Bangarra
Dance Company,
Canberra
Theatre 11th to 13th July 2013
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
Even after
nearly 25 years as Australia’s vanguard indigenous dance company Bangarra Dance
Theatre still manages to surprise, move and inform. Its latest work “Blak”,
combining the choreographic skills and imaginations of Stephens Page and Daniel
Riley McKinley is a cohesive, visually arresting and superbly danced creation.
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| Hunter Page-Lochard and male ensemble Photo: Greg Barrett |
Presented in
one act divided into three sections, the first section “Scar”, choreographed by
Riley McKinley, commences with a group of young men dancing in a circle. A corroboree or an urban bon fire? Among screaming
sirens, glaring headlights and cleverly stylised fights, they smear themselves
with white paint and exchange T-shirts which they carry in their mouths like
ceremonial regalia. Brilliant lighting, a driving, evocative soundscape and the
clever use of contemporary and traditional movement are brilliantly fused by
Riley McKinley to blur time-lines and suggest the timelessness of the testosterone
fuelled behaviour of young men searching for identity.
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| Yolande Brown, Deborah Brown, Nicola Sabatino Photo: Greg Barrett |
No less
affecting is the gentler second section, “Yearning”, superbly choreographed by
Stephen Page, in which the women of the company dance a series of vignettes
illustrating a grandmother’s grief over a young girl’s suicide, the loss of
native language, domestic violence and the search for self-identity. For this
section the costumes of Luke Ede are particularly beautiful.
For the final
section, “Keepers”, the company, and the choreographers, combine for a
spectacular ceremonial which begins around a huge rock belching smoke and
cleansing water. Brilliant dancing from the entire company, a stunning
soundscape and magnificent set and costume design combine in this powerful
sequence which ends with a spectacular curtain of sand, perhaps signifying the
timelessness of the struggle for indigenous identity.
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| Beau Dean Riley Smith and Bangarra ensemble Photo: Greg Barrett |
Despite the
seriousness of some of the topics, “Blak” is a spectacular and celebratory work
in which the dance and production skills of Bangarra Dance Theatre have seldom been
better showcased.
This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on Friday 12th July 2013
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| Deborah Brown, Daniel Riley McKinley Photo: Greg Barrett |