By Suzanne Tate
Sheltering, by Bangarra Dance Theatre, was a beautiful, evocative performance that explores ideas of deep cultural significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Bangarra Dance Theatre is a company of professional contemporary artists, each with a proud Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background. Founded in 1989 from the energy and work of the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA), it has become one of the premier performing arts companies in Australia. Bangarra Dance Theatre’s work is characterised by a distinctive integration of contemporary dance with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural knowledge, in which movement, music, design, and storytelling work together as an integrated whole.
Sheltering is a triple-bill that brings together works from different periods of Bangarra Dance Theatre’s history: Keeping Grounded, first performed in 2023 and reimagined for the stage; Brown Boys, a six-minute dance film first presented in 2024; and Sheoak, which premiered in 2015. Keeping Grounded explores “what it means to be culturally and physically grounded” in the contemporary world. Between the two live performances, Brown Boys provided an intimate interlude. Although brief, its exploration of masculinity, identity and connection to Country offered a quieter, more personal contrast to the scale of the live works. Performed by Daniel Mateo and directed by Mateo with Cass Mortimer Eipper, the film also acted as a bridge between the stage works. The evening concluded with Sheoak, a powerful and expansive work that brings the program to a reflective close.
As a piece of performance art, Sheltering was rich in emotion and symbolism, portrayed through human movement, sound, colour, light and form. Keeping Grounded opened with the cast huddled under a large, heavy net, silhouetted against the background. They appeared like a landscape, which shifted and changed as they pulsed and moved. When the netting was raised to be suspended as a background, with the large, reinforced holes made visible, it brought to mind the aerial perspective of many Aboriginal paintings depicting Country, with shapes representing topographical features like waterholes. As the performance continued, these holes were used for entry and exit into the net, which became an elevated space existing in gentle motion, that the dancers explored and emerged from. In this first part of the performance, the dancers wore recognisable streetwear: earth-coloured cargos and white shirts, perhaps representing the struggle to stay grounded in everyday life. As the show progressed, the costumes, designed by Clair Parker (Keeping Grounded), Elizabeth Gadsby (Brown Boys) and Jennifer Irwin (Sheoak) became more elaborate and evocative. Among the most striking costumes was the seemingly simple black jacket with extended sleeves, through which dancers became tangled, restrained, led and dragged to powerful effect. Or the costumes worn at the beginning of Sheoak, tight black and white shorts decorated to resemble cracked earth, or tree roots, paired with black and white slashed tops that at times called to mind vertebrae and ribs, and at others textured bark or bright white feathers on a bird taking flight. Lastly, the floating, chiffon trousers and almost Grecian robes worn in the final performance could appear warm and earth-toned, or glow ethereally white, lit from spotlights behind a scrim. The lighting of this show, designed by Karen Norris, was very effective. Minimal, but highly impactful.
In each performance, the dancing was entrancing. The choreography was varied and never predictable, moving effortlessly between tightly synchronised ensemble work, cyclical patterns that echoed across the stage and moments that appeared spontaneous yet remained perfectly controlled. The choreography was rich and evocative, keeping my mind constantly working to interpret and try to see meaning in each beautiful movement. At times, I found myself wishing for a little more contextual information to guide that interpretation, but even in the study guide provided on Bangarra’s website, it states that “it is not analysis or literal explanation of the works. Instead, it aims to illustrate some of the themes, perspectives and practices…explored”. As for many forms of both visual and performing arts, it can mean different things to different people.
Each work possessed its own distinctive choreographic voice. Glory Tuohy-Daniell’s Keeping Grounded, accompanied by Brendan Boney’s evocative score, Daniel Mateo’s Brown Boys, set to Leon Rodgers’ intimate composition, and Frances Rings’ Sheoak, underscored by David Page’s powerful music, each offered a unique emotional experience. In every work, the music was far more than accompaniment; it was an intrinsic part of the performance, seamlessly intertwined with the choreography to shape atmosphere, rhythm and meaning. A common thread throughout the evening was the innovative use of set pieces within the choreography. In Keeping Grounded, the suspended aerial net became a dynamic performance space; in Brown Boys, the grass-matting shelter was gradually dismantled by Mateo; and in Sheoak, both the large sticks carried by the dancers and the suspended sculptural forms above the stage became extensions of the movement itself. These physical elements were integrated into the choreography in a way that was both innovative and visually compelling.
I found Sheltering deeply engaging and visually arresting. For me, it was the powerful visual integration of movement, music, lighting, costume and set that made the performance memorable. Although the symbolism remained intentionally open to interpretation, the emotional impact of each work was undeniable, making for an evening that was as visually stunning as it was thought-provoking.
