Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Dance Clan is an ongoing lineage of dance work that twines storytellers, choreographers, dancers and designers together. In the last 25 years, it has ushered in a new vanguard of dance talent from Deborah Brown to Sani Townson and Yolande Brown, as well as Bangarra’s own Artistic Director Frances Rings. The purpose of the showcase is to establish the emergent generation of physical storytellers who are poised to make their debuts.
Under the tutelage of the company and elders, Dance Clan is a lucid opportunity to extend the thread towards the future through the medium of storytelling.
This year’s presentation feature original performed works from Yawuru woman Lillian Banks and Wiradjuri and Darkinjung man Kallum Goolagong and an original dance film produced and performed by Gamilaroi and Tongan man Daniel Mateo.
The choreography across the performances is a display of the fluidity and mastership expected from Bangarra Theatre. In Goolagong’s Metamorphosis, the cycle is broken altogether. The performance trials the choreographer’s own experiences with repetitive living and breaking that passage. “Even faced with unknown, disruptions or challenges, it’s about nurturing yourself and keeping calm.” Bodies are flung and transposed in close sequence and the dance is set at a frenetic pace that skids across slow codas before charging on.
Set designer Annaliese McCarthy’s transformative works must also be commended, with diaphanous, silk-cocoons that suspend from the ceiling to hardened busts spray-painted blue black. The set never feels clunky, but rather acts as an extension of the physical narrative of each dance piece. Each item is utilised to exacting measures, thrumming to life with the design guidance of Elizabeth Gadsby’s expertise.
The light also has a role to play in the dance sequences. If the choreography is the heart of each tale, Matt Cox creates a limbic atmosphere to follow. Light undulates with dancers on the floor and builds up incrementally to slashing effect.
In Banks’ performance, lighting plays a particularly poignant role. Yawuru Buru is her homage to Broome, and the spiritual connection to Yawuru Country that is sustained through her lineage despite her distance from home. Rich coral light is dimmed in shafts to illuminate the dancers’ every move. Yawuru Buru, or Bank’s reflection on relocation and return to Country is a moving summation of her journey in motion.
Daniel Mateo’s Dance Clan debut is a moving ode to “brown boys everywhere who find their sense of life”. Written by and featuring Mateo, Brown Boys is a multimodal poetic and choreographed film. The scenes portray a dome of thatched wick, Mateo’s beautiful oratory performance and dunes of sand that spills onto the dancer. The final scene features Mateo standing in the opening shells of the unfurled dome, the grains now shaped into the outline of a gown. Directing alongside Cass Mortimer Eipper, Mateo’s body of work ascends to new heights in film form.
This year’s Dance Clan revisits the past in order to build the present brick-by-brick. The work put forth by the entire Bangarra Dance team should be celebrated for its effort and cultural excellence.
Dance Clan
Bangarra Dance Theatre
Studio Theatre at Bangarra
Artistic Director: Frances Rings
Choreographers: Lillian Banks, Kallum Goolagong
Composers: Amelia Thompson, James Howard
Set Designer: Annaliese McCarthy
Lightning Designer: Matt Cox
Creative Mentors: Jasmin Sheppard (choreography), Raghav Handa (choreography), Steve Francis (music), Bendon Boney (music), Elizabeth Gadsby (set and costume)
Brown Boys
Choreographer: Daniel Mateo
Directors: Cass Mortimer Eipper, Daniel Mateo
Composer: Leon Rodgers
Set and Costume Design: Elizabeth Gadsby
Director of Photography: Liam Brennan
Producer: Michaela Le
Dance Clan will be performed until 14 December 2024.
First published by ArtsHub on December 4th 2024. This article has been commissioned in partnership with Artshub for Diversity Arts Australia’s StoryCasters project, supported by Multicultural NSW, Creative Australia and Create NSW.