Beautiful and breathtaking: Bangarra’s Terrain brings Country to Canberra’s stage

Posted on 12 July, 2022

Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Terrain is making its way to the stage of The Canberra Theatre Centre from Thursday 28 until Saturday 30 July, ready to hypnotise audiences with its breathtaking choreography.

It’s a world where the cracked salt blinds and the silence deafens. Where the long shadows sweep towards the horizon, and spirit and place meet. This is Kati Thanda—Lake Eyre—the mind-blowing location of Bangarra Dance Theatre’s award-winning work Terrain.

Exploring the timeless wonder of Australia’s largest salt lake and one of the few untouched natural waterways in the world, the leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performing arts company is bringing Terrain to life once more to celebrate its 10th anniversary—a milestone in the Australian performing arts landscape.

And as an homage to Country—inspired by the power of natural forces and the vulnerability of ecosystems within a landscape that has existed across millennia—the performance still tells an important (and timely) story of rediscovery, says dancer Maddison Paluch.

“It’s really a beautiful journey of rediscovering culture, visiting ancestral women, men’s business, the scarring of land, and this beautiful weather system that takes you through this amazing story of Kati Thanda and what the cultural theme of the land is,” she explains.

“This work is especially an eye-opener to the amount of culture that does exist around us in the form of Country and that there’s so much more beneath the surface if we’re all willing to look, listen, learn and care,”

A Wiradjuri woman born and raised on Darug Country, Maddison was 12 years old when Terrain was originally created. Dreaming of performing with Bangarra her whole life, she says Terrain’s 10-year anniversary is extra special—offering a new generation of First Australians the chance to tell the unique story of Kati Thanda.

“I was watching this work when I was 12 and watching my biggest inspirations not only create it but be on the stage,” she explains.

“It’s extremely special that we get to bring it back for its tenth anniversary and it’s pretty much a whole new generation that are going to be telling this story.”

A part of this new generation is incoming Artistic Director Frances Ring, for whom Terrain was the remarkable first full-length commission she choreographed. And while current Artistic Director Stephen Page is preparing to step down from his role in Bangarra after 32 years, he’s planning to make one last stop in Canberra before taking a bow.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Stephen as well as Frances and it’s been really special to watch the changeover,” says Maddison.

“To see her [Frances] in this new role and be inspired by a really strong Indigenous woman who is ready to share stories with people and bring the next generation through to continue passing it down is really inspiring.”

Presented as nine sections or ‘states of experiencing’ the terrain of Kati Thanda, the hour-long performance depicts particular features of the environment as well as the culture of the traditional custodians, the Arabunna people—but what can you expect from the Canberra performance of Terrain?

“It’s full of knowledge, it’s breath-taking and beautiful,” says Maddison.

“It’s always different in the different places or different areas that we get to visit, and to hear back how it’s affected people or what it made them think is a really beautiful thing.”

So come with Bangarra to Kati Thanda, come with them to Country. And get ready to discover a rare insight into a world where the connection to land is ever-present and ever-powerful.

Photography: Daniel Boud