Celestial skies, ancient Indigenous traditions and the white light of neon: Bangarra’s Illume to shine in Canberra

Posted on 14 July, 2025

When Bangarra Dance Theatre takes the stage in Canberra at the end of July, it will be a performance that defies the genre of dance theatre – combining ancient Indigenous storytelling with high technology and neon.

Ngunnawal audiences will be part of a national tour of Bangarra’s world premiere of their first-ever visual arts collaboration, Illume, created by Mirning woman and Bangarra artistic director Frances Rings and Goolarrgon Bard visual artist Darrell Sibosado.

Inspired by Darrell’s Bardi Jawi Country on the north-western coast of Western Australia, Illume draws together music, visual arts, and dance to explore the ways light has captivated and sustained Indigenous cultural existence for millennia.

Darrell says, “Audiences are going to be immersed in a visually and musically beautiful experience, and where people try and separate the painting from the art, the lighting from the choreography, here it will all be part of the one story.”

Illume also examines artificial light pollution and its disruption to land and sky, devastating First Nations peoples’ connections to sky country and limiting their ability to share celestial knowledge and skylore.

Charting the impact of the climate emergency, Illume explores the awe of light, a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds.

Despite his many career milestones – his work has been exhibited internationally and across Australia, including the National Gallery of Australia, Fondation Opale (Switzerland), Cartier Foundation (France), and also featured in the 2024 Sydney Biennale – Darrell found the collaboration challenging, while hugely rewarding.

“I studied dance, but by no means am I a dancer, as I moved into visual arts. I am used to not having to deal with moving parts! My challenge was how to make it rise above being just dancers in front of an artwork on a stage wall,” says Darrell.

“It was scary and in my head I thought it could fail. Now that it has all come together I am proud, but not surprised. I visualise and never know how I am going to get there and then, when I do get there, I say this is exactly how I wanted it to turn out!”

The work is groundbreaking and was two years in the making since Darrell and Frances first decided to take it on. The pair are friends who first met in 1988 when they were both students at National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) College. Frances was excited to work alongside Darrell.

“This collaboration allows us to examine light from both choreographic and visual art perspectives, in a unique approach that draws on both movement and visual elements to convey complex themes about light, culture, and environmental issues. I hope that by intersecting our artistic practices, we potentially create something more innovative and impactful that honours our First Nations cultural storytelling,” she says.

Darrell says he has watched Frances flourish as Bangarra’s artistic director. He also pays tribute to set designer Charles Davis, costume designer Elizabeth Gadsby, lighting designer Damien Cooper, Wiradjuri/Gamilaroi man and composer Brendon Boney, audio-visual designer Craig Wilkinson, and cultural consultants Trevor Sampi, a Bardi Jawi man from Lombadina and Audrey (Pippi) Bin Swani, a proud member of the Baad/Nimanburr tribe.

Inspired by riji – sacred Bard mother-of-pearl pieces – Darrell’s work fuses ancient and modern artistic practices to bring traditional Bard culture into the contemporary art world. He says he feels confident audiences will see the beauty of mother-of-pearl reflected on the stage during the performance.

“A lot of my work is large-scale cultural work which uses neon, and that is me expressing my spiritual connection to mother-of-pearl and trying to replicate that light. Light is a source of intrigue to my people and to all peoples who have looked up at the stars. My use of light is a metaphor for the invisible threads that connect us all.”

He says the most important part of the collaboration is to enable the dancers to use the light, match it and draw from it, which is so vital to the overall production.

Photography by Daniel Boud