FIRE - A RETROSPECTIVE
A Bangarra Dance Theatre Performance 2009
[This reflection is for the first assignment of the course]
Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Fire – A Retrospective, is a performance in which the Indigenous dancers dedicate themselves to recreating the most brilliant moments from their repertoire of the twenty years before its debut in 2009. The production brings selections from the companies best dances and glimpses into their meaningful interpretation of indigenous culture through their chosen medium of dance. Since the companies beginning in 1989, Bangarra have continuously brought amazing elements of Indigenous history onto many stages, telling stories for the education and interest of the audience, but also to bring their own selves closer to their Aboriginal heritage.
The dance style that Bangarra undertakes is ballet, which is interesting as the style is quite different from the forms of dancing that Indigenous Australians, would have been dancing for centuries. The contemporary fusing of a raw and natural historical culture with such a fine and streamlined dance form reinvents and reinterprets the Indigenous history in a way that can be shared and understood with conceivably wider audiences. Perhaps the combination of the two very separate mediums is a representation of the reality of today’s culture, where people have to recognize the many different cultures that pass through our communities each day. The amount of influences from different cultures on a persons beliefs come together to form a thing that can not be named under any one culture. Bangarra hold a high understanding of how important it is to keep their dancing as the art form of ballet, and they bring elements of their culture and dancing in smoothly with the result being a brilliant display of both worlds.
As a dance theatre, I think that Bangarra have a brilliant means of representing their culture to wider audiences, as a large number of people will pass through the theatre doors. Through word of mouth also people hear about such things as a dance show, and interest grows, as do the numbers of visitors. Bangarra not only provide a brilliant dance show, but they creatively weave in intense and deep elements of their culture, which is beautifully represented through their dancers movements, and through the visual arts that are used through the shows, including paints and textiles.
Many of Bangarra’s dances explore the harsher themes that have occurred in Aboriginal history, such as their “widespread destruction of material culture and the imposed removal of Aboriginal languages and traditional ways of life”[1], but then many of their dances look at the beauty in their culture and the positives in how their traditions have grown and developed. The shows spread light on many different situations that have wreaked havoc through their history, but in a way that does not cause a commotion in today’s society. The stories told are done in a way that informs the audience, but does not necessarily blame. Basically Bangarra have cleverly brought issues and troubles from the past to a contemporary scene, and they creatively communicate the stories of their histories to people who are willing to learn.
As a dancer myself, Fire is a brilliant way for me to understand and experience something new in Aboriginal culture. The dancers tell amazing stories through the way that they creatively move and shape their bodies, constructing images and descriptions of the vastly complex and interesting Indigenous history. The visual language of dance has such a power to speak for Indigenous people and it does represent and advocate their beliefs and histories. Indigenous culture and art forms are “a means of access to the Dreaming, a way of making contact with this spiritual dimension, and yet it is the product of the Dreaming”[2]. For Indigenous people, their Dreamtime is a hugely important part of their culture, and is represented greatly in Bangarra’s dance themes.
I already had a great interest in the patterns and textures of Indigenous arts, but the mixture of dance and those arts combined make a beautiful picture. The creative directors have united the elements together brilliantly. Not only is the dancing a scene for the viewer’s eyes, but also the colours and textures placed on the stage along with the movements help to create the atmosphere and to show the rich history of Indigenous people. Through the different colours used also it is easier to understand the emotions and the light and shade of the dance pieces.
The performance allows the audience to view Aboriginal culture and to experience it through the means of dance. Dance is such a medium the can be enjoyed by a multitude of people, and which allows new means of expression and communication. The dances of Bangarra not only communicate their stories through their movements, but the intensity of their emotions and the shapes that they create with their bodies work with the music to really recreate their people’s stories and beliefs in amazing detail. It is interesting also that most of Bangarra’s dancers were brought up in an urban situation[3], so their dancing the movements of their ancestors, is also them learning and exploring their culture at the same time as the audience is viewing it.
Through watching Fire – A Retrospective, and also various other performances by Bangarra Dance Theatre, I have gained a better understanding of Indigenous history. Not only have I learnt more about their culture and past, but through the emotion and intensity of dance I can better understand how close Indigenous people feel with their past, and how strong their passion for their people and their country is. Through their dancing, and their art, they have the ability to provoke such a strong emotion in their stories, and they have an amazing capacity to tell an extensive amount of stories in their past and present.
[1] Leslie, Donna, Lin Onus: picturing histories speaking politics, Artlink, v. 30, no. 1 (Jan. 2010), page 29
[2] Morphy, Howard, Aboriginal Art, Phaidon Press, London 1998, page 67
[3] DanceLife Interviews Stephen Page from Bangarra [video], 2009, retrieved 3rd of August 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPG_Oe2zoa0
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