Now in its 26th year, Bangarra dance have honed their unique brand of story telling, using a fusion of millennia-old indigenous symbolism and contemporary dance, to a fine art, but that’s not to say there isn’t new territory to explore. For Lore, Bangarra’s latest double-bill, Artistic Director Stephen Page has paired two world premieres: Sheoak by tried and tested Bangarra favourite, Frances Rings, and I.B.I.S, by first time co-choreographers Deborah Brown and Waangenga Blanco. The result is an evening of vibrant, often uplifting, yet thought provoking dance that not only communicates the complexities and nuances of Aboriginal culture through the accessible prism of the stage, but also offers two very individual and regionally specific responses to the idea of preserving ancient traditions in a modern society.

Drawing on their Torres Strait heritage, Brown and Blanco’s I.B.I.S is a joyous, sensual celebration of island life, opening amongst the well-stocked shelves of a small convenience store: the Island Board of Industry Services. Against a soundscape of lapping waves and distant seabirds, we are in no doubt about the tropical setting. Women dressed in brightly coloured 1950s A-line skirts with Plumeria blossoms in their hair, the men bare-chested, engage in unselfconscious, infectiously energetic...