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Dir: Stephen Page.
Cast: Bangarra Dance Theatre, Kathy Balngayngu Marika
Description: Bangarra Dance Theatre presents a dance-theatre piece celebrating traditional Aboriginal ritual and music from the perspective of the creation stories of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia.
Trains: Tube: Angel 
Phone: 0844412 4300
Website: www.sadlerswells.com
Bangarra Dance Theatre: Great dancing - when they get a chance to show it
Although Bangarra describe themselves as a dance troupe, it's better to think of them as mystery players. The Australian visitors mix modern Western moves with the Dreamtime creation stories of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, but the result is less choreographic narrative and more a series of vivid tableaux.
Indeed, the stories are fuzzily told, yet the stage pictures are visually striking and often potent emotional triggers. Early on in the 75-minute show, the stage is inky except for a fingerlight of dawn.
The 13 dancers sit looking out onto the horizon, in a sort of ritualised wonder. Their stillness somehow emphasises the immensity, and sheer mystery of creation, the endlessness of the desert, mile after mile of nothingness, which is but a drop compared to the endlessness of space.
Another affecting scene is when the female tribe elder (Kathy Balngayngu Marika) sits with the women, as if round a campfire. Gently, she seems to be explaining the secrets of life, and if we listen closely, we too might understand.
Bush both depicts the traditional life of indigenous peoples, and the conflict between their nature worship and Christian urbanisation. That doesn't mean the piece is religious, or political. Far from it. All is deftly played, with a sense that the natural world, rather than politicians, is in charge.
The drawback to Bush is its choreography (Stephen Page and Frances Rings). Stylewise much feels dated, with a haphazard movement vocabulary circa 1985 that overuses the graphic motifs you recognise from Aboriginal painting. When the dancers actually get to dance, you realise how good they are, but they spend too much time looking mistily around.
Indeed, half an hour in and their wonderment irritates. We more or less understand how the world was created - it's the Big Bang and natural selection, but it's hard to forget them even when you're watching a vivid theatrical presentation.
Costumes designer Jennifer Irwin has done an exemplary job, as has Peter England on the designs. They have created a restrained sense of nature, and its apparent magic.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
