news | action | information | events | contact | search | news | action | information | events | contact | search |
key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lTwo worlds, one visionBy Tim Benzie
A sense of cultural duality might put Unaipon in the too-hard basket for other performance companies, but for Bangarra he’s perfect. The company formed in 1989 with the mission of presenting a blend of traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance with international contemporary dance influences. Their latest offering Clan includes the biographical Unaipon, which explores the fraught cultural two-step of the man who now appears on our $50 bill. Rings explained Unaipon had his critics in the Aboriginal community. “Well, for a start, he embraced assimilation,” Rings said. “And this was when people were calling for a national day of mourning … “It wasn’t embracing whitewashing or anything like that, but he just wanted to know how his people were going to survive in the next century,” Rings said. Rings is now associate artistic director of the company, a role brought about after the startling and glowing reaction to her choreographic debut with the Rations segment in Walkabout. Rings was rewarded with the task of co-choreographing Bush with artistic director Stephen Page, before going solo again with Unaipon. “He [Stephen] really nurtured me a lot and saw that I had a bit of a taste for choreographing. I was really shocked that I was being given this sort of responsibility, especially doing Rations, but the wonderful thing is there’s so much support and trust,” Rings said. Still, Unaipon offered some edgy challenges. Unaipon was fascinated by the theories of Isaac Newton, developed modern shears for shearing sheep and made the connection between helicopter aerodynamics and the boomerang’s flight pattern, none of which seem particularly obvious fodder for dance. More strikingly he was a Christian. Was this difficult to incorporate, given Bangarra’s repertoire celebrating and documenting Aboriginal beliefs and stories? “He made a lot of comparisons between what he found in the Bible and his own religious ideals, Ngarrindjeri religious ideals. It was more a belief in a higher power,” Rings said, who visited the land of Unaipon’s traditional community in Raukkan to learn more about his spiritual background. She discovered a vast wetlands where freshwater and saltwater meet – duality again – and that Unaipon’s father was the first Ngarrindjeri lay preacher. “Towards the end we have Ruby Hunter saying The Lord’s Prayer in Ngarrindjeri. It’s very beautiful, it comes full circle, because later in life his feelings towards his own culture were very strong,” she said. Clan by Bangarra Dance Theatre is playing at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, from 25 June to 17 July. Phone 9250 7777. Source: Sydney Star Observer Breathless and bold in vibrant creativity
CLAN June 28, 2004 - Bangarra's Clan is a surprise. It creeps up on you, takes you in an embrace and leaves you feeling good about the future. More than that, it gives you something extra to take away and think about. What you see is exciting dance, great visuals, bold theatricality and persuasive themes. What stays with you is Clan's depth of affirmation and celebration among individuals and communities, a sense of being Australian and the strength of dance as art and communication. Bangarra Dance Theatre is inherently a blend of old and new through its unique movement language that fuses Australia's indigenous heritage with contemporary dance. Clan's particular mix of old and new is a snapshot of the company: Unaipon from this year and excerpts from Skin, Fish and Ochres, pieces that date back over the past decade. Reflections is the apt umbrella title of the triple blend. Not only does it inspire a fresh look at the works, it triggers an appreciation of the company and how it continues to grow after 13 years of Stephen Page's direction. The dancers' level of technical accomplishment and ensemble unity is at its highest - which is the combined power behind Frances Rings's work Unaipon. She has made a remarkable piece on the challenging topic of an extraordinary man's life, developing it more strongly and succinctly since its debut at the Adelaide Festival earlier this year. David Unaipon, like Rings a South Australian, is the man on the $50 note. Born in 1872, he became an inventor and writer with a passion for science and religion. He promoted the potential of Aboriginal people and their culture at a time when neither was receiving respect: he, like Albert Namatjira, was considered an exception to his race. Rings and set designer Peter England have chosen imagery of weaving to place Unaipon in his Ngarrindjeri culture, which is famous for it. Dancers criss-cross the stage with tapes, and lines form a tracery with scientific symbols and the starry heavens on scenic front and back cloths. A voice-over - mercifully edited since Adelaide if my memory serves me well - tells us that Unaipon was fascinated by perpetual motion. This becomes a dynamic springboard for dance that shows Rings's overseas experience as well as the Australian core of her creativity. In a range of sequences to an eclectic choice of music from the Renaissance to now, and in eye-catching costumes by Jennifer Irwin, the dancers barely draw breath. An exhilarating tide of movement ebbs and flows, from precisely synchronised ensembles to solos that include an outstanding exploration of physicality by Patrick Thaiday. Rings is strong in modern dance influences that colour body shapes and rhythms, yet hasn't lost sight of her Aboriginal heritage. The two find an evocative balance that provides the dancers with challenges they are meeting with impressive skill and character. Back in 1994 Page and co-choreographer Bernadette Walong unleashed a work-in-progress called Ochres in Bangarra's Sydney season. It was a revelation then, and remains so if the White (Gapan) excerpt is any indication. With a female elder, Kathy Balngayngu Marika, replacing Djakapurra Munyarryun as the mesmerising traditional performer who begins the piece, White grows into a hypnotic dance of endless time and place. It is beautifully performed by the ensemble - a contrast to Unaipon with its slower, spiritual phrases - and highlighted by the duet for Rings and Sidney Saltner. Saltner also has the Cocoon solo from Fish, which forms the central section of Reflections. This is a potent piece of music by David Page, and Saltner's powerful interpretation of it is a worthy tribute to the late Russell Page, for whom it was made. Reflections begins with Nesting from Skin: the birthing sequence in what looks like a giant nest of twigs. This is a celebration of women and recognition of their strength when tragedy strikes - with another memorable performance by Rings. This is your moment to catch Bangarra, then and now. Don't miss it. Source: Sydney Morning Herald related links :
|
its one year on from the Australian Governments controversial intervention into NT Indigenous communities
action Roll back, listen to Indigenous community voices speaking about the intervention |
|
Published 17 June 2004 - David Unaipon (1872-1967) was a Ngarrindjeri man who spoke Latin and Greek and endorsed assimilation, yet insisted Aboriginal culture was as rich and complex as any other ancient culture. Unaipon was a scientist, a dandy, an historian, an inventor and a Christian. He was, according to choreographer Frances Rings, an “in-between”, a man “brave enough to walk in a land that had no track”.
By Jill Sykes
