Spirit: A Retrospective 2021
Choreography by Stephen Page and Bernadette Walong-Sene
Bangarra Dance Theatre is Australia’s leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performing arts company. This February, Bangarra will tour NSW with Spirit: a retrospective 2021, a powerful collection of dance stories chosen from Bangarra’s 31-year repertoire.
Photography by Lisa Tomasetti
They prove how dance can speak when words fail
Spirit: a retrospective 2021 is a powerful collection of dance stories chosen from Bangarra’s 31-year repertoire. Featuring the full Bangarra ensemble of 17 dancers, Spirit draws from a selection of the company’s most celebrated works, comprising of Brolga (Corroboree), Black (Ochres), Yellow (Ochres), Dingo (Skin), White (Ochres), Moth (Bush), Two Sisters (Bush), The Call (Walkabout), and In her Mind (Nyapanyapa). Tracing an unbroken songline, the works unravel a sacred world of plants, animals, and ancestral medicine, laid down one step at a time.
Set to a haunting score, Spirit invites audiences to connect with stories and songlines drawn from all over Australia, in a celebration of First Nations Peoples’ unbroken connection to the land.
ABOUT
Bangarra Dance Theatre is one of Australia’s leading performing arts companies, fusing Aboriginal culture with contemporary dance. Since the foundation in 1989, the relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are the heart of Bangarra, with a repertoire created on country and stories gathered from respected community Elders. ‘Bangarra’ is the Wiradjuri word meaning “to make fire”.
The company’s dance technique is forged from over 65,000 years of culture, embodied with contemporary movement. The 17 company dancers are professionally trained, dynamic artists who all have a proud Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background, from various locations across the country.
Authentic storytelling, outstanding technique and deeply moving performances are Bangarra’s unique signature.
TOURING IN 2021
GRIFFITH, NSW | 13 February | BOOK NOW
ORANGE, NSW | 17 February |BOOK NOW
TAMWORTH, NSW | 20 February |BOOK NOW
WYONG, NSW | 24 & 25 February | SOLD OUT
Previous Tour
Touring NSW
February 2021
CREDITS
Choreography Stephen Page, Bernadette Walong-Sene
Traditional Choreography and Music
Djakapurra Munyarryun
Music David Page, Steve Francis
Costume Design Jennifer Irwin
Set Design Jacob Nash
Brolga Cloths John Matkovic, Stephen Page
Lighting Design Nick Schlieper, Karen Norris, Joseph Mercurio, Matt Cox
If you are interested in touring get in contact!
Arts on Tour
02 8038 1880
touring@artsontour.com.au
Arts on Tour is based in Redfern NSW and we respectfully acknowledge the Gadigal people as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the unceded land on which we work.
As we tour artists and productions across these vast lands, we pay our respect to all First Nations Elders, past, present and future.
We celebrate their continuing connection and contribution to culture, country and community, and thank all First Nations peoples for their wisdom in caring for the land, the sky, the rivers and the sea.