Dance Troupe Bangarra Win Prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award

Acclaimed First Nations dance company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, has made history after becoming the first Australian recipients of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Dance at the Venice Biennale.

“I am truly honoured to receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Dance on behalf of Bangarra Dance Theatre,” said Artistic Director, Co-CEO, and Mirning woman Frances Rings.

“This prestigious award also recognises all those who have come before me at Bangarra; our dancers, Uncle Rob Bryant, Cheryl Stone and Carole Y. Johnson who founded the company, our premiere First Nations training institution NAISDA – the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association – and Stephen Page who led Bangarra for 30 years, working alongside his brothers Russell and David Page.”

First awarded in 1995, the Golden Lion acknowledges a lifetime body of work and artists who have transformed, evolved and brought new urgency to the language of dance. Bangarra will become the first company to receive the award.

The troupe will accept the honour in Venice, where they will also present the European premiere of Terrain, Rings’ seminal work.

“We are deeply humbled and profoundly grateful for this recognition of our distinctive dance theatre language, both contemporary and traditional, that has survived in the mainstream nationally and globally for almost 35 years,” said the company’s 1991-2022 Artistic Director, Munaldjali and Nunukul man Stephen Page.

“First Peoples’ Artistic kinship system is at the core of our knowledge systems, and we are honoured to be the caretakers of our dance legacy and our continual creative dance future.”

“Powerful moment on the world’s stage”

With a name meaning “to make fire” in Wiradjuri, each dancer in Bangarra is a dynamic, professionally trained artist, with a proud Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background.

Since its founding in 1989 by, the company has gone on to become one of the most successful First Nations performing arts companies in the world.

Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and Bangarra patron, said the award was a powerful moment for Australian culture on the world stage, “grounded in the world’s oldest continuing culture.”

“I am so proud of this acknowledgement of Bangarra’s extraordinary contribution to global cultural representation, it is an important reminder of the deep creativity and leadership of First Nations artists who share that with audiences everywhere,” she said.

Bangarra’s 2026 season will see them present the world premiere of Flora, a collaboration with The Australian Ballet at the Sydney Opera House in April, and a tour of the triple bill Sheltering across the ACT, NSW, Victoria and Queensland.