FIRESTARTER
Australia, 2020, 96 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Wayne Blair, Nel Minchin.
Firestarter was awarded best documentary film prize at the 2020 Australian Academy Awards. It is a documentary that should be seen. And it is been directed by celebrated actor-director, Wayne Blair, along with Nel Minchin, producer and director.
This is the story of the Bangarra Dance Company. We learn immediately that Bangarra means making fire, so the title of this documentary.
From Wikipedia:
Bangarra Dance Theatre was founded in October 1989 by Carole J. Johnson, an African-American? modern dancer and founder of the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA), Rob Bryant, a Gumbaynggirr man and graduate of NAISDA, and Cheryl Stone, a South African-born student at NAISDA.
Johnson toured Australia in 1972 with American choreographer Eleo Pomare and his company, and remained in Australia. In 1975 Johnson became the founding director of the Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme, now known as the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA).
Johnson had a three-part plan for Aboriginal dance in Australia, including establishing a school to give academic qualifications and train dancers as members of a student and graduate performing company that would also teach. It would further provide a path for the dancers to other dance-related jobs, including choreography, tour management, and all front and back of house skills. Thirdly, a vital part was to maintain authentic cultural continuity, friendships, and close ties to traditional communities. Johnson mentored Stone, who studied alongside the dancers. She planned the formation of Bangarra and in 1989, became the founding Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre.
Stephen Page became the Artistic Director in 1991, supported by two of his brothers, David, a talented musician and composer, and younger brother, Russell, an extraordinarily talented dancer. The film offers a great deal of David Page’s music and some extensive footage of Russell and his dancing.
Stephen Page is the strong presence in the film, going back over the decades of the company, the initial vision that he shared with his brothers and the variety of people who joined him in the enterprise and have stayed with the company over the years. The film takes us back into the history of the Page family, the difficulties with their father, presence and absence, stern, the influence of their mother. And there were 12 children. They lived in Mount Gravatt in Brisbane, went to the local schools, grew up in the atmosphere of the 1960s and 1970s. There is an entertaining interlude where David, very young, but a talented singer, appeared in television contests, winning them, getting a contract with Decca Records, and appearing with Paul Hogan on his television show. They also got involved in local dancing.
Quite a number of women joined the company and are interviewed throughout the film. They reminisce about the beginnings, and there are images of many of them and their dance performances throughout the 90s.
And the performances are the significant aspect of the film, the making fire, the fire starting.
However, there is sadness in the narrative which is acknowledged, Russell and his difficulties, substance taking, moods, and, after his enormous success, his hanging himself, Stephen expressing the hope that it was some kind of accident. And then, David so lively in his collaboration with Stephen, so many compositions, also dying, the cause of death not revealed by the family. It was at this time that Stephen Page and the company received a Helpmann award – which he dedicated to his brothers. Russell Page’s son is one of the talking heads of the film and gives insights into his father. David was gay and, in 2008, Stephen directed him in a one-man show about his life, a drag act, his being gay.
Stephen Page’s son, Hunter, also appears with comment – and he also appeared in the production, Spear.
One of the great features of the film is the succession of excerpts from the prolific repertoire of the company from the early 1990s. With the aboriginal themes, Stephen Page has provided a dance overview of indigenous culture, traditions, history, rituals, symbolism… Which is seen in the variety of titles of the performances, Ochres, Fire, Skin, Boomerang, Corroboree, Walkabout, Bush, Bennelong (with favourable comments heard from Graeme Murphy, one of Australia’s great choreographers). The film also shows the tours by the company including overseas (and a photo opportunity with Prince Charles!).
In 2005, Stephen Page directed a feature film, Spear, featuring his son and other company dancers along with actor, Aaron Pedersen. It is filled with the same dance interpretations of history and culture – but has the added beauty and aura of location photography.
After the death of David Page, Stephen was particularly upset, drove his company hard, but needed time away to come to terms with what it happened – and is able then to hand over the management of the company to his successor, Frances Rings, choreographer and dancer.
The Bangarra Dance Company is a major contribution to Australia’s consciousness of its aboriginal heritage and traditions. In the film ends with a 2019 photo of the company, Stephen in front, a tribute to achievement.
