Photo by Jeff Tan, courtesy of Bangarra
Bangarra Dance Theatre, with their well-earned reputation as one of the premiere dance troupes in Australia, present a new double bill, Lore. The first act, I.B.I.S. gives us a taste of a day in the life of the local island grocery store. The second act, Sheoak, conveys the emotional journey of grief and loss after the last scar tree has fallen. Dualities and contrast play an important role in this piece that centers around strong themes of island life, inter-generational knowledge and humanity’s connection to the land and sea.
I.B.I.S. opens with a high energy and sunny disposition that transports us seamlessly into the island life of the two Torres Straight Islander first time choreographers Deborah Brown and Waangenga Blanco. Bangarra have taken the every-day experience of island life that unites islanders and have synthesized something magical from the mundane. A grocery shop becomes a framework to explore culture. A glass refrigerator door becomes a window to an alternate reality. The characters in the shop become our family. I.B.I.S. creates rhythm and narrative from contrasts and as a story, is a lot easier to follow that it’s second act. Senior dancer Elma Kris playing the shopkeeper is our narrator on this journey, and commands a respect and empathy with her presence that is literally tangible.
Central to the success of I.B.I.S. is the cohesion between all production elements, which are interwoven into a tapestry to create one singular image. The relationship between music and dance is obvious, but to see Bangarra performing to David Page and Steve Francis’ evocative score, dance and music becomes extensions of each other, and it becomes hard to image one without the other. The score is as much sound design as it is music, often focusing on texture and rhythm rather than melody.
There are some unforgettable images that could only be a result of a ground-up collaboration between production design (Jacob Nash), costume (Jennifer Irwin) and lighting (Karen Norris). A trip to the freezer section is an image conceived in light, whereby the set design and costumes are literally constructed around the lighting design, instead of vice versa. Together with sultry choreography and a sighing soundtrack, Bangarra evokes those oppressive summer days that every Australian can relate to. There are times, such as a sequence involving the stacking and racking of shopping baskets, whereby it seems that the design is informing the choreography as much as vice versa.
In Sheoak, we see a departure in rhythm and style to a slower burn of a performance. Design elements are paired back to Bangarra’s signature textures and earthy tones. This is much more an internalized and psychic journey. Performance become both more ambitious and more precisely executed. As an audience, it is hard to rationalize this story, but that’s entirely fitting when the story is itself irrational. The frustration and schism created by the death of the scar tree and hence the death of culture simply cannot be rationalized by any Australian who feels a connection to the land.
Ultimately this is a story of hope, and from loss comes life. We build our future from the ashes of our past. Sheoak culminates in a magnificent final portrait that is let down, ever so slightly, by the sliding of a few poles that just don’t want to stay put.
It’s the contrasts that are really working in Lore, a theme worthy of exploring by a troupe who inherently are composed of such diversity of experiences and perspectives gathered from all over Australia and Torres Strait. Bangarra are not the tightest dance troupe you’ll ever see – they lack the precision and perfection you might expect from a world class dance troupe, but the imperfections is what allows each performer’s individuality shine through, and the organic cohesion between them as an ensemble is undeniably authentic.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Lore
Sheoak choreographed by Frances Rings
I.B.I.S. choreographed by Deborah Brown & Waangenga Blanco
Music David Page & Steve Francis
Set Design Jacob Nash
Costume Design Jennifer Irwin
Lighting Design Karen Norris
Sydney Opera House, Drama Theatre
bangarra.com.au
11 June – 4 July 2015
Also touring to Canberra, Wollongong, Brisbane and Melbourne
