BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE

From Washington to New York to Beijing and London, Bangarra Dance Theatre is acknowledged as one of Australia’s most exciting contemporary dance companies.

Bangarra is one the youngest and the oldest of Australia’s dance companies. Its living traditions go back at least 40,000 years, yet it also reflects the lives and attitudes of Indigenous people today.

FESTIVAL FIRST NIGHT WORK

For Festival First Night, Bangarra will be performing X300, a work choreographed by Frances Rings as part of the hugely successful True Stories double bill.  Rings’ work is known for its theatricality and inventiveness.

In the 1950’s a series of atomic explosions were conducted on Maralinga, Tjarutja traditional lands. The code name of the test site was X300.  Rings’ work wonderfully and spectacularly explores a landscape assumed vacant but which in reality became a contaminated desert and poisoned the Tjarutia people.

CHOREOGRAPHER
Frances Rings

Adelaide-born, Frances is a descendant of the Kokatha Tribe and is also of German descent. Frances has worked with Bangarra Dance Theatre on various projects since 1993 and in 1995 she studied at New York’s Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre.

Frances has various film and television credits to complement her extensive dance choreography and performance experience. In 2002 she made her main stage choreographic debut for Bangarra to outstanding critical acclaim with Rations from the Walkabout double bill. In 2003, she co-choreographed and performed in Bangarra’s sell-out season of Bush and danced in Meryl Tankard’s Pearl for the Sydney Opera House’s 30th Anniversary.

Bulletin Magazine named Frances in their Smart 100, following the 2004 world premiere of her work Unaipon at The Adelaide Festival of the Arts.
She has led choreographic workshops in Australia and internationally, choreographed the West Australian  Ballet and worked as a guest artist in the production of the award winning Petroglyphs.

Frances was appointed to the Dance Board of the Australia Council for the Arts in 2005 and in 2006 returned to Bangarra to restage her works Rations and Unaipon for the Clan double bill.  In 2008 she presented Belonging as part of a Sydney Festival double bill, Into.

Frances’ achievements include Best New Australian Work at the 2003 Helpmann Awards for Walkabout; the 2003 Deadly Award for Female Dancer of the Year; and the 2004 Ausdance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for Unaipon.

DANCERS

Deborah Brown
Dancer

Deborah Brown is a descendant of Wakaid Clan, Badu Island.  Her grandmother is a descendant of the Mer people, Murray Island, Meriam Clan. Also of Scottish descent, Deborah’s totem is Beizam (the shark) and the moth.

Deborah studied at the Pamela Le Ray School of Dance, Brisbane, where she worked with choreographers such as Elsie Seaguss and Natalie Weir. Changing her focus to acting, Deborah has also trained at The Actors’ Conservatory, Brisbane.

Deborah has had extensive involvement with Kooemba Jdarra Performing Arts, conducting movement and dance workshops with various schools throughout Queensland. Here, she also gained her first professional role as “Pearl” in Luck of the Draw (2000) at the Queensland Performing Arts Complex.

She joined Bangarra in 2003 and has worked on productions including Bush (2003) which toured to the USA and UK, Clan (2004), Boomerang (2005) as well as Bangarra’s collaboration with The Australian Ballet Gathering in 2006.

In 2007, Deborah performed in True Stories with Bangarra, touring Australia. One of her career highlights was taking Emeret Lu back to the community on Mer Island. In 2008 she performed in Stephen Page’s new work, Mathinna.

Deborah’s inspiration comes from her family, especially her parents. They both come from opposite ends of the world, with cultural backgrounds that enrich her and teach her to be proud of her identity.

Sidney Saltner
Dancer

Originally from Queensland, Sidney studied at NAISDA College.  While there he performed with The Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre (AIDT) and undertook his apprenticeship with the Australian Dance Theatre.

Sidney has performed in Harold; River Woman; Senesino; and The Pearl Fishers. He has also done extensive film and television work, appearing in Billie's Holiday, Fish (the film) and various commercials.

In April 1992 Sidney joined AIDT and undertook the role of Assistant Director. He danced major roles in such productions as Maralji, Colours, Gelam, Asik, Sanctum, Drums of Mer and Frontier Stories, a collaboration with Side Track Theatre. He also appeared in Cockroach Opera - a collaboration with Company B.

Since becoming a member of Bangarra Dance Theatre, Sidney has performed major roles in Fish, The Dreaming, Dance Clan, Skin, Corroboree, the WOMAD Festivals and Rites, a collaboration with The Australian Ballet, which toured internationally.

Sidney has performed and taught extensively throughout Australia and internationally and featured in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Arts Festival and the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Games.

The Courier Mail has described his dancing as 'beautifully sinuous, arching and undulating', praise reflected in his nomination for numerous awards.

In 2005 Sidney was appointed Rehearsal Director for the company’s production Boomerang. In 2006 Sidney performed to critical acclaim in Bangarra’s collaboration with The Australian Ballet, Gathering.

In 2007 Sidney performed in Bangarra’s True Stories, and in 2008 Sidney played Governor John Franklin in Stephen Page’s Mathinna.

UPCOMING SHOWS

For information on upcoming Bangarra Dance Theatre performances please visit their website here.

For more information about upcoming True Stories performances and ticketing details click here.