like no other."_<br />
The Guardian, August 14, 1997<br />
"Fish is spellbinding. The character of the dance, theatricality of its presentation and the<br />
cohesive spirit that runs through it make it absorbing and thoughtful entertainment."_Sydney<br />
Morning Herald, September 19, 1997<br />
"... drawing on and sharing tribal truths (Bangarra) are unbeatable, a spine-shivering, deeplychallenging<br />
group of performers." _<br />
The Australian, September 22, 1997<br />
14
Skin 2000<br />
As the audience walks into the theatre they should feel they are entering a sacred space,<br />
timeless and unspecific. Skin is divided into two separate parts. The first is shelter, the second<br />
is Spear.<br />
Notes from the Artistic Director:<br />
For Skin I went back to kinship and family and said, I want to respect both genders. I want to lay<br />
down the foundation of the spirit – and of the black communication. My first inspiration was<br />
family kinship. I have seen how remote traditional families live. I have watched urban aboriginal<br />
families live. I have watched my professional family – Bangarra – live, and my immediate family.<br />
I have been inspired by the traditional family kinship – about the way it respects the gender of<br />
men and women.<br />
I have always believed the dreaming is led and seeded by the mother earth and that male<br />
energy is the son of the mother earth – that is the spirit in the mother earth is what makes the<br />
male energy. Thatʼs why I felt with shelter that we put down the foundation of the spirit of the<br />
mother will always be there. I believe this comes from my sisters, watching my child with his<br />
mother. Itʼs from inspirations of Emily Kngawarreyeʼs paintings, to contemporary heroes of the<br />
15
day like Banduk Marika, Fiona Foley, Tracey Moffat, Frances Rings – to the myriad of aboriginal<br />
women, urban and traditional, who have influenced my life.<br />
We have to wear many survival totems. We have to have tough goanna skins so that we can<br />
evolve through this next century. Skin is about the complexities of our kinship: about accepting<br />
and respecting it – and that it is still thriving.<br />
Sections of Skin Featured in Fire:<br />
Shelter is an abstract portrayal of the traditional hunting and gathering process, inspired by<br />
living off the land. It begins with women hunting small animals, gathering berries and bush<br />
medicines, using the digging sticks to get nutritional roots from the ground. Mothers and<br />
daughters live off the land. A daughter conceives a spirit through to the grief of a stillbirth and<br />
the cleansing of the spirit that follows. The modern world invades their lives through mining<br />
projects that bring toxic pollution to their desert homeland. Shelter shows how the spirit<br />
overcomes this new kind of invasion, chemical invasion.<br />
Spear explores the problems aboriginal men face in urban and remote communities, starting in<br />
childhood. Spiritual forces are represented by an elder spirit, who has worked through so much,<br />
that he is cleansed by his efforts and a new spirit in the body of a child. Interlaced with jokes<br />
and yarns, a series of social concerns and issues are addressed. The first is aboriginal deaths<br />
in custody, followed by an initiation ceremony for a young man being given his totem. Finally, a<br />
male ceremony led by an elder spirit cleanses the effects of these modern influences and the<br />
new spirit of the child offers hope for the future.<br />
Notes from the critics:<br />
"an extraordinarily simple yet evocative piece... _"...eloquent simplicity..."_<br />
Sydney Morning Herald, September 21, 2000<br />
"The power of the imagery is so strong... _"...the skill and the individuality of the performers are<br />
exciting"<br />
_Sydney Morning Herald, September 21, 2000<br />
"Bangarra turns another leaf... _" it is impossible to look away..." _<br />
The Australian, September 21, 2000<br />
"...a free and fluid mingling of the ancient and the contemporary..."_<br />
The Australian, September 21, 2000<br />
16
Corroboree 2001<br />
A rich visual feast and a return to the purity of dance and tradition, this triple bill embraces the<br />
dreamtime, a time when animal spirits occupied the land without the influence of humans.<br />
Corroboree is a sensual journey through the songlines of three dreamings that are central to the<br />
lives of indigenous peoples: brolga (gudurrku), roo (garrtjambal) and turtle (waru).<br />
Notes from the Artistic Director:<br />
In Corroboree I wanted to explore the transformation of the human spirit, the relationship<br />
between aboriginal people, creatures and the land and what it is that unifies us as one.<br />
Corroboree is about challenging, awakening and cleansing the spirit.<br />
I think the Olympics affected me a lot. Working with a thousand indigenous people, all the elders<br />
trusting me to take their stories and put it on that ground, bringing black clans together,<br />
gathering in our own backyard. I think we, as a black nation, need to get together and work<br />
sacredly to develop a new language that speaks to the 980 different clans around the country. I<br />
believe thatʼs what Bangarra is committed to doing - building a foundation, a strong spiritual<br />
philosophy that people can work from to tell whatever dreaming they want, in whatever medium.<br />
The Bangarra family is always inspiring me, as well as my peers doing work in other mediums,<br />
like visual art, film and theatre that has a strong aboriginal consciousness. Thereʼs a good clan<br />
of us, weʼre the next elders - us mob that come together, we talk and inspire each other. Itʼs a<br />
great medicine, as it has been for thousands of years.<br />
17
There's a wonderful trust and exchange with the audience of a Bangarra performance. We<br />
guide you on a journey. Itʼs a meeting of the urban social, traditional dreaming and pure abstract<br />
dance – thatʼs why we can speak to all peoples. Passion, emotion and respect - this is what<br />
people have to have to survive, its got to be part of the human immune system. If you are<br />
honest to the process it will naturally attract those people who want to listen.<br />
Corroboree is a conscious awakening of the spirit, it's challenging the political arena and it's<br />
about just being good young artists that take on the responsibilities and disciplines of<br />
maintaining this evolving storytelling. Bangarra is living the Dreaming; it's the Dreaming<br />
becoming in front of our eyes.<br />
Sections of Corroboree featured in Fire:<br />
Brolga (gudurrku)<br />
Brolga is inspired by an ancient dreaming. Itʼs about a young girl who goes to a sacred ground<br />
and transforms from human to brolga. Itʼs the original swan lake. I was inspired by a visit to a<br />
brolga plain with Djakapurra in Dhalinbuy, in North East Arnhem land where the fresh water<br />
meets the saltwater – itʼs a place from which i draw my vivid creativity. The story also has david<br />
and steveʼs music and their work with djakapurra with traditional songs at its heart.<br />
In Brolga, we start with two figures, one is a traditional spirit and the other is a young girl. She<br />
enters the sacred ground that belongs to the brolgas, she plays, she mimics, and she discovers<br />
the sensuality of the brolga. But she has to learn to respect the secret brolga knowledge. The<br />
traditional spirit guides and protects her on this journey. It could be that he has set her a<br />
challenge for her journey to initiation as a woman.<br />
And then he sings her to sleep, he calls her back to another realm in her dreaming, another<br />
time, and prepares her spiritually for the ritual painting. She emerges with the totem markings of<br />
the brolga. She is transformed.<br />
Roo (Garrtjambal)<br />
In Roo I wanted to develop on themes we explored in Spear from Skin. Roo deals with urban<br />
men who have had their social and religious values taken away from them and theyʼve survived.<br />
Men who are victims of social dilemmas - whether itʼs part of the stolen generation, child abuse,<br />
domestic violence, substance abuse.<br />
We see a line up of men who are about to be convicted; they are being interrogated about who<br />
they are. Thereʼs a lot of strong language and violent outbursts. What we want to do through the<br />
next twenty minutes is cleanse them before their exterior selves go into confinement, give them<br />
the tough skin to service out their punishment. The mist is their state of cleansing, they wash off<br />
the stolen generation X painted across their chests and their spirits are called back to the bush,<br />
to the Red Kangaroo meeting ground.<br />
In the next section called Hunt we explore the energy of the hunt, the difference between<br />
Aboriginal and white ways of hunting, the relationship between hunter and prey. Joeʼs lighting is<br />
a character in itself and so is the music; the sweep and stab of the 4WD spotlight, the fear, the<br />
startled creature, the music pounding like a heart, like an engine, a killing machine. This is<br />
followed by a section called Skinned which is partly about the raw meat and what it means to<br />
the people but itʼs also about being tortured, being burnt, things being taken away from you, that<br />
pain and woundedness. Today we live in a society where no one can hide, we are all hunted,<br />
and everyone is identified whether we like it or not.<br />
18
Turtle (waru)<br />
Turtleʼs my favourite. This is my tribute to the Torres Strait peoples and the beautiful, melodic<br />
water that surrounds this country and what the Pacific means to people in general.<br />
Turtle is also a tribute to the founding Torres Strait Island members of Bangarra – Jensen<br />
Warasum, Pinau Ghee, Percy Jakonia and Albert David whose work has always been an<br />
inspiration. And Peggy Misi who is with the company now, sheʼs the next generation, my Torres<br />
Strait Island consultant creatively. I talk to Peggy about a myriad of stories, about the island,<br />
about the water and she just laughs at me and says “you just dream and weʼll see what<br />
happens”. Torres Strait Island people celebrate differently to Aboriginal people. Aboriginal<br />
stories are quite earthbound, whereas Torres Strait Islander song and dance is obviously<br />
inspired by the water.<br />
In Turtle we start with this wonderful visual of sand pouring from the roof onto three bodies that<br />
represent the mother turtle. She goes to her sacred territory and digs to lay her eggs. All the<br />
choreography is close to the ground.<br />
This is followed by a section called Hatch, which captures the energy of the baby turtle. Some<br />
survive and some donʼt and there are thousands of them, racing down to the water. Kasa Kab is<br />
a traditional play dance that celebrates the turtle.<br />
Then comes Aigudau Tonar, where the dancers are all oiled and they slide to the music. This<br />
represents the meat, the delicacy of the turtle and the egg which is great bush medicine. We<br />
explore the sensuality of food, the gourmet, the feast.<br />
Aigudau Tonar is followed by a Torres Strait rhythm dance, using seed pods as rattles. This<br />
percussive dance depicts the thriving energy of the Torres Strait people. Koi Maluya is a<br />
beautiful song that celebrates the wind and the sea and the different patterns on the turtle<br />
shells. Turtle ends with the death of the elder mother turtle, but it is almost like she is newborn,<br />
we cleanse her spirit to awaken again – the cycle continues.<br />
Notes from the critics:<br />
"Djakapurra Munyarryun's charismatic presence transcends genre and style to reach a shared<br />
transcultural dance space: he dances alongside the world's greatest_…Roo is a stabbing<br />
critique on our national failure to find reconciliation."<br />
_ The Australian, June 22, 2001<br />
"Bangarra's telling of stories has reached a fresh level of stylised beauty and poignancy…A<br />
sensual mating ritual between Frances Rings and Russell Page is rivetingly performed…Brolga<br />
is danced with the strength of iron under a soft, feather clad surface to create a dreamlike<br />
atmosphere."<br />
Sydney Morning Herald, Jill Sykes, September 14, 2001<br />
_"Corroboree challenges, but also unites us on the common ground of the Australian spirit"_<br />
Courier Mail, June 22, 2001Olivia Stewart,<br />
"The showering of water, the dropping of sand, the sliding of oiled turtle bodies and the ochre of<br />
the traditional spirit all create a surreal natural playground"_<br />
_Herald Sun, Stephanie Glickman July 25, 2001<br />
19
Walkabout 2002<br />
What leads us to walk away from what we know best? Sometimes there is no choice. The<br />
hardest journey can often be to rediscover the steps of the original walkabout. Bangarra's<br />
double bill, Walkabout, traces an extraordinary history of Indigenous struggle and survival from<br />
the early missions and stations of outback Australia to the neon soaked streets of our modern<br />
day cities.<br />
Rations, choreographed by Frances Rings, pulls at the treads of hand-me-downs. Lured from<br />
their homelands, clothed in cast offs and fed an alien __diet of flour and sugar, the people find<br />
themselves trapped in a cycle of dependency.<br />
Rush – choreographed by Stephen Page captures the energy and resilience of youth. The<br />
struggle to reconcile the old ways with the new and cleanse the pain of the past. Fresh<br />
songlines are being drawn in the ancient soil. The rush of survival.<br />
20
Notes from the Artistic Director – Choreographer of Rush<br />
There is a myriad of issues I explore in Rush but at the core of it is a statement about the<br />
strength and spirit of our culture, it is too powerful to be crushed. Rush is very sparse and<br />
abstract - it's a beautiful contrast to Rations. You get given the history lesson in Rations and<br />
then in Rush you get the Bladerunner version. It touches on religion, it touches on substances<br />
and poisons, confinement, the stolen generation - but the themes are universal - they apply to<br />
any culture in the world.<br />
How do we live in both worlds? How do we survive and move forward? How do we cleanse the<br />
pain of the past? We have to take our cultural values with us. These tracks and songlines, the<br />
cyclical patterns of the walkabout, they all come from such ancient and powerful myths - you<br />
can get pulled off those tracks and you get influenced, but there's something in your gut, there's<br />
something calling to put you back on that track. It's the stories and the culture that is your<br />
grounding, your medicine. In that way Rush is like a spiritual wake up call. Walkabout is the call<br />
and response of two generations.<br />
When you look at Rations and Rush you have to ask whether things have really changed?<br />
There's many examples of kids coming down to the city and getting caught up in that corruption<br />
- it becomes their priority rather than maintaining culture. A lot of kids don't want to do culture<br />
anymore or they are ashamed of it - they're into hip hop and pop culture as well as a lot of the<br />
social dilemmas like drugs and alcohol and violence. That's what is so great about Bangarra<br />
and works like this - we are this young, sassy, urban company who can hip hop with the best of<br />
them but are so proud of culture. Bangarra is the foundation that inspires us. It allows us to work<br />
with people like Djakapurra and now Ningali who bring so much knowledge. We can still live in<br />
the city, we can still wear deadly clothes - but there's always that wanting - wanting knowledge,<br />
wanting language, wanting to learn about and express our culture. We take the audience on<br />
that journey with us. In that way it is also important for us not to spoon feed the Bangarra<br />
audience - we want them to bring their own dreaming to our shows, everyone has their own<br />
emotional reaction to the journey.<br />
Walkabout is about reclaiming identity, culture, and language - in white society the word<br />
'walkabout' has always been derogatory but it has this ancient spiritual significance. It's like<br />
Aboriginal art - it's not just for museums and tea towels, it has a life. Western culture focuses on<br />
the external - pigeonholes, institutions, fences, confinement, half caste, quarter caste, clean,<br />
unclean - who defines what is civilised and what isn't? I explore all these issues in Rush against<br />
a stark white set and lights that either look sharp, soft, cold, wet. It's abstract, poetic and<br />
philosophical.<br />
21
Notes from Frances Rings – Choreographer of Rations<br />
Rations is set in colonial outback Australia and explores issues of dependency and assimilation,<br />
station and domestic labour – I havenʼt really gone into the stolen generation because that<br />
deserves its own moment, you wouldnʼt be able to scratch the surface doing a ten minute piece<br />
on it. All the pieces in Rations flow into each other - they are all pretty much the one songline.<br />
In my research I focused on South Australia, where my family is from, and the influence of the<br />
ration system there. The traditional walkabout ceased once we got rations. I want to look at the<br />
reasons why it stopped and the songlines didnʼt continue. I want to ask the question – what<br />
makes us stop doing what weʼve always done? How did the culture disintegrate? We went from<br />
a fully mobile lifestyle - travelling, hunting, moving with the seasons and the food supply to all of<br />
a sudden being stationery, sedentary and dependent.<br />
Rations were used by white colonists to lure, entice and blackmail. For the Aboriginal people at<br />
first, there was the novelty of it all - the novelty of clothing, tobacco, flour and sugar but also the<br />
deceptive ease of it. Not having to hunt for your food every day to survive. There were also<br />
traditional counterparts for each ration which made it more enticing – there was native tobacco<br />
(ʻpiturukiriʼ) and a type of flour made from wild seeds.<br />
Initially the rations were accepted and welcomed because it was seen as a giving gesture, it<br />
was sharing – a big part of indigenous culture is sharing amongst each other so when these<br />
other people came in offering these things, it was welcomed. “These fellas are good to us, they<br />
are helping us” - it was embraced.<br />
A lot of it may have been well intentioned but the settlers didnʼt truly want to share. The settlers<br />
wanted to give the rations but not share the land. They took advantage of the indigenous<br />
peoplesʼ naivety I guess and had them work for them or took priceless artefacts in return for<br />
flour, water, sugar.<br />
Aboriginal people would come in from the bush and be given the rations and then the settlers<br />
would say “You have to stay here now, you canʼt go beyond those boundaries, you canʼt go<br />
back out bush, you have to leave that and live in town and be like us”. These people had<br />
ceremonies and rituals they had to perform and as soon as they were prevented from doing so,<br />
it caused conflict. They couldnʼt go onto their land to hunt because all the land was being taken<br />
up, the wildlife was being driven further out. They couldnʼt hunt the sheep. They were trapped.<br />
They could apply to the Protector of Aborigines for a certificate of exemption but that would<br />
prohibit them from going to see their family and theyʼd be stuck in this white world where they<br />
werenʼt accepted. They couldnʼt go into a pub let alone a child go into a school. They werenʼt<br />
allowed to partake in any of their own rituals either. They were in this limbo zone, like a dead<br />
person walking between two worlds.<br />
The whole ration system had an addictive quality, the addiction suffocated everyone and kept<br />
them there as well. And the diet, it was a big difference in what they were used to eating – the<br />
heaviness and the weighing down, the addictiveness of sugar. But also the flour was poisoned<br />
with strychnine and arsenic, the blankets were laced with smallpox. There was that other<br />
sinister level which always exists in Australian history.<br />
Researching Rations has been an intense experience for me - its great because Iʼm learning all<br />
this history but I also feel bad because Iʼm finding out all these things I feel I should have<br />
known. It makes me understand my mother, my aunties and uncles so much more. It makes me<br />
22
understand the way they are and why we are what we are today. It makes it so much clearer,<br />
the transition they had to go through – its like the walkabout, you have to walk through it, you<br />
canʼt jump over it, you have to acknowledge all those things that have happened so you can<br />
move on and cleanse it.<br />
The next generation that comes after us - they can achieve more greatness. Weʼre just here to<br />
pave the way for them. Theyʼre the ones that are going to be the prime ministers and going to<br />
make the changes. Our parents have given us the inspiration through their strength and ability<br />
to survive. I want to recognise that this is what happened, it is a tribute to them. Its often up to<br />
the next generation to tell the story of the one before, thereʼs too much pain for them to do it, its<br />
up the next generation to cleanse it for them.<br />
Sections of Walkabout featured in Fire:<br />
Rations<br />
Blankets:<br />
The smothering of traditional culture and introduction of diseases like smallpox.<br />
Rush<br />
Veins: The poisons of western culture._<br />
The Call: The effects of western Christianity on Indigenous beliefs. A spiritual struggle in<br />
response to a calling.<br />
Notes from the Critics:<br />
“The stories of Walkabout are unravelling across the city at this moment”<br />
The Age<br />
“Eerily beautiful and unnerving…a characteristic of this company”<br />
Courier Mail<br />
23
Bush 2003<br />
They sang the songs and danced over the land,_<br />
They struck the ground with their walking sticks and created fresh water,_<br />
Created the different land marks, animals, sacred sites,_<br />
Created all living things.__<br />
From the traditional song 'Two Sisters' (Wirrkul Manda),<br />
Dhuwa language group.<br />
Bangarra Dance Theatreʼs work Bush is a lush and contemporary celebration of beauty, ritual<br />
and music inspired by the Dreamtime creation stories of Arnhem Land. From the last breath of<br />
sunset to the first finger-light of dawn, we enter a mysterious and secret space to witness<br />
natureʼs sacred poetry- reptilian creatures slither from dark caves, a moth emerges from its<br />
cocoon, the land erupts pushing up mountains and carving waterholes.<br />
24
Notes from the Artistic Director:<br />
The main inspiration for Bush is really my relationship with Arnhem Land over the years. My<br />
traditional mothers from Arnhem Land like Kathy Marika have supported and inspired me<br />
ceremonially and spiritually for a long time now. Bush reflects the poetic experience and beauty<br />
I have enjoyed over my fifteen years of being linked to Arnhem Land - its magic, its sacred<br />
grounds.<br />
The more I hear all of these creation stories and the older I get, the more I digest. Itʼs the<br />
longest university degree you can ever have. It is a great honour to be accepted and given this<br />
gift, to put these stories in a public domain in an abstract way – thereʼs a wonderful trust there.<br />
In Bangarra, we bring these stories to a western context and present them with integrity. Our<br />
work is similar to the development of Indigenous visual art, from painting on rocks to painting on<br />
canvas. It is a modern way of presenting traditional stories - placing them in a live theatre<br />
experience. Bangarra has worked with these traditional stories and land inspirations for a long<br />
time now – we are celebrating our own ritual over the past 13 years. We have come through our<br />
first life cycle. I wouldnʼt say we are ʻmasteringʼ it but we have been initiated and respect our<br />
experiences of the journey.<br />
With Bush it is a wonderful thing for us, the Bangarra creative clan, to rejoice in the cycle. There<br />
is my traditional family on the one hand and my creative professional family on the other - Peter<br />
England, Jennifer Irwin, David Page, Steve Francis who have all worked with me now for ten<br />
years. And of course Frances Rings, who has collaborated with me on pieces within this work.<br />
An integral part of the Bangarra life cycle is Franʼs emergence as a choreographer. She has<br />
such a powerful presence she is impossible to ignore! Fran has been the sister muse through a<br />
long journey – from being a student, then dancer and now choreographer. She brings a different<br />
spirit to the work but at the same time she has a beautiful intuitive understanding of what it is to<br />
create that unique Bangarra theatrical experience. She also brings an incredible feminine<br />
energy to this work as Kathy Marika does as well obviously. Bush is very much about respecting<br />
the role of women in our tradition – they are the nurturers and the keepers.<br />
This work is a bush galaxy of poetic imagery and stories that make up our history – ranging from<br />
the comic mimicry of stick spirits, to the power of rocks and land formations, to the ritual and<br />
medicine of fresh water, the transformation of a caterpillar into a moth. Bush embraces all those<br />
diversities and inspirations that come from living from the land.<br />
I do consciously try to nurture an optimistic spirit. Even when I get angry at the world and the<br />
way society is going, and I do quite social frustration works as a result, I always try to inject a<br />
sense of optimism and hope out of those experiences. I think with Bush its purely about letting<br />
the audience into the spiritual glory box of what is sacred, communicating how special this land<br />
is to us through certain specific inspirations such as Arnhem Land, my traditional familyʼs stories<br />
and my relationship to them. It is a personal endeavour. It is also about maintaining an honest<br />
respect for land creations and peoples.<br />
25
Notes from the Co-choreographer Frances Rings:<br />
To me Bush feels like coming home. Itʼs a cleansing and it is the rituals you go through in the<br />
process. There is something old and ancient about it or like when you have been doing things<br />
throughout the day and reflections of a dream keep coming back to you. We are tapping into a<br />
spiritual dimension that is comforting and nurturing. Bush in some ways is similar to Ochres –<br />
each piece had its own songline but ultimately it is all for the one purpose.<br />
Working with Kathy Marika is wonderful, especially for me as a choreographer to have a<br />
traditional woman who is caretaker of the stories passing on all this knowledge. It is almost like<br />
a female version of the creative relationship Stephen Page had with Djakapurra Munyarryun.<br />
Being a black woman myself I can tap into that energy and that gut knowing – it is what I always<br />
try to rely on as my source of inspiration and drive. Kathy carries all of that wealth with her. It is<br />
an honour for all of us at Bangarra to be working with her.<br />
Creating Bangarra works is always a collaborative process. Stephen teaches me so much<br />
because I still feel quite young in terms of choreography. He gives me the freedom to express<br />
ideas and appreciates another point of view. And this is the first time I have worked with David<br />
Page in terms of the music and I have really been enjoying the process, he is such a great<br />
storyteller. Then of course working with the new young dancers, passing on some of the things<br />
that I have learnt as a Bangarra dancer, those key things that make us unique among the dance<br />
world. I am really interested in sharing that knowledge and pushing it to another level. I believe it<br />
can still grow, especially with this fresh bunch. They are so excited and full of energy– they are<br />
passionate about learning and that is so inspiring.<br />
Sections of Bush featured in Fire:<br />
Creation (Wirrkul Manda)<br />
“They sang the songs and danced over the land…Created all living things”<br />
Life Cycle - Moth (Dhumar)<br />
Metamorphosis, rejuvenation and the passing on of knowledge.<br />
Stick<br />
Nganuk or Mimi spirits appear as spiritual messengers – they can come as good or bad signs.<br />
Ceremony - Water (Gapu),<br />
The cycle of rituals in the celebration of death and rebirth.<br />
Notes from the Critics:<br />
“Ingenious…potent…remarkable”<br />
New York Times<br />
“Bangarraʼs interpretive power has never been on more amazing and mesmerising display than<br />
in Bush”<br />
The Sunday Age<br />
26
Unaipon 2004<br />
Unaipon (pronounced you-nigh-pon)<br />
Inventor. Philosopher. Writer. Storyteller. Unaipon celebrates the remarkable journey of David<br />
Unaipon (1872-1967) from the shores of South Australiaʼs Lake Alexandrina to his place on the<br />
Australian $50 note.<br />
Unaipon is inspired by the mind of a man fascinated by science and the great philosophies and<br />
cultures of the world. Unaipon is credited with being the first Aboriginal writer to be published,<br />
inventing the modern shearing shears and making the connection between helicopter<br />
aerodynamics and the flight pattern of the boomerang. Significantly Unaipon also made the<br />
connection between his own cultural traditions and those of all the great cultures of the world.<br />
Through her own unique dance language choreographer Frances Rings intricately weaves a<br />
tale which conjures the life and inspirations of a great Indigenous pioneer.<br />
Unaipon was first performed at the 2004 Adelaide Bank Festival of the Arts and has received<br />
great critical and popular acclaim.<br />
27
Notes from the Choreographer Frances Rings:<br />
Most Australians recognise David Unaiponʼs face from the Australian $50 note but know little<br />
about this extraordinary man. He was a Ngarrindjeri man of the Warrawaldi clan, born in 1872,<br />
the fourth of nine children, at Point McLeay Mission in South Australia. He died in 1967, shortly<br />
before the referendum ʻyesʼ vote that included Aboriginal people in the national census. He was<br />
an inventor, philosopher, writer and storyteller.<br />
Unaipon grew up on the mission. His father became the first Aboriginal lay preacher which was<br />
to have a strong influence on him later in life. However, he grew up learning how to hunt, how to<br />
look for birds and possums and how to climb trees- he knew the cultural ways, the old ways.<br />
Then as a young man he was taken to Adelaide to live with the white family of CB Young who<br />
gave him a classical education. He was taught everything from literature through to how to play<br />
Bach on the organ and how to speak Latin and Greek. He studied all the great philosophers and<br />
cultures of the world. It was at this time he also developed his passion for Science. From an<br />
early age up until the day he died, he had an insatiable thirst for knowledge.<br />
Through his studies, Unaipon put his own culture on the same platform as all the other great<br />
cultures of the world. It was quite an incredible thing to be doing in that time and age. He argued<br />
that even though we live very simply in harmony with nature, our culture is just as complex and<br />
amazing as any of the other great ancient cultures. He studied Egyptian and Inca cultures and<br />
compared them to Aboriginal culture, he studied Aboriginal carvings and symbols and compared<br />
them to Egyptian hieroglyphs. He compared Greek and Aboriginal myths. He studied astronomy<br />
and made connections to the myths and legends that existed about the stars within his own<br />
culture. He mapped the flight pattern of the boomerang and that fed into his inventions and<br />
explorations of aerodynamics.<br />
At the same time he was a very spiritual man. His two great passions and influences were<br />
science and religion. He says that the greatest books he ever read were Isaac Newtonʼs ʻLaws<br />
of Physicsʼ and the Bible. In a white society where he could find no place, whenever he felt<br />
rejected, demeaned or hurt by someoneʼs attitude to him or his race, he would always open up<br />
the Bible. He found that there was a place in the Bible for him, a place for all people with no<br />
prejudice against colour or race. He said you may call the greater spiritual power by different<br />
names - Jesus or Allah or Narroondarie, etc but it was all the same - the lifeline from the<br />
moment our spirit is conceived in the womb, that continues with us throughout our life and<br />
beyond. It was almost as if he was saying ʻWe all breathe the same air and have blood and<br />
bones and we have a greater power, why canʼt you look at me in the same way and hold my<br />
hand or let me stay in your hotels- why is there this prejudice?ʼ He was always striving to break<br />
down those walls. This is a man who was not even considered a citizen- yet people dubbed him<br />
the ʻLeonardo da Vinci of Australiaʼ. White society at the time was always trying to say Unaipon<br />
and people like Albert Namatjira were ʻexceptionsʼ. In quite a few of the old articles Iʼve looked<br />
at they will be on the same page, mentioned in the same breath. But as much as they would try<br />
to pull down Unaiponʼs race, he would continue to bring them with him and say ʻIf I am capable,<br />
they are capable. I am no exceptionʼ. He would always be citing examples of the unique and<br />
wonderful things about his culture. He retold his ancient myths and legends in a language that<br />
romanced people – maybe then they would fall in love with this culture, respect it a bit more and<br />
maybe want to explore it for themselves.<br />
28
Unaipon was always trying to find the perfect place for himself and his people within a society<br />
that was changing very quickly. In a way, he embraced assimilation and that was controversial<br />
at the time because it was quite different from what Aboriginal activists were pushing for.<br />
Unaipon was saying ʻI donʼt think we should mourn, I think we need to be educated and move<br />
forward.ʼ<br />
Visiting his family and the land of his traditional community in Raukkan was crucial in the<br />
development of the work, it is about respect and doing things the right way. The people who<br />
welcomed me and taught me so much about this man as well as the land where he came from,<br />
are an incredible inspiration. It is a very powerful part of the world, you can feel it. Where the<br />
fresh water comes to meet the salt water, it has always been sacred. The Murray spills into<br />
these two massive lakes and theyʼre teeming with birds and wildlife. There are huge mussel<br />
shells on the shores and it is just so fertile. It is one of the most amazing and beautiful<br />
communities Iʼve ever been to. Their culture is quite distinctive- nobody in Australia or the world<br />
weaves like the Ngarrindjeri weavers. Tragically the community was decimated by small pox as<br />
it travelled down the Murray system - people all along the river starting dying before they even<br />
saw white man. All these stories, itʼs like a midden uncovering each layer, the history is still alive<br />
and layers are still being set down.<br />
The challenge is to translate all of this extraordinary material into dance. The process has been<br />
like putting together a jig saw puzzle of this complex man. At this stage, there isnʼt a central<br />
Unaipon character – the dancers represent his energy, his contributions and his spirit.<br />
The initial section of the work is inspired by his traditional land and his childhood. In terms of<br />
imagery I am really attracted to the intricacies of weaving. In Ngarrindjeri culture both men and<br />
women partook in weaving. Weaving also represents the life line or bloodlines, the threads that<br />
tie you to your ancestors and your country. The umbilical cord was very sacred to the<br />
Ngarrindjeri accordingly. Its representation of the connection to the mother through which life is<br />
transferred is honoured through ritual and ceremony.<br />
The next section transforms into another world, the world of science – formulas, motion, energy<br />
and power. As a dancer one of the things that you do is to apply each of these elements to<br />
make movement. I am excited about scientific formulas and applying that to dance. Iʼve never<br />
done anything like it before and neither has Bangarra but I reckon weʼre ready for it.<br />
Personally I was attracted to Unaiponʼs life and story because I have always been interested in<br />
who came before me and what the ground was like that they trod on, the obstacles that they<br />
encountered. I guess history informs us of how we turn out to be. My sister first told me about<br />
Unaipon and I thought his story would be a great subject for a dance work. The more I found<br />
about him the more I wondered why no one talks about his man? Why is nothing being done?<br />
People like Unaipon, Namatjira, Bennelong and Truganinni have always fascinated me - they<br />
were people that were ʻin betweenʼ, they straddled Aboriginal and white culture, their spirits<br />
walked between two worlds with dignity and grace. They were brave enough to walk in a land<br />
that had no track and they made a track for us to follow. I really just wanted to honour that. Also<br />
the fact that I am from South Australia like Unaipon. It is fitting that this work is premiered at the<br />
Adelaide Festival, a festival directed by an Aboriginal man.<br />
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And I am hoping that this work will mean that Australians will understand more about Unaipon,<br />
more than seeing his face on the $50 note. Unaipon was a strong advocate of education just as<br />
I am passionate about educating people through art. He educated through his pursuit of science<br />
and his thirst for knowledge. I can educate through the beauty of dance and art. This is our<br />
history, itʼs not just my history, it is a shared history, shared by all Australians. To deny that<br />
would be wrong. It is my responsibility as a dance maker, as an Aboriginal woman, as an<br />
Australian. I have my obligations and responsibilities and I know this is the right thing to do.<br />
Sections of Unaipon Featured in Fire:<br />
Strings<br />
West Wind<br />
Power<br />
Notes from the Critics:<br />
"Exciting dance, great visuals, bold theatricality and persuasive themes”<br />
"An outstanding exploration of physicality."<br />
The Sydney Morning Herald, June 28 2004<br />
"A resonating work of depth and clarity."<br />
"Another brave step in the development of this inspiring company."<br />
The Age, June 15 2004<br />
"It is bursting with ideas and invention."<br />
Herald Sun, June 14 2004<br />
30
BIOGRAPHY DAVID UNAIPON (1872-1967)<br />
David Unaipon (1872-1967) was a Ngarrindjeri man from Raukkan (Point McLeay) Mission in<br />
South Australia. He is renowned as the first Aboriginal person to have become a published<br />
author.<br />
In 1885, at the age of 13, Unaipon moved to Adelaide, where his interest in literature,<br />
philosophy, science and music was encouraged. Returning to Raukkan five years later, he<br />
continued to read books and journals sent to the Mission, and began to study mechanics. He<br />
also began to conduct experiments in perpetual motion, ballistics and polarised light.<br />
Unaipon had many influential supporters who financed his works. One of these was his friend<br />
Herbert Basedow, a former Protector of Aborigines for South Australia. They exchanged many<br />
letters, which are now contained in the State Library of NSWʼs Basedow Collection. Unaipon<br />
sent a handwritten patent diagram of his modified handpiece for shearing to Basedow in 1914,<br />
as a supporting document for financing its development. The handpiece was originally patented<br />
in 1909.<br />
Between 1909 and 1944, Unaipon made patent applications for nine other inventions, including<br />
a centrifugal motor and a mechanical propulsion device, but all his patents lapsed due to lack of<br />
funds. Many of his ideas were picked up and improved upon by other scientists, however, and<br />
are still in use today.<br />
During 1924-1925, as he journeyed through southern Australia, Unaipon compiled a booklength<br />
manuscript that he called Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines. While on this<br />
odyssey, he travelled on foot and relied upon the kindness of strangers for food and lodgings.<br />
He frequently slept under the stars and had no money in his pockets. This led to him being<br />
arrested for vagrancy during this time.<br />
Unaiponʼs stories describe religious and spiritual similarities between Aboriginal and European<br />
cultures, with a focus on Creation stories. Over time, he submitted this material section by<br />
section to Sydney publishers Angus and Robertson, who paid him a sum of £150. The sections<br />
were then edited and joined into a book. A typescript copy was made, and Unaipon even<br />
submitted a grand photograph of himself for the frontispiece and wrote a foreword, but the book<br />
was not published in his name at that time.<br />
The copyright for Unaiponʼs work was sold to anthropologist and Chief Medical Officer of South<br />
Australia, William Ramsay Smith, who edited the work slightly and published it under his own<br />
name in London in 1930, under the title Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals. It is<br />
not known why Angus and Robertson decided to sell the copyright for the manuscript rather<br />
than publish with Unaipon as principal author. It is also not known if Unaipon knew about the<br />
sale of his work. There is no record of him having anything to do with Angus and Robertson or<br />
Ramsay Smith after 1925. No acknowledgment of Unaiponʼs work on the manuscript was made.<br />
The book was finally published in Unaiponʼs name, using his original title, in 2001.<br />
Unaipon married in 1902, and he and his wife had one son. In 1995, when the<br />
new $50 note was issued, the image of David Unaipon was included on one side of the note.<br />
Earlier, in 1988, the national David Unaipon award for Aboriginal writers was established, in<br />
recognition of Unaiponʼs outstanding achievements.<br />
Melissa Jackson, Indigenous Services Librarian, State Library NSW<br />
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FIRE - A RETROSPECTIVE PRODUCTION CREDITS<br />
Artistic Director<br />
& Choreographer<br />
Co-Choreographers<br />
Composers<br />
Set Designer<br />
Costume Designer<br />
Film Editor<br />
Original Lighting Designers<br />
Cultural Consultants<br />
Rehearsal Director<br />
Guest Performer<br />
Stephen Page<br />
Frances Rings<br />
Bernadette Walong-Sene<br />
David Page<br />
Steve Francis<br />
Peter England<br />
Jennifer Irwin<br />
Rochelle Oshlack<br />
Jo Mercurio<br />
Mark Howett<br />
Karen Norris<br />
Trudy Dalgleish<br />
Nick Schlieper<br />
Djakapurra Munyarryun<br />
Kathy Balngayngu Marika<br />
Jensen Warusam<br />
Issac Waia<br />
Sidney Saltner<br />
Kathy Balngayngu Marika<br />
Dancers<br />
Sidney Saltner, Elma Kris, Yolande Brown, Patrick Thaiday, Deborah Brown, Jhuny-Boy Borja, Leonard Mickelo,<br />
Tara Gower, Waangenga Blanco, Daniel Riley McKinley, Jasmin Sheppard, Katina Olsen, Perun Bonser, Ella<br />
Havelka<br />
Production Manager<br />
Technical Manager<br />
Stage Manager<br />
Head Mechanist<br />
ASM / Wardrobe Supervisor<br />
Production Coordinator<br />
Production Assistants<br />
Set Construction<br />
Scenic Artists<br />
Props Maker<br />
Costume Makers<br />
Aaron Beach<br />
Neil Fisher<br />
Kate Williams<br />
Kayne Johnson<br />
Emma Howell<br />
Erin Daly<br />
Chrissy Norford<br />
Jacob Nash<br />
Phoebe Collier<br />
Planet Engineering, Gorilla Constructions<br />
Scenographic Studios<br />
Traleen Ryan, Peter Owens<br />
Emma Howell, Millie Adams, Mandy Nichols<br />
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Suggestions for Study<br />
Bangarra encourages teachers to read through all the notes, particularly Choreographer Notes,<br />
to assist with the creation of suitable questions and activities. High School students should also<br />
be encouraged to read the background material contained within this study kit.<br />
Bangarra Dance Theatre advises that local Indigenous communities (especially elders and<br />
Indigenous dance practitioners) should be consulted to advise and assist with the study of<br />
Indigenous dance and culture. Local Land Councils and Aboriginal Liaison Officers within<br />
schools are often good contact points.<br />
Any cultural material within this Study <strong>Kit</strong> can be used for study purposes only and should not<br />
be used in a performance, recording or any other context.<br />
Suggested Questions About Dance<br />
What are your initial impressions of the work?<br />
What aspects of the dance impact on you first?<br />
What do you like/dislike about dance? Why?<br />
How does the work use space (levels, direction, shape, dynamics, dimensions and floor<br />
patterns)?<br />
How the body parts of the dancers are articulated within both locomotor and non-locomotor?<br />
How are speed and duration of movement manipulated in each section of the work- include the<br />
use of beat, tempo and rhythm. Provide examples of how this affects the mood/atmosphere of<br />
the work?<br />
Describe in your own words what is unique about the style of Bangarra Dance Theatre.<br />
What do you think are the main inspirations in the creation of the work?<br />
What messages is the choreographer trying to communicate?<br />
Within the choreography are there any recurring themes/issues?<br />
Write your own dance review of the work (as you would see in a newspaper).<br />
Do you feel that a company such as Bangarra Dance Theatre is an important part of Australian<br />
dance culture? Why?<br />
How does Bangarra Dance Theatre performance differ from other dance in terms of<br />
choreography, emotional response from the audience, spatial issues, music and theatricality?<br />
33
Suggestions for Primary Students<br />
What shapes and sizes do the dancers make with their bodies and hands?<br />
Develop a dance or song from a dream you have had or about the environment around you eg.<br />
trees, leaves, rivers, the sea, birds etc.<br />
What is your favourite native animal or bird? What is its Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island name<br />
(teachers to investigate)? Create a short dance based on this animalʼs movements using rhythm<br />
instruments.<br />
Discuss how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people lived before white settlers arrived?<br />
Why is the land so important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people?<br />
Oral history: ask someone from an older generation to relate a story from his or her time, share<br />
it with the class.<br />
What are the main Aboriginal language groups in your area?<br />
(Help: http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/aboriginal_studies_press/aboriginal_wall_map/map_page)<br />
How did Aboriginal people live in your area before white settlers arrived?<br />
What words of David Unaiponʼs are written on the Australian $50 note. What are some of David<br />
Unaiponʼs inventions?<br />
What are rations?<br />
What is your favourite native animal or bird? What is its Aboriginal name? Create a short dance<br />
based on this animalʼs movements.<br />
Suggestions for High School Students<br />
Research Indigenous Australians and the national census, as well as the ʻyesʼ vote in Australia.<br />
Find out about the impact of Christian missions on Indigenous people in early Australia and in<br />
the present day.<br />
Frances Rings talks about Aboriginal figures that were ʻin between,ʼ who ʻstraddled Aboriginal<br />
and white cultureʼ. How was David Unaipon like this? Who were Namatjira, Bennelong and<br />
Truganinni and why were they ʻin betweenʼ?<br />
Research the use of Aboriginal girls and women as domestic labour – what were their<br />
conditions? Were they paid? (Recommended Resource: The documentary film “Lousy Little<br />
Sixpence” www.roninfilms.com.au)<br />
What is the significance of the section called “Blankets”? What do the blankets represent?<br />
Discuss the impact western Christianity had on traditional Aboriginal culture.<br />
34
What was the Aborigines Protection Board?<br />
Discuss the impact of rations on traditional Aboriginal culture.<br />
Research the use of smoke in the religious ceremonies of Aboriginal, North American Indian,<br />
Eastern and Christian cultures.<br />
Research the man David Unaipon, the Ngarrindjeri area in SA and its people.<br />
What was the role of the Aborigineʼs Friendʼs Association?<br />
Who were its members and how was David Unaipon involved with them?<br />
Why was David Unaipon known as the ʻblack Leonardo da Vinciʼ?<br />
Identify both traditional and contemporary sounds and instruments in the score.<br />
Compare examples of traditional and contemporary Indigenous art.<br />
Interpret images and objects from a variety of cultural and historical perspectives.<br />
Research and evaluate images and objects of Australian artists/designers/ craftspeople from a<br />
variety of historical and contemporary contexts.<br />
The ochre used in Fire comes from the community in Bremer Island, near Nhulunbuy/Gove<br />
Peninsula. Explore the use of ochre, clay or mud by diverse cultures as a material for visual<br />
arts.<br />
Find a press review of the production and write about whether you agree with the review or write<br />
your own review.<br />
Research the primary uses of fish scoops/traps in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture.<br />
Explain the scientific principles upon which it is based.<br />
Research 3 different types of traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island ceremonies and<br />
explain their purpose and origins.<br />
What are totems? And what do they represent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture?<br />
Further, find out about other indigenous people from other countries, and whether totems are<br />
significant to their culture, and how?<br />
Research the history and current information about Arnhem Land. Where is it? What are the<br />
main industries there? How is the national park maintained? Who owns the national park?<br />
How many square kilometres of the Northern Territory is National Park?<br />
Research the history and current information about The Torres Strait Islands. Where are they?<br />
How many islands are there? What is everyday life like In the Torres Strait?<br />
In Indigenous culture, what role does the elder take? Is there are difference between male and<br />
female elders? Can you find examples of this role in other cultures (either Indigenous or non-<br />
Indigenous?)<br />
35