Dramaturg Alana Valentine in London at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Image courtesy Bangarra Dance Theatre.
Before her creative role began on Bangarra Dance Theatre’s upcoming production, dramaturg Alana Valentine uncovered a potent link to the forgotten Indigenous story of Patyegarang during a recent London trip.
Valentine said three diaries produced by colonial explorer William Dawes gave important insights which would later inspire the forthcoming production.
‘The diaries are held in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. I contacted Suzanna Rainer who is the curator at SOAS and she showed me William Dawes’ diaries – they’d been rediscovered in 1972 by an Australian librarian called Phyllis Mander-Jones. She’d gone over to England to do a survey of all the documents and papers about Australia held in British institutions and published that in 1972,’ Valentine explained.
Working with Bangarra’s Artistic Director, Stephen Page, she helped to reference important events and anecdotes contained within the diaries with which to shape the production’s direction. In this way, Valentine sees her role as something broader than the traditional role of a dramaturg.
‘There’s a word in William Dawes’ diaries, a Dharug word – kā ́ma – which means ‘to dig’. I have been Stephen’s digging tool in this creative journey to honour and imagine into breath these respected ancestors, Patyegarang, the Eora, and William Dawes,’ she said.
Valentine’s collaboration with Page on Patyegarang is not their first. ‘Stephen and I had worked together briefly on a piece that Wesley Enoch was directing, called Women of the Sun. It was a development to do a stage adaptation of the television program.
‘It never made it to the stage, but Stephen and I had a great time doing it and enjoyed working together. A couple of years ago he asked me to come in have a dramaturgical session with him on ID,’ she said.
‘He asked me to come in and talk about reviving a piece that they had previously done; instead we got talking about Patyegarang, who is the subject of this new work. We both just got very excited. He had been thinking about it for a while, I was vaguely aware and very excited because only Bangarra can really tell this great story; it went from there.’
Opening 12 June at Sydney Opera House and followed by a national tour, Patyegarang marks the 25th anniversary of the company and the first time that Bangarra has told a ‘Sydney’ story to audiences.
After its Sydney season, Bangarra Dance Theatre’s national tour of Patyegarang travels to Canberra Theatre Centre, the State Theatre Centre Perth, QPAC Brisbane and Arts Centre Melbourne.
For tickets and more information visit the Bangarra Theatre Company website.
