DanceHouse Presents Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Spirit: Win Tickets

DanceHouse, in partnership with Dancers of Damelahamid, will launch its 2019/20 season with Australia’s acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre in the Canadian Premiere of Spirit.

Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Spirit

When: October 25 & 26, 2019 at 8:00pm
Where: Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton St, Vancouver)
Tickets: From $35 available online or by calling (604) 801-6225

Australian dance company fuses traditional Indigenous culture with contemporary movement in a powerful exploration of ceremonial storytelling

Choreographed by Bangarra’s Artistic Director Stephen Page and former Assistant Artistic Director Bernadette Walong-Sene, the retrospective piece is a visionary fusion of nine of the company’s celebrated Indigenous and contemporary works that boldly bridge past and present.

Bangarra Dance Theatre has an authentic style of totemic storytelling reflecting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities — tracing the unbroken connection between people, the land, and creation itself. Established in 1989, the cutting-edge company has played a critical role in the resurgence of traditional dance expressions.

Spirit draws from the multi award-winning company’s most celebrated repertoire. Hailed as “a landmark work; a revelation,” (The Australian), the company’s full ensemble of 17 dancers — each with a proud Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Island background — perform a series of nine vignettes from past seminal works: Brolga (Corroboree), Black (Ochres), Yellow (Ochres), Dingo (Skin), White (Ochres), Moth (Bush), Two Sisters (Bush), The Call (Walkabout), and In her Mind (Nyapanyapa). Tracing an unbroken song-line, Spirit gives voice to a cosmos of plants, animals, and ancestral medicine, laid down one step at a time. This “haunting, mesmerizing, and incredibly powerful performance” (Dance Informa) seamlessly blends ceremonial tradition gathered from respected community elders with dynamic contemporary movement, highlighting remarkable athleticism and powerful extensions from its company of accomplished dancers.

The atmospheric score for Spirit was composed by the late David Page, Bangarra’s long-time music director and prolific composer, and Steve Francis, an award-winning composer for film, television, theatre, and dance. A celebration of the sacredness of ritual from dawn’s first light to the setting sun, the lush score’s heady foundation is punctuated by the earthly rhythms and natural vibrations found within cultural customs, including a pulsing drumbeat, droning didgeridoo, and dynamic vocalizations.

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Win Tickets

I have a pair of tickets to give away to opening night on October 25th, here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to post an entry on Twitter

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Saturday, October 19, 2019. UPDATE The winner is Richard!