Stephen Page: Staging indigenous culture

Wudjang: Not the Past is Stephen Page's swan song after 30 years at the helm of Australia’s First Nation company, Bangarra Dance Theatre. This production is their biggest yet; a contemporary corroboree of story, poetry, song, dance and music, told by 26 performers on stage.

This is a new work and as the last in Stephen’s long career as artistic director of Bangarra Dance, the pressure is on to create his crowning achievement in a short eight weeks where it will premiere at Sydney Festival, a huge cultural event that takes place across Sydney in January.

The work lives close to Stephen’s experience of family, drawing on his father’s lost language of Mibinyah from Yugambeh Country and the songlines of his Aboriginal heritage. It is a work that addresses ancestors and new knowledge and connects the past with the present. It is a fusion of form that elevates and strengthens the continent’s troubled culture and moves from the land and ritual to the stage.

Join Regina Botros as she follows Stephen in his creative process from conception to completion. She also talks to other creatives in this very collaborative production including; award winning co-writer Alana Valentine, composer Steve Francis, designer Jacob Nash and dancer Daniel Mateo.

Presenter/producer: Regina Botros
Executive producer: Rebecca Armstrong