By Jordan Beth Vincent
BENNELONG
★★★★½
Bangarra Dance Theatre
Arts Centre Melbourne until September 16
In two previous full-length works, Matthina and Patyegarang, Bangarra Dance Theatre's Stephen Page told the story of historical Indigenous Australian figures whose lives were fundamentally changed through their interactions with colonial settlers. With Bennelong, the company focuses on another pivotal figure in history, Woollarawarre Bennelong.
Bangarra Dance Company tells the story of Bennelong. Credit: Karleen Minney
As with Matthina and Patyegarang, Bennelong was an intermediary between two worlds, but ended his life broken and alienated from his culture. He has come to symbolise the devastating clash between the Eora people and British colonists in the 18th century; wrongs that still have not been rectified or fully acknowledged today.
Looming large over the stage is Jacob Nash's elegant design, dominated by oversized architectural sculptures that create doorways and pathways of mist and smoke. Other surfaces offer smudged reflections of the faces that stare into them, reminding us that history is not always clear.
Bangarra Dance Company tells the story of Bennelong. Credit: Karleen Minney
Just as oversized and evocative is Steve Francis' score, which shifts from folk songs (including some that were performed during Bennelong's trip to England in 1792) with layers of grieving wails, to electronic beats and spoken word. Experienced together with the dancers' full articulations of the spine, the feet and the face, Bennelong forces us to confront the pain, grief and confusion of this story.
At times, the work recreates specific historical events. The dancers' movements describe the interactions between a group of Aboriginal men and women meeting Captain Arthur Phillip's pack of marching militia; or the almost grotesquely exaggerated courtly dances of the British court. In both cases, the dancers circle and stalk one another in a test of power and privilege.
In another scene, Indigenous men and women are struck down with smallpox; bare bodies writhe underneath the poisoned fabric of the colonists' overcoats. Jennifer Irwin's detailed costumes become extensions of the body – a means with which to wrap, hide or transport it.
Dancer Beau Dean Riley Smith does a heroic job of bringing the character of Bennelong to life. It's not an easy emotional journey – Smith must evoke Bennelong as a completely broken man, unable to integrate back into his community after his time abroad.
Veteran Bangarra dancer Elma Kris depicts female mourning and loss; she embodies the Spirit of Land and Knowledge who oversees his journey, as well as the women of his community who ultimately reject him.
Together, Kris and Smith ground a challenging and profoundly tragic work, but the whole ensemble is outstanding.