Dance for survival

The Bangarra Dance Theatre crosses the Tasman with a work evoking the struggle of Indigenous rights in Australia.

- LINDA HERRICK

SandSong, the epic new work by Australia’s mighty Bangarra Dance Theatre, sets the agenda before the dancing even starts.

Behind a group of dancers lying motionless on the stage, a projected image shows a map of the Big Country with “terra nullius” written on it.

“Terra nullius” – no man’s land – was a definition Britain used to claim the great southern land in the late 1700s, regardless of the fact it was already populated.

The cold truth about the brutal treatment of those Indigenous people at the hands of the new settlers, and the ensuing entrenched racism, has been slow to emerge, while some still refuse to acknowledge it.

Rachel Perkins’ 2008 SBS series First Australians, which screened here on Māori TV, offers thorough documentation which is utterly chilling.

As the First Nations’ fight to achieve constitutional rights continues, there are so many stories still to be told.

Bangarra (the Wiradjuri word for “to make fire”) was founded in 1989 to nurture young First Nations dancers. It has been a potent participant in the broader drive to celebrate Indigenous culture.