Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation and one of Australia’s leading performing arts companies, widely acclaimed nationally and internationally for their powerful dancing, distinctive theatrical voice and utterly unique soundscapes, music and design. Bangarra shares the rich history of Australia’s First Nations people and cultures with communities and audiences across Australia and the world.
Bangarra was born in 1989 from the energy of NAISDA (National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association) founder Carole Y Johnson, along with NAISDA graduates, and Robin Bryant and Cheryl Stone. That spark continues to animate the company today.
Inextricably linked to Country and community, Bangarra’s contemporary storytelling practice has evolved from an ancient heartbeat. Relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are the heart of Bangarra, with repertoire created on Country and stories gathered from respected community Elders.
ART OF BANGARRA
BANGARRA’S WORLD (EP.4)
BENNELONG
Produced by Bangarra Dance Theatre
Bangarra Dance Theatre’s production Bennelong 2017, photo by Daniel Boud.
Bangarra’s award-winning production, Bennelong, which premiered in 2017, was based on the life of Woollarawarre Bennelong (Bennilong, Baneelon) (c. 1764-1813), a Wangul man of the Eora nation who lived in the Port Jackson area at the time of British settlement in Australia.
As a traditional man, Bennelong’s life changed forever through the arrival of the First Fleet, he faced challenges that no Aboriginal man had encountered before. For me, his legacy and spirit are ever-present on this Country and I hope the design for Bennelong begins to reflect these ideas; sacred, contemporary and strong.” – Jacob Nash 2017
Today, Bennelong is one of the most celebrated and mythologised Aboriginal individuals from the days of early settlement. His wide notoriety is remarkable — not only for the stories about his interactions and relationships with the British, but for the amount of primary source material that refers to him in notebooks and diaries of several First Fleet officers, as well as Governor Arthur Phillip. Numerous geographical locations around Australia are named in his honour. Perhaps the most well-known place name is Bennelong Point, where the iconic Sydney Opera House stands today.
Bangarra Dance Theatre’s unique telling of Bennelong’s story was imagined through the perspective of Bennelong himself, as well as other Aboriginal people of the time. The work explored his personal character, his conflicts, his relationships, his community, and his standing within that community.
Bennelong, 2017
BENNELONG was produced by Bangarra Dance Theatre
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Stephen Page is a descendant of the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali clan of the Yugambeh Nation in South East Queensland. As Artistic Director of Bangarra from 1991-2022 Stephen developed a signature body of works that have become milestones in the Australian performing arts landscape.
Stephen notably directed the Indigenous sections for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies, and created a new dance work for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. He has choreographed dozens of works for Bangarra, which reflect the rich histories, cultures and stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.
Stephen directed the chapter Sand in the feature film The Turning (2013), and choreographed the feature films Bran Nue Dae (2009) and The Sapphires (2011). His first full-length film Spear premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before screening at various arts festivals around Australia in early 2016. In 2020, Stephen co-directed and choreographed the film Freeman.
Stephen was the Artistic Associate for Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Secret River, which had its world premiere as part of Sydney Festival in 2013 and toured to Edinburgh International Festival and the National Theatre of Great Britain.
In 2015, Stephen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Creative Arts by the University of Technology Sydney. In 2016, he received both the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award and JC Williamson Award. In 2017, Stephen was honoured with the Australia Council Dance Award for significant contributions to the cultural and artistic fabric of the nation, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
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Australian costume designer Jennifer Irwin works across opera, drama, film and in particular dance & ballet.
Her commissions include over 90 ballets as well as some of the largest scale spectacular productions ever staged in Australia; including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Official Ceremony marking the Centenary of Australian Federation 2001 and Francesca Zambello’s West Side Story staged on Sydney Harbour.
In 2004, Jennifer designed the costumes for the International Box office sensation Dirty Dancing the musical, breaking all pre box office pre sales of any show ever staged in the history of London’s West End still playing to packed houses.
Jennifer’s costume design for the feature film SPEAR was nominated for an AACTA award in 2017. She was recognized for her contribution to Dance at the Australian Dance Awards ‘Service to Dance’ in 2015.
Her work has been staged live in over 90 countries, over 350 cities and venues, including the Lincoln Centre NYC, City Centre NYC, Brooklyn Academy of Music NYC, The Kennedy Centre Washington, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden London, Command performances at the Royal Palace Madrid and many at the Sydney Opera House.
She has been recognized for her contribution to Australian design with multiple Helpmann, Green Room and Australian Production Design nomination and Awards including ‘Service to Dance’ at the Australian Dance Awards and Best Costume Design at the AACTA Awards, a Theatre Board Grant to study at La Scala Opera Milan, Italy (1984) and a Centenary Medal for ‘Service to the Arts’.
⤷ https://yellowcreativemanagement.com/jennifer-irwin/
⤷ https://bangarra-knowledgeground.com.au/people/jennifer-irwin
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Steve is a multi award-winning Composer and Sound Designer originally from Adelaide. An opportunity to produce and mix David Page’s work on Alchemy for The Australian Ballet in 1997 led to an ongoing collaboration with Bangarra.
He has also worked with Sydney’s premier theatre companies including Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Belvoir and Griffin. He has composed for a number of films, including The Turning, the multi award-winning dik, Leah Purcell’s She Say, the Dendy Award-winning film Black Talk, Berlin Festival winner Djarn Djarns, the MMF Award-winning documentary Mr Patterns, the AFI Award-winning short film Box and the documentaries How the light Gets in, Macumba and Picture the Women.
For television, Steve has scored for the Channel Nine series Cops LAC, the mini-series Dangerous for Fox and the internationally released series Double Trouble. With David Page, Steve also composed and produced music for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremonies.
⤷ https://bangarra-knowledgeground.com.au/people/steve-francis
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Nick Schlieper designs for all of the major performing arts companies in Australia, and works regularly internationally. He is one of Australia’s most highly awarded designers having received six Melbourne Green Room Awards, seven Sydney Theatre Awards (two for set design and 4 for lighting design), the inaugural 2013 Australian Production Designers Guild Best Lighting Design Award, as well as 5 Helpmann Awards and in 2016 a Nomination for Best Lighting and Best Set (with Simon Phillips) for North by Northwest (MTC and Kay and McLean Productions).
Previous lighting designs for Bangarra include Knowledge Ground: 30 years of sixty five thousand, Bennelong, Patyegarang, Unaipon, Boomerang and Bush.
Among his many credits, for Sydney Theatre Company he has lit Harp in the South, The Present, Mosquitoes, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Real Thing; for Melbourne Theatre Company, set and lighting design for Photograph 51; and Packer & Sons for Belvoir. Nick also worked with the National Theatre of Norway for Private Confessions, directed by Liv Ullman.
Nick has worked extensively with Opera Australia and the state opera companies, including working as a Lighting and Associate Set Designer on Wagner’s Ring Cycle in Adelaide. His work has also been seen in theatres across the world, including in London’s West End and on Broadway.
⤷ https://bangarra-knowledgeground.com.au/people/nick-schleiper
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Matthew Doyle is a descendant of the Muruwari people from the Lightning Ridge area of New South Wales and grew up in Southern Sydney on Dharawal land. From 1985-88 Matthew studied with the prestigious Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre, where he completed a three-year course. In 1990 Matthew returned to AIDT to become a founding member of their professional company, where he worked on several productions. Matthew is a Dancer, Musician, Songman, Cultural Consultant and Educator with extensive experience working in the performing arts sector. Matthew has worked as a Cultural Consultant and Songman with Bangarra over the years on various Bangarra productions including Patyegarang and Bennelong.
Matthew has toured extensively in Australia and abroad performing in many countries as both a Soloist and a Collaborator. He has performed as part of many major international events including the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Matthew played digeridoo on top of the Sydney Opera House as part of the ABC Millennium Broadcast. Matthew has also performed at the opening of the Musée du quai Branly in Paris, World Expo Japan, World Youth Day 2008 and took part in the production of I am Eora at the 2012 Sydney Festival.
In his capacity as a Cultural Consultant, Matthew has welcomed both Pope Benedict XVI to Sydney as well as members of the British royal family. In 2016 Matthew opened the new Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He has recorded several albums of his own music and has collaborated with shakuhachi player Riley Lee, James Morrison, TAIKOZ, Legs on the Wall, Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Gondwana Children’s Choir. Matthew has also been working in Indigenous arts in Education, including an appearance on Play School.
⤷ https://bangarra-knowledgeground.com.au/people/matthew-doyle
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Alana is an acclaimed dramatist and librettist working in film, theatre, opera and television. In 2021 Alana received funding from Screen Australia to continue to work with Bunya Productions on the screenplay adaptation, with Ursula Yovich, of the multi-Helpmann award winning First Nations musical Barbara and the Camp Dogs. First presented on stage in December 2017 at Belvoir, touring nationally in 2019 it was recipient of Best Original Score and Best Musical in the 2019 Helpmann Awards and four Green Room Awards (2020) for Best Writing, Best Music Composition, Best Production and Best Performance.
She has collaborated as a cowriter and dramaturg with Stephen Page for the past eleven years on his award-winning dance theatre productions for Bangarra, including the stage presentation of DUBBOO: Life of a Songman (2018) and with David Page on Patyegarang (2014). Alana also worked on the Helpmann Award winning Bennelong (2017) Dark Emu (2018) ID from Belong (2011) and most recently the First Nations opera WUDJANG: Not the Past (2022).
Alana was the 2021 co-recipient of the UTS Chancellor’s Award for excellence in recognition of her accomplished work and the consistent excellence of her dramatic output. She has been awarded four Australian Writers Guild awards and a Churchill Fellowship. She has also received a Centenary Medal for her work on the Centenary of Federation, a Cultural Leadership Grant from the Australia Council for the Arts and a Literature Fund Fellowship.
⤷ https://bangarra-knowledgeground.com.au/people/alana-valentine
Choreographer: Stephen Page, in collaboration with Bangarra Dancers
Costume Design: Jennifer Irwin
Set Design: Jacob Nash
Lighting Design: Nick Schlieper
Composer: Steve Francis
Dramaturg: Alana Valentine
Cultural Consultant: Matthew Doyle
Dancers:
Elma Kris, Deborah Brown, Waangenga Blanco, Tara Gower, Leonard Mickelo, Daniel Riley, Jasmin Sheppard, Tara Robertson, Kaine Sultan-Babij, Luke Currie, Richardson, Beau Dean Riley Smith, Rikki Mason, Yolanda Lowatta, Rika Hamaguchi, Tyrel Dulvarie, Glory Tuohy-Daniell, Baden Hitchcock, Ryan Pearson
Bennelong Photography by Daniel Boud