Bangarra: Yuldea

Bangarra Dance Theatre returns to Brisbane with a breathtaking new work, Yuldea, performed on stage at QPAC from August 31 to September 9, 2023.

At Yuldea, stories hover in the sky; the stars reveal a divine Songline, stretching between earth and sky.

Frances Rings’ first work as Artistic Director is a ceremonial affirmation of history and heritage. Yuldea awakens the earth and sky worlds to tell the story of the Aṉangu people of the Great Victorian Desert.

Yuldea explores the moment traditional life collided with the industrial ambition of a growing nation. In 1917, the two halves of the Transcontinental Railway met at the precious water soak on the edge of the Nullarbor, Yuldi Kapi.

Great metal serpents scarred the landscape, draining all water from the sacred soak. Then came the black mist of the atomic testing at Maralinga, forcing the Aṉangu people to leave their desert homelands where they had lived for millennia. 

Now memories lay scattered, like the Aṉangu people, displaced from their home. Remnants of colonial progress are swallowed by sand. But the Aṉangu endure, determined to keep strong their knowledge systems of land and sky, honouring their eternal bonds of kinship between people and place.

Yuldea features original music by Leon Rodgers with featured songs by multi-award-winning duo Electric Fields (Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross). Designers Elizabeth Gadsby (Set), Jennifer Irwin (Costume) and Karen Norris (Lighting) create a desert world on stage.

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Images 2, 3, 5 & 6 by Kate Longley
Images 4 & 7 by Daniel Boud