DANCE: MATHINNA
BY SUNDAY FRANCIS-REISS
In telling the stories of Australia’s many indigenous cultures, Bangarra Dance Theatre has a great responsibility. Yet it’s a task that Artistic Director Stephen Page seems more than capable of overseeing. In his own words, he has an optimistic outlook ‘ ‘it’s why I run Bangarra.’ That, and his belief in art: ‘art is one of the best medicines in the world. It heals.’
Their current production is Mathinna. The work is based on the true story of a young girl named Mary, born into an indigenous community on Flinders Island in 1835, who at age seven was adopted into the house of Governor Sir John and Lady Franklin. There, she was renamed Mathinna, and after a few years was sent to the Queens Orphan School in Hobart. Mathinna spent her short life caught between two cultures, and eventually fell into alcohol and prostitution, and drowned at 21.
Page did a great deal of research reading the journals and letters of the settlers, a process he says he found fascinating. He found compelling the way they depicted Australia’s indigenous inhabitants, often with a detached, scientific curiosity.
‘My curiosity was, what was the black perspective’ What was her spiritual conscience feeling” Given that there are no records of Mathinna’s, or indeed any indigenous perspective, Page’s powers of imaginative empathy are impressive. To choreograph the work Page put himself in the bare feet of the young girl born nearly two centuries ago. He questions the Franklins’ motives for adopting the young girl: ‘Were they fond of her, or was she some kind of experiment”
Stephen Page has been artistic director of Bangarra since 1991. A stocky, young-looking Aboriginal man, he bounces along in trainers and a blue and green plaid shirt. A trucker cap and stubble frame his beaming, round face. He is a beautiful man: reflective, joyful; he feels the air with his hands as though to refine and release his ideas as he speaks. He is a constant flow of thoughts and questions. On any given topic his words, like his dances, move through the past, present and future all at once.
For example, Page tells of going to Canberra ‘for the apology’, and says he ‘saw many Mathinnas there. It was sad but also healing. It made me think about culture and identity ‘ do we want spirituality back in our lives’ How important is environment’ How did we become such greedy human beings”
‘Maybe in a hundred years we’ll all go back to being indigenous!’ he says, with gleeful mischief. More seriously, he talks about an ‘all-world indigenous philosophy,’ based on a closer relationship with the land to create more natural and sustainable rhythms for living.
Bangarra Dance Theatre occupies an important place in the Australian arts and culture scene, not just for their distinctive performance style. They are using dance as a medium to explore history, the future, and the present moment. It’s not just dance for art’s sake, according to Page, ‘but dance as an active process of identity discovery. These dancers are walking backwards into knowing their cultural identity.’
Mathinna
July 19 – August 23
Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Tickets: $48-$55, 9250 7777 or www.sydneyoperahouse.com
