With the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, awarded for the first time to a company in the history of the Dance Biennale, Bangarra Dance Theatre arrives in Venice with Terrain. Artistic Director Frances Rings explores the profound connection between dance, Country, and the culture of Australia’s First Nations.
Come, come with us to Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre. Where the cracked salt blinds and the silence deafens. Where the long shadows sweep towards the horizon, waiting for the deluge.
Come with us to Country
Rising and falling waters over an infinite expanse of salt: this is Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, Australia’s largest salt lake, and the inspiration behind Terrain, a work in which Frances Rings explores the connection between bodies and the Land of Australia’s First Nations. A descendant of the Mirning people, Rings has drawn upon her own journey as a dancer and choreographer to shape a production that is now considered iconic. Bringing it to the stage are the eighteen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre, a company that since 1989 has brought a 65,000-year-old cultural heritage to the stage, sharing First Nations stories through dance, music, and poetry, and establishing itself as one of the most internationally recognized artistic entities in contemporary dance. Founded by Carole Y. Johnson, Cheryl Stone, and Rob Bryant, the company was led for over thirty years by Stephen Page, who shaped a corpus of more than twenty-seven works; in 2023, Rings herself inherited this legacy as Artistic Director. The performance now arrives for its European premiere at Teatro Malibran (July 25 and 26): a Venetian debut that coincides with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement awarded to Bangarra – the first in the history of Biennale Danza to be presented to a company. “Time is mutable, it bends the past into the present and holds the future,” says Rings – words that deeply resonate with the theme chosen by Wayne McGregor for this edition, Time Does Not Exist.
Bangarra turns 37 and receives the first Golden Lion ever awarded to a company in the history of Biennale Danza. What does this recognition mean to you personally, and what does it represent for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that Bangarra brings to the stage?
At Bangarra we have used our platform for over three decades to give voice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the First Peoples of Australia, to ensure that we have a presence in the fabric of society, and to keep our history, knowledges and Stories at the forefront of our nation’s consciousness. This award is a validation of the important role of Bangarra Dance Theatre in bringing 65,000 years of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and stories to the stage in Australia and across the world. I am extremely honoured and very proud as the Artistic Director and co-CEO of Bangarra, as this award recognises all those who have come before me at Bangarra; our dancers who have worked so hard, our communities who have given so generously, Stephen Page who led Bangarra for thirty years, working alongside his brothers Russell and David Page, also Uncle Rob Bryant, Cheryl Stone and Carole Y. Johnson who founded the company in 1989, and our premiere First Nations training institution NAISDA – the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association – where many of our dancers began their careers.
You are a descendant of the Mirning people, the “whale people”, deeply connected to the coast of the Great Australian Bight. Yet Terrain explores the desert and the Salt Lake of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre – a landscape far removed from your own roots. How did your connection to that territory come about, and what did you learn working with Arabunna Elder Reginald Dodd?
In May 2012 the Arabunna won land rights for Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre and its surrounds. I wanted to tell the story of this important place which has a vastness and diversity like no other landscape in the world. It is the home of the Arabunna people who have maintained their deep connection with the Kati Thanda for thousands of years. The Arabunna people’s understanding of the landscape, and all the variances of its ever-changing behaviour, enable them to read the landscape and know its purpose. They shared stories with us about how Kati Thanda survives and thrives through its very dramatic natural cycles of flood, drought and everything in between. My personal connection to Kati Thanda was formed through visiting Country and learning from Arabunna Elder Uncle Reginald Dodd and traditional custodians. Being physically on the land and observing its cycles – drought, flood, and transformation – deeply influenced my choreography. I also learned important cultural and scientific knowledges from Uncle Reginald Dodd who was Cultural Consultant on Terrain and grounded the creation of the work. Uncle Reginald regularly takes visitors out to Kati Thanda to give them his Arabunna perspective of Country. It is important for him to share and preserve the knowledge passed down from his Elders. My time at Kati Thanda made me reflect on my own identity and relationship to Country which then became the foundation of Terrain.
Terrain was created in 2012 and is now considered an iconic work. You are bringing it to Venice for its European premiere at a time when the debate around the rights of First Nations peoples in Australia has returned to public attention. How has the meaning of this work evolved over time?
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a resilience that goes back 65,000 years. We have endured colonisation, genocide, disease, displacement and inequality. We have learned so much from our Elders about survival and adaptation and using our challenges to strengthen our resolve. The meaning of Terrain is as important today as when I created it in 2012. The work looks at how First Nations people sustain Country and how important it is to ensure cultural knowledge is passed down through generations so that land is cared for. Protecting and preserving Country and significant sites is an important message for all people, not only First Nations people. When we tell our stories, we heal from injustices. We use our position to lead and light the way for future generations.
You spent twelve years as a dancer with Bangarra, then stepped away to rediscover your own identity, before returning as Artistic Director, carrying forward the legacy of Stephen Page – one of the most defining figures in Australian dance history. How do you hold such a responsibility without letting it become a burden?
Stephen Page is an icon of our industry, a cultural leader and an esteemed a visionary who transformed First Nations storytelling. His incredibly hard work, sacrifice and indominable belief in the power of our artform as a messenger, and its ability to create lasting change, has had a profound impact on our industry. The powerful works that Stephen, alongside his brothers Russell and David Page, created for Bangarra made the company into the significant presence on the national and international stage that it is today. There is no doubt that Stephen’s legacy will resonate for generations to come. I joined Bangarra as a dancer in 1993. It was a privilege to watch the three Page brothers come together to create amazing works and work alongside them. I didn’t arrive here as Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Bangarra without the mentorship and guidance of Stephen Page and others who have helped to shape me as a leader. Stephen gave me my first opportunity to create a work as a choreographer in Bangarra’s Dance Clan program for emerging choreographers. This opened a whole new career pathway for me and set the course for where I am today. I will always be enormously grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside Stephen to see his genius and that of his brothers. I have been Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Bangarra for three years now, and I feel strong about my vision. I have a responsibility to care for the legacy of Bangarra, whilst envisioning how we continue to grow and tell our stories to create change. I also have a responsibility to ensure the sustainably of the company, including training emerging creatives and the cultural leaders who will carry our stories into the future.
Biennale Danza 2026 takes as its theme Time Does Not Exist – a concept drawn from quantum physics that dissolves the idea of linear time. In First Nations Australian cultures, time has always had a non-linear dimension, embodied in the concept of the Dreamtime. Do you feel a resonance between McGregor’s vision and the cosmology you come from?
I very much relate to Wayne McGregor’s theme of Biennale Danza 2026. A First Nations way of relating to the world is both physical and spiritual, where time is not linear. Instead, time is shape-shifting, folding past into present and carrying the future inside what we inherit. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural knowledge moves through story, song and dance, returning again and again, so that going back is also a way of going forward. Shape-shifting time is a First Nations concept that is a dynamic and embodied continuum – where what was, what is, and what is to come coalesce through movement with the shared purpose to keep culture alive, evolving, and ever present.
For thirty-seven years, Bangarra has pursued a mission that is at once artistic and one of cultural preservation. How do you ensure this work remains alive rather than becoming a museum piece – especially in the eyes of new generations?
The way we express our stories is very contemporary, yet the essence is very old. There is no company like Bangarra. We are unique because of the way we create our productions, which is a very deep process that involves spending time with Elders on Country. It takes four years to create a Bangarra work, from consultation with Elders on Country who share with us their language, Stories, songs and dances which we then honour on stage, to development, touring and taking the work back on Country to perform for Community in thanks and acknowledgement of the reciprocal relationship between the Story and Country. This is what Bangarra calls its Creative Cultural Lifecycle. When you see a Bangarra work you are witness to the experiences of First Nations peoples, Stories and histories. For us the stage is a sacred space and every element from set and costume design, choreography, lighting and music composition all evoke Story, spirit, people and Country. My hope for audiences when they see a Bangarra performance, is that they feel like we have taken them on Country and invited them to join us on our journey of healing.
