Vital fire

The Lions, approved by the Biennale Board of Directors on McGregor’s proposal, will be presented during the 20th International Festival of Contemporary Dance, from 17 July to 1 August 2026. Two distinct paths, yet united by a commitment to restoring dance to the strength of its origins and its ability to speak to the present, transforming memory, identity, and community into a shared stage experience.

Bangarra Dance Theatre. A collective body

With its eighteen agile and vital Aboriginal dancers, Bangarra Dance Theatre (meaning “to ignite the fire”) is one of Australia’s leading companies. Founded in 1989, it has transformed the First Nations scene with a repertoire that combines dance, music, and poetry. Under the artistic direction of Frances Rings, a descendant of the Mirning tribe, the company presents the European premiere of Terrain, a journey through the timeless landscape of Lake Eyre.
Born from the experience of the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA), Bangarra is composed of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, working from a cultural heritage spanning over 65,000 years and translating it into creations that unite identity, memory, and contemporary expression.

From 1991 to 2022, the artistic leadership of Stephen Page decisively shaped the company’s path, establishing it as one of the most authoritative voices of Indigenous cultures on the international stage.
In his statement, McGregor highlights how Bangarra’s work has redefined the relationship between dance and cultural context, turning the stage into a space of transmission and awareness. Today, under Frances Rings and executive director Louise Ingram, the company continues this trajectory, maintaining a strong connection with its communities of origin and a consolidated presence in major international theaters.

Mamela Nyamza. Writing against form

Mamela Nyamza, South African dancer, choreographer, and activist, develops a practice that places the body at the center as a political space, traversed by issues of gender, memory, and belonging. Born in Gugulethu, she trained in classical dance, an experience marked by constant confrontation with exclusionary aesthetic standards that became the starting point of her research.
After studying at the Tshwane University of Technology and refining her training at the Alvin Ailey School of Dance in New York, she embarked on a path of progressive deconstruction of academic codes. With Hatched (2007), which brought her to the international stage, she inaugurated a choreographic practice that challenges the conventions of classical dance, intertwining autobiography and political dimension.

Since then, her works have addressed themes such as gender-based violence, queer identities, and the legacies of apartheid, maintaining a strong tension between individual experience and collective history.
“A way of thinking the body, traversed by history and society,” as McGregor notes in his statement, capable of transforming the stage into a space of critical reflection and testimony. Alongside her artistic work, Nyamza pursues concrete engagement through her company, Mamelas Artistic Movement, offering opportunities to performers excluded from institutional circuits. At the Biennale, she presents the European premiere of The Herd/Less, a work exploring the ambivalence of the “herd,” between belonging and control.

Featured image: Bangarra Dance Theatre, ph. Daniel Boud | Mamela Nyamza ph. Esa Alexander – courtesy La Biennale di Venezia