Inspired by a young girl’s journey between two cultures, choreographer Stephen Page alongside the Bangarra Dance Theatre Company has recreated the story of Mathinna and effectively demonstrated how British settlers removed Aboriginal people from their home land and intervened in their cultural practices (Task Sheet 2015). This modern adaptation by Bangarra focuses on the themes of cultural environmental and social disruptions as British Settlers enforced western systems and values onto the Indigenous culture. In the sections Exile 1, Adoption and Nursery, through movement, design and music, Bangarra has successfully retold the story of one young Aboriginal girl’s life journey amidst the chaos that emerged during the early days of Australia’s
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As the dancer who represents Mathinna first appears on stage, she keeps her body grounded and rubs her fingers together, as if feeling the soil and her surroundings. Her crouched position and curiosity of her whereabouts suggests that she is unfamiliar with her setting due to being seized by a British family. This shows the first step as to how British people have intervened in order to introduce her to their lifestyle. Mathinna’s facial expression along with her body language suggests fear and sadness which is further emphasised by the stage being pitch black with a dim light focusing on her suggesting a lonely and confined space. As she starts to cover a larger space, her movements echo the traditional dances of her Indigenous people. Her solo ends as other women join Mathinna and start to frantically …show more content…
Immediately it is obvious that Mathinna feels intimated as Sir John makes direct eye contact with her while Lady Franklin starts to examine her frame. In Aboriginal cultures, direct eye contact is seen as a sign of disrespect and aggression where as in the English society it is seen as display of respect and attentiveness. To Mathinna, this sudden intrusion is a dramatic step in her new life. Compared to Sir John’s immediate authoritative figure, Lady Franklin is far more careful and curious. Throughout the scene. Sir John is seen grabbing and dragging Mathinna which suggests he intends to educate and discipline her while Lady Franklin opposes, wanting to educate her in a more compassionate and motherly nature. In contrast to the more fluid and expressive movements of Mathinna and the Indigenous characters, the movements of the British settlers are impassive and robotic clearly demonstrated by Lady Franklin. Lady Franklin then appears to encourage Mathinna to mirror her movements which further disrupts and alters what she has been brought up with as part of an Aboriginal
As the dancer who represents Mathinna first appears on stage, she keeps her body grounded and rubs her fingers together, as if feeling the soil and her surroundings. Her crouched position and curiosity of her whereabouts suggests that she is unfamiliar with her setting due to being seized by a British family. This shows the first step as to how British people have intervened in order to introduce her to their lifestyle. Mathinna’s facial expression along with her body language suggests fear and sadness which is further emphasised by the stage being pitch black with a dim light focusing on her suggesting a lonely and confined space. As she starts to cover a larger space, her movements echo the traditional dances of her Indigenous people. Her solo ends as other women join Mathinna and start to frantically …show more content…
Immediately it is obvious that Mathinna feels intimated as Sir John makes direct eye contact with her while Lady Franklin starts to examine her frame. In Aboriginal cultures, direct eye contact is seen as a sign of disrespect and aggression where as in the English society it is seen as display of respect and attentiveness. To Mathinna, this sudden intrusion is a dramatic step in her new life. Compared to Sir John’s immediate authoritative figure, Lady Franklin is far more careful and curious. Throughout the scene. Sir John is seen grabbing and dragging Mathinna which suggests he intends to educate and discipline her while Lady Franklin opposes, wanting to educate her in a more compassionate and motherly nature. In contrast to the more fluid and expressive movements of Mathinna and the Indigenous characters, the movements of the British settlers are impassive and robotic clearly demonstrated by Lady Franklin. Lady Franklin then appears to encourage Mathinna to mirror her movements which further disrupts and alters what she has been brought up with as part of an Aboriginal