Kinetic light and energy gloriously transmit Indigenous cultural knowledge in Bangarra Dance Theatre’s latest production, Illume: a dance cycle that flows across 11 interwoven sections within an abstracted, ephemeral landscape that shimmers with light, a symbol of life.
Tubular poles of neon click on and off to the dancers’ rhythms, as shooting lights conjure both the cosmos and ceremonial dance wear designs. The ensemble then loops one another in bright white cables that form connected patterns suggesting their kinship.
Light is portrayed as a connection between the spiritual and physical worlds but as a destructive force too; a gathering tempest of light pollution and the industrial exploitation of Country.
A large guan (mother of pearl) shell descends from the ceiling, emitting a spotlight, connecting land, sea and lian/liarrn (inner being or spirit). But colonisation is coming: the performers begin to dance frenetically while seated on boxes, as if in a European missionaries’ classroom denuded of Indigenous cultural systems.
Now in its 36th year, the Sydney-based troupe has chalked up two firsts with this new show, which was choreographed by artistic director Frances Rings. This is their first collaboration with a visual artist, Goolarrgon Bard pearl carver Darrell Sibosado, from Lombadina on the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia (although Bangarra’s former head of design Jacob Nash, who left the company in 2023 after 12 years, remains highly regarded for his artistry too).
And second, this is Bangarra’s first season in the Sydney Opera House’s 1,500-seat Joan Sutherland theatre, after a two-decade tenure in the more intimate, 577-seat Drama theatre. The company has performed in the Joan Sutherland before, but as part of an Australian Ballet collaboration in 2012.
With Illume, Bangarra makes the most of the substantially larger theatre, the expanded space maximising the show’s astonishing visual images – a whirlpool of fish, a fire ceremony and euphoric flashes of swirling, sandy reds that suggest the jagged pindan cliffs of Sibosado’s Kimberley home. This visual artistry envelops the achingly exquisite shapes made by the Bangarra dancers, who become part of Sibosado’s pattern.
By chance last week, at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, I happened across Sibosado’s arresting wall-length electrical work Ngarrgidj Morr (the proper path to follow), the same name he has given a section in Illume about the interconnectedness of all living things. The NGA work, a triptych of men’s ceremonial dance plates rendered in powder-coated steel with LED tubes, echoes the designs seen in the Bangarra work; both allow us to see the strength of cultural lore and the enduring legacy of spirit in ways ancient and optimistically futuristic.
At times, I craved an obvious delineation of Illume’s 11 sections but quickly realised flagging each chapter would have broken the spell; they segue seamlessly into one another. In the end, I could not believe the show’s 70-minute (no interval) run time had passed so quickly.
Rings, who took over as Bangarra’s artistic director in 2023, is showing an admirable ambition for the company with this collaboration; kudos are also due to set designer Charles Davis, lighting designer Damien Cooper, costume designer Elizabeth Gadsby and composer Brendon Boney. Long may Bangarra begin its annual tour in this way, on the epic stage and auditorium it deserves.
Bangarra’s Illume is at the Sydney Opera House until 14 June, Perth’s Heath Ledger theatre 10-13 July, Albany Entertainment Centre 18 July, Canberra Theatre Centre 25-26 July, Queensland Performing Arts Centre 31 July-9 August, Darwin Entertainment Centre 15-16 August, and Arts Centre Melbourne 3-13 September
