Audiences come to Bangarra Dance Theatre to see First Nations experience refracted through the lens of contemporary dance.

Some of the Indigenous stories and practices shared with today’s multicultural audiences extend back tens of thousands of years. Others put a new perspective on more recent events. I think of former Artistic Director Stephen Page’s brilliant Bennelong (2017), and X300 (2007) from new Artistic Director Frances Rings on the subject of nuclear bomb testing at Maralinga.

There are endless riches to mine, whether they be spiritual, historical, political, biographical, rooted in Country, urban, speak of everyday life or exist in the realm of influences and emotions.

Dance Clan: Glory Tuohy-Daniell’s Keeping Grounded. Photo © Daniel Boud

Great new choreographers rarely come fully formed so the revival of Dance Clan after a 10-year hiatus is both welcome and important. Each of the three selected choreographers approaches their work from an entirely different direction. Sani Townson pays homage to his Torres Strait heritage, Ryan Pearson throws a dance party and Glory Tuohy-Daniell reflects on what is lost when physical connection to Country is severed.

In an elegant video introduction, Rings points out the wider aim...