Bangarra Dance Theatre

Founded in 1989 by Carole Y. Johnson, Rob Bryant and Cheryl Stone, Bangarra Dance

Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dance Company with a focus on

contemporary dance.

It is pronounced Bungarra and in the Wiradjuri language, it means “to make fire.”

Carole Y. Johnson was an African-American modern dancer and remained in Australia after

touring in 1972 and founded the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development

Association (NAISDA).

Rob Bryant (known as Uncle Rob Bryant of Gumbaynggirr country) is a retired RAAF

aircraftman and Vietnam Veteran, who went on to be a graduate of NAISDA.

Cheryl Stone grew up in Cape Town, South Africa and moved to Australia in 1969.

She participated in a Theatre workshop established by Carole Johnson and in 1976, became one of the first students of NAISDA Dance College.

Carole Johnson wanted to establish a dance school where students could graduate both as

dancers and teachers as well as providing a path into choreography, tour management and

front and back of house skills whilst also maintaining authentic culture and connection to

traditional communities.

Since its creation, Bangarra Dance Theatre has toured extensively throughout Australia

every year, performing, and sharing their culture both in regional centres and on some of the country’s biggest stages as well as embarking on international tours.

Each dancer has a proud Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background and is

professionally trained.

Relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities inspire and set the

foundation for their work, creating stories of their Elders and Country with dance, music,

poetry, and design. By taking these works on tour, the Bangarra Dance Company is able to

return to the places where they were made.

Two of their biggest works have been “Bennelong” in 2017 and “Dark Emu” in 2018, that

were performed to approximately 70,000 people across Australia. Inspired by a book of the

same name, “Dark Emu” has been their most successful production to date.

In 2023, the Company performed its first children’s production, “Waru – journey of the small

turtle”. It won Best Production for Children in the Sydney Theatre Awards, running for two

seasons in Sydney before embarking on a tour around parts of regional Australia this year.

Bangarra has been making its mark on Australian theatre scene for 34 years and is one of

the most successful Indigenous performing arts Companies in the country.