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YuldeaTerm 2

28 June 2023

Dance Performance | Stages 4 - 6

From the incomparable storytellers of Bangarra Dance Theatre comes a major new work. 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 Anangu people of the Great Victorian Desert.

Behind the scenes

For an introduction to Yuldea, please watch this behind-the-scenes video. 

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Curriculum Links

Exploring contemporary choreography, First Nations ceremonial practices, use of props costume and set design in Dance, Aboriginal Studies, English, Design and Technology and Drama.

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Yuldea is a ceremonial affirmation of history and heritage

We are memory.
Glimpsed through shimmering light on water.
A story place where black oaks stand watch.
Carved into trees and painted on rocks.
North – South – East – West.
A brittle landscape of life and loss.

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 Anangu 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 Anangu people to leave their desert homelands where they had lived for millennia.

Now memories lay scattered, like the Anangu people, displaced from their home. Remnants of colonial progress are swallowed by sand. But the Anangu 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 electronic pop duo Electric Fields (Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross). Designers Jacob Nash (Set), Jennifer Irwin (Costume) and Karen Norris (Lighting) create a desert world on stage. 

Presented by Bangarra Dance Theatre

Trailer

About Bangarra Dance Theatre

Acclaimed around the world for its distinctive theatrical voice, powerful choreography, unique soundscapes and design, Bangarra is Australia's leading First Nations performing arts company. 

Founded in 1989, Bangarra has been led by Artistic Director Stephen Page since 1991. The company’s dance technique draws on more than 65,000 years of culture, embodied in contemporary movement. Bangarra’s dancers are classically trained, dynamic artists who represent the pinnacle of Australian dance. Each has a proud Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background.

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Ticket and Travel Subsidy

The Sydney Opera House is committed to providing the very best national and international performing arts experiences to NSW students as part of their educational studies.

The Sydney Opera House Arts Assist program provides the full cost of the Creative Learning performance ticket and $5 per student toward travel costs. School applications are assessed according to socioeconomic disadvantage, schools with special needs and individual responses regarding the School Profile and School Community.

The Sydney Opera House thanks and acknowledges our generous Arts Assist donors; The Greatorex Foundation and Sydney Opera House Ladies’ Committee.

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