ILLUME

 

Illume.

Choreography: Frances Rings and artists of Bangarra Dance Theatre Artistic & Cultural Collaborator: Darrell Sibosado Composition: Brendon Boney Set Design: Charles Davis Costume Design: Elizabeth Gadsby Lighting Design: Damien Cooper. Cultural Consultant: Trevor Sampi. Bangarra Dance Theatre.

Dancers:Lillian Banks,Courtney Radford,Kallum Goolagong,Daniel Mateo,Emily Flannery,Janaya Lamb,Kassidy Waters,Jye Uren,Maddison Paluch,James Boyd,Chantelle Lee Lockhart, Amberlilly GordonDonta Witham, Zeak Tass, Edan Porter,Tamara Bouman,Roxie Syron,Eli Clarke.

Canberra Theatre. Canberra Theatre Centre. July 25-26 2025. Bookings: 62752700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Choreographer Frances Rings and
 the Bangarra Dance Theatre dancers

Bangarra Dance Theatre’s ILLUME is a breathtaking work of art, a wondrous palette of traditional and contemporary movement, stirring composition, luminescent lighting and staging. This is Bangarra’s masterpiece and homage to light, the life force of our universe. It praises Nature’s glory that has nourished the indigenous people of the remote Dampier Peninsula and condemns the polluted exploitation of the colonial impact on the people, culture and traditions. Choreographer Frances Rings and Artistic and cultural collaborator Darrell Sibosado connect with earth and air in an evocative pattern of dance to explore the natural world and the human experience. Damien Cooper’s lighting displays a visual wonderland of light’s manifestation, power and influence complemented by Craig Wilkinson’s video imagery, Elizabeth Gadsby’s combined costuming of illuminated spirituality and textured depiction of the region’s red earth and set designer Charles Davis’s awesome stage setting of a vast canopy of night sky, pillars of light and the looming presence of a mother of pearl shell above the stage, symbolizing the totemic inspiration for the Bardi and Jawi people of the saltwater and land regions of the Dampier Peninsula.

The firmament’s vast canopy of light from the night sky shines down upon the country of the Goolarrgon Bard people of the remote Dampier Peninsula of Western Australia. In the ethereal shadows of the darkness, ghostly figures dance across the landscape inviting the Bardi Jawi people to emerge into the light. They are the spirits of Galaloong, the cultural hero who in the creation stories travelled down the Dampier Peninsula naming places and giving names to the people. By connecting the spiritual and terrestrial place with people and story ensures the value system and cultural belief within intergenerational and cultural knowledge. Like the very source of life, light, the story of Goolalang, told through the remarkable artistry of Bangarra Dance Theatre, illuminates the genesis of life and the connection to country.

ILLUME tells the story through a number of choreographic sections. We are introduced to the Shadow Spirits that from the darkness shape form and give birth to the physical world. the existence of people and places. Mother of Pearl (Guan) teaches us the spiritual significance of the pearl for the Goolarrgon Bard people. Shafts of light illuminate the Manawan medicine trees that signal the arrival on Goolarrgon country. In Blood Systems light courses through tubes of light representing the intricate network of kinship as the dancers weave an interconnected pattern of channels of light.Ngarrgid /Morr (The Proper Path) instructs us in the import interconnections of people and place in a harmonious rhythm of earth and air in place. The dancers connect with the earth and embrace the air inan aesthetic connection with both through dance. Nimam Aarl (Many Fish) forecasts like fish in a whirlpool the coming of change, Swirling lighting and swathes of colour lend a momentum to the dance and the anticipation of a changing landscape.

The mood shifts to the dark anxiety of Light Pollution, the dark chapter of the Stolen Generation. Restoration and medicine provide sustenance of spirit and survival in Gajoorr as fire heals the spirit. Middens tells of the shells that represent survival on country. Whale Song expresses the enduring connection to land and the Minnimb’s migration a totemic expression of the humpback whales reminder of protecting cultural traditions Mother of Pearl Finale. This is a reminder, danced by the full ensemble of the mother of pearl’s shell bridge to the spiritual realm. Its existence represents an enduring legacy for the Goolarrong people.

Selene Walker’s Welcome to Country forecast a message of hope, echoed in Bangarra’s spectacular performance of ILLUME. Previous works have danced the pain of grievance. In ILLUME this is as powerful as ever, but there is a pattern of hope on the path to reconciliation. ILLUME is more than the wisdom and knowledge of 65,000 years of continuous storytelling, and survival. It is a powerful and moving lesson to us all of the gift of collaboration and living in harmony with one another and casting an iridescent light on journeying across the footprints in the spirit of respect.

Like light itself, ILLUME travels through new dimensions, illuminating through Bangarra’s exquisite dancers Darrell Sibosado’s story and teaching us in his own words that “Each one of us is a part of that big design. When we live in harmony, we keep adding to the pattern.”