By Rocio Otoya
Sydney, Australia, Jun 28 (EFE).- Internationally known for fusing indigenous Australian and contemporary dance, the Bangarra group keeps 65,000 years of Aboriginal culture alive among new generations.
Through its various training programs, Bangarra, which in the Aboriginal Wiradjuri language means “making fire,” makes its future dancers and choreographers, many of them from remote communities, intensely study and rehearse dance and art under rigorous diets.
They’re under the gaze of mentors who guide them to maintain their roots and navigate contemporary challenges.
They currently perform two shows in Australia, “Horizon” in Sydney and ‘Waru, the journey of the little turtle” in Brisbane, in which they represent traditional stories through dance, as part of a tour throughout the country until the end of the year.
Bangarra, created in 1989 and one of the few internationally famous companies with an exclusive cast of indigenous people, takes its artists to remote Aboriginal communities in search of inspiration and to ask permission to represent their legends and traditions.
“We go to the communities to ask permission to tell their stories (…),” said Frances Rings, creative director of Bangarra, in an appearance with the media at the Foreign Correspondents’ Association in Australia in Sydney. Rings said she found a way to express herself in dance since she was a child.
Indigenous Australians include Aboriginals, spread throughout almost the entire country, and the Torres Strait Islanders, of Melanesian origin and who live on an island territory in the northeast of the country.
These visits to indigenous communities are “such full and rich experiences,” said Daniel Mateo, one of the young dancers from Bangarra.
“They are a beautiful and crucial part because we sit with the ‘aunts’ and uncles who tell us their stories,” Mateo said.
The thing is that Aboriginal communities, which are so diverse among themselves both in their language and in their cultural expressions, live in remote areas and keep many stories related to their culture, rituals and clans that are traditionally kept secret.
It is also difficult to understand the complexity of many artistic expressions such as dance, which are often linked to rituals connected to sung maps of the universe and the terrain that are transmitted from generation to generation. EFE
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