Dance troupe spotlights aborigine culture

Kimberley McGee

Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 9:40 a.m.

With slow movements and soft lighting, a lone Bangarra dancer begins a story onstage that began more than 40,000 years ago with the indigenous Australian tribe of the aborigines.

The dancer's sway of hips and sweep of arms emphasize the message of the ancient aboriginal stories that were handed down through dance and storytelling around a campfire.

Bangarra Dance Theatre tonight brings its stories and troupe of 14 performers, the majority of whom are from aboriginal backgrounds, to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Artemus Ham Hall.

Award-winning Australian artistic director Stephen Page choreographs the 80-minute performance. Page blends the traditional dance styles of the Australian native aborigines with contemporary dance moves.

The effect is moving, Page said.

"It's like world theater," Page said. "It's very cinematic, a bit like 'Cirque du Soleil' but with the aboriginal mythology stories."

The Bangarra Dance Theatre was formed in 1989 by Carole Johnson, founding director of the National Aboriginal Islanders Skills Development Association (Australia's national indigenous dance school) along with NAISDA graduates. In 1991 Page was appointed artistic director and the following year he choreographed the company's first full-length work "Praying Mantis Dreaming."

Each Bangarra piece focuses on the values of the aborigine and how they have maintained those values through the modernization of the world around them.

It has only been in the last few decades that aboriginal leaders have tried to educate young people about their culture and heritage, as well as the rest of the world, Page said.

The dancers are close to their subject in that each is of aboriginal descent. They have chosen to carry the traditions of their ancestors through the contemporary dance styles.

"There's Irish-aborigine, German-aborigine, many mixes," Page said. "They respect the ancient traditions."

By telling their story through dance, Bangarra is sharing the essence of the aborigine people, Page said.

"This is more like an indigenous theatrical experience that one can experience live halfway around the world," Page said.

The performance begins with an elder aborigine stirring up the dust on the faux-desert floor of the dimly lit stage, preparing to tell the tribe (and audience) about its history.

The stories center on how animals, humans and the Earth relate to one another.

That's the essence of the aboriginal people, as well as the spirit of the production, Page said.

For instance one story, called "Hunting and Gathering," depicts women living with the land and how very different, yet complementary, it is from the tasks of the men of the tribe.

"There is labor in the way they (the dancers) mimic the movements of the women working," Page said. "It is a beautiful body language that you see in them."

Another story centers on a boy's initiation into manhood. The dance moves depict the boy's swirling emotions of fear, elation and wonder at the ceremony and life itself.

Through their moves, the dancers intend to pull the audience into the production and the message of the aboriginal people, Page said.

"This isn't 'Riverdance,' " Page said. "This is not for an exterior appreciation by the audience. The audience goes on a journey of observing the aborigine's rituals and (view) of the world. It's very intimate."