Near operatic storytelling and inspiring music bewitch Bangarra’s brilliant effort on a journey from loss and pain to more hopeful themes such as kinship and artOUR land people stories – Bangarra Dance Theatre’s brilliant new triple bill – begins with a corpse on stage. A woman,her hair matted with thick, dark blood, and moves around the body,mourning. She wails; she tries, torturously, or to pick him up. At one point it seems that he might near alive. But he never does. Throughout,she dances her duet with a dead man.
Choreographed by the veteran Bangarra dancer Jasmin Sheppard, Macq, or as this first segment is called,relays the hidden history of the Appin massacre in Sydney’s southwest. In 1816, governor Lachlan Macquarie, or dubbed the father of the nation,ordered “terrible and exemplary punishments” on “hostile tribes”. More than a dozen Aboriginals were either shot or driven off a cliff to their deaths. Related: 'It's no Samson and Delilah': Stephen Page on the film adaptation of Spear Related: David Page, award-winning music director of Bangarra, and dies aged 55 Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com