FIVE QUESTIONS
Bangarra Theatre fuses old and new in 'Bush'

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Bangarra Dance Theatre, from Australia, offers a visual feast as it blends traditions from Aboriginal culture with modern dance. Bangarra Dance Theatre's 'Bush' 8 p.m. today and Saturday Hawai'i Theatre $22-$38 general, $18-$26 high school/college students (with ID) 528-0506

"Bush," the work the company will perform at two Hawai'i Theatre shows this weekend, uses modern dance inspired by eons-old indigenous stories to tell the story of Australia's creation. Its 15 vignettes are made up of human interpretations of nature — lizards, moths, sticks, stones, caterpillars — presented with bold choreography and intense visual imagery.

"Bush" creator and longtime Bangarra artistic director Stephen Page offered some detail.

Q. I was intrigued by Bangarra's Web site description of its style of dance as "bringing urban Aboriginal sensibility and international contemporary dance styles to strands of ancient culture." Care to explain that mouthful?

A. Not all stories are given to us because a lot of stories are sacred. So I think there's a sensibility about being responsible in an urban company — to evolve and maintain traditional stories. People in Australia think Aboriginal art is dead. It's museum art. It's not evolving. I suppose we're a young urban company that's bridging those responsibilities of evolving, maintaining and caretaking those indigenous songs and dances.

"Bush" is really a traditional contemporary ceremony. There's traditional dance elements in it ... but (the majority) of pieces and vignettes of expression are purely modern form and grounded in movement inspired by those songs and dances.

Q. Were these stories traditionally shared orally through song and dance?

A. For most indigenous cultures, the expression of art is a huge part of their survival diet. ... I think Aboriginal visual art, song and dance is so a part of their lives. ... Orally, the stories are done through song. And that song is accompanied by a celebration of the spirit through dance. That's pretty much it. They work together cohesively.

Q. You've described Australia's northern and very remote Arnhem Land region as the main inspiration for "Bush." What did you find so intriguing about the territory?

A. It's a magic place. It's sort of semi-tropical meets shrubs; fresh water and salt water meeting. It's the way the land is preserved, and how it has strong landmarks that connect to the people there.

One of the dances in "Bush" is ... based on a story called "Two Sisters," about sisters who were the creators of the environment in that area. They went on a journey where they planted different environments — the hills, the rivers. They sort of erupted nature and had this relationship with land to create the personality and the character of the environment.

I've been going there since I was 17 years old and listening to the old traditional men tell stories about the land. And you can feel it. You can see it. You're on a plain you can look down on and walk through. I've been in the mouth of where the fresh water and salt water meet in this sacred area.

And, you know, I thought I was in heaven. It was just outrageously beautiful and poetic.

Q. As with many once-remote places in the world, is Arnhem Land struggling with the intrusion and problems of the modern world?

A. Totally. There are communities where the health system is down, there's no water, there's instances of people petrol sniffing, there's the social abuse of alcohol, domestic violence ... you name it.

But there's a wonderful energy of the elders and some of the youth in those communities that are trying to hang on to their ceremonies, to their artistic expressions. These are powerful things that provide the fire in the belly for them to keep moving forward.

That's just the nature of the modern influence of the world. And they're living and breathing it.

Q. In spite of all of this, "Bush" remains a very optimistic artistic piece. What do you want audiences to take away from it?

A. Probably that optimism. There's a strong spiritual message behind it. Some people's survival diet or makeup has a naturally strong sense of spirituality. Some people probably don't have that. For the ones that don't, I hope it awakens their spiritual consciousness. That would be fantastic.

Reach Derek Paiva at 525-8005 or dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.