Bangarra Dance Theatre: "Blak" -
Playhouse, Arts centre, Melbourne, 3 May -
Bangarra Dance Theatre’s new production “Blak” is an exploration of the intersection of traditional tribal and contemporary urban experiences of Indigenous Australians. “Blak” comprises three works, each revealing distinctive lexical choices and contrasting narrative structures.
Daniel Riley McKinley's Scar opens the program. In it the concept of manhood is examined. The emphasis is on an urban, twenty-first century experience of Indigenous youth transitioning into adulthood. It is realised as a series of 'moments', danced solely by the men of the company and focuses on the darker elements of the male struggle to place themselves in relation to their environment and within their culture. Traditional bare footed stamping, circular formations and rhythmic dance-phrases are mashed together with references to street dance. A greyish darkness pervades this part of the work.
Young men in hoodies engage in highly stylised sequences of fighting, represented through slow-motion deconstructions of the moves of combat. Toughness and vulnerably collide in the movement language. References to traditional dance and rite manifest themselves with assurance and confidence in contrast with an edgy vigilance in some of the more contemporary-influenced sections. In this there is a sense of tradition offering sanctuary and certainty against the actual lived urban reality of young men.
Transitions through states of female experience are also captured in a work that cuts with sharp intensity from one self-enclosed scene to the next. Danced by the seven women of the company, Yearning, by the company’s artistic director Stephen Page, focuses largely on tragedy and sadness. It moves from distinctly articulated bodily isolations to a fluid and sinuous movement quality in its first scene, entitled “Birth”. Through this, the women's connection with the earth is explored. Another scene enacts the loss of a young girl to suicide and is seen through the grief of her grandmother, exploring the connection of place and identity as it is traced through language. Vocal texts are used extensively and provide the music through which the dance moves.
Perhaps the most powerfully realised section of Yearning is “Broken”. Referring to domestic violence, the dance is captured through the male gaze as women are videoed by an anonymous male, their images seen on one small television monitor placed to one side of the stage. The camera illuminates the dancer with a striking yellow glow and follows the object of its gaze fixedly. A soundtrack of violence accompanies. The bodies suggest abjection: hurling to the ground, rag-doll limpness. Relief comes in the final episode, “Unearthed” as the women, seated on a row of plastic waiting-room like chairs come forward one by one to perform solos.
The final third of “Blak” is an ensemble work entitled Keepers, also directed by Page. Referring to the custodianship of rite and custom held by tribal elders and passed to the current generation, Keepers seems to be connecting body with land, past with future. A dramatic set comprising a huge, glistening nugget-shaped rock dominates the rear of the stage. A waterfall-like effect accompanies. Bodies intertwine as the movement becomes rhythmic and pulsing.
Costuming mimics set design, with grey/black metallic briefs and bras for the women and briefs for the men. Dancers collect in a line near the waterfall, facing back. Necks and backs swirl in backwards, circular motions as if the dancers are overcome by an invisible force. Music pulses and beats. Shifts in speed from one movement to the next play with our perception of time and alert us to choreographic detail. Phrases melt from one into another in some of the partnered sections; a kind of chain-reaction as touch, weight or balance influence the partner to move.
“Blak” is content rich, however, its narrative drive made it less satisfying for me than certain recent BDT works that are more abstract. This is partly because some elements of the narrative are less easily recoverable than perhaps intended. It is also because there is not always sufficient differentiation in mood and tone between the elements. This is especially true of Scar, which might have been more tightly edited. However, music by David Page and Paul Mac is evocative, combining use of extended pieces of spoken and sung text and at other times creating a kind of techno-tribal soundscape.
- SUSAN BENDALL
Blak is touring nationally - click here for tour details.