Bangarra Dance Theatre Announces Premiere of YULDEA

Bangarra Dance Theatre announces the world premiere of Frances Rings' latest work, Yuldea, in her inaugural season as Bangarra Dance Theatre's Artistic Director. The production will premiere at the Sydney Opera House as part of the 50th Anniversary Season, before touring across Australia from 14th June to 14th October, 2023.

Brought to life with costumes from multi-award-winning Jennifer Irwin and lighting by Karen Norris, Yuldea features original music composed by David Page Music Fellow, Leon Rodgers, a descendant of the Worimi nation in NSW. And in an exciting new creative collaboration, will feature songs from multi-award-winning duo Electric Fields.

Frances Rings' first work as Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre is a deeply personal ceremonial affirmation of history and heritage, inspired by her family's connection to the area. Yuldea awakens the earth and sky worlds to tell the story of the Aṉangu people of the Great Victorian Desert.

Yuldea explores the abrupt moment that traditional life collided with the industrial ambition of a growing nation in South Australia's Yuldea (Ooldea). In Yuldea, the ancient water soak, Yuldi Kapi, connected important trading routes and dreaming stories that crossed through the site for thousands of years.

Yuldi Kapi was instrumental in the construction of the Trans-Australian railway extending across the Nullarbor, joining the east coast to the west coast. As a result of the industrial pressures placed on the permanent waterhole, in 1917, the water ran dry.

Now memories lay scattered, along with the Aṉangu people, who are displaced from their home. Remnants of colonial progress, swallowed by sand. But the Aṉangu endure, determined to keep strong the knowledge systems of land and sky, honouring the eternal bonds of kinship between people and place.

"Within my family lineage lies the stories of forefathers and mothers who lived a dynamic, sophisticated desert life, leaving their imprint scattered throughout Country like memories suspended in time. Their lives were forever changed by the impact of colonial progress." Said Frances Rings, Bangarra Associate Artistic Director, and choreographer of Yuldea.

"The story of Yuldea asks us to look beyond the narrative of our Nations modernisation to reconcile a fraught history, and to affirm a future that no longer hides behind its truths but grows because of them".

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