When it comes to telling a story Stephen Page likes to take his time. And his newest work, Wudjang: Not the Past, is a story that's been decades in the making.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images of people who have died.
Page is the outgoing artistic director of Bangarra Dance Theatre, Australia's premier Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contemporary dance company.
He estimates that over his 32 years at the helm of Bangarra around 120 different clan groups and families from across the country have entrusted him with their stories.
Now, he's finally ready to tell a story from his own community, Yugambeh.
The show is also a way of honouring the tumultuous emotional journey many First Nations people experience when reclaiming language.
Page, who is now a grandfather, likens this process to becoming a three-year-old child again.
"A lot of my mob — a lot of the southern mob — assimilated, displaced, generations — [are] finding their way back home; reaching an old age, wanting to reawaken that language; becoming three-year-olds again, at 60 years old, because that's the thing they want to digest, embody themselves, before they go on to the next life," he said in his opening night speech, at Sydney's Roslyn Packer Theatre.
"These are all the cultural practices that are happening around the country. And the energy of that and the spirit of that — that's the shield; that's the resilience for our future," he continued.
"And that's all this work [Wudjang: Not the Past] is. You know, it's not about the exterior, or what's good — or what's not good — or what's the right form, or what's the right structure. It's honest, it's truth."
Storytelling the Bangarra way
In 2019 Page was approached to make a work for Sydney Festival by then-festival director Wesley Enoch. Around the same time, Sydney Theatre Company's artistic director Kip Williams also expressed interest in collaborating.
"So they were both wanting me to work in this form of theatre. I said to Wesley, 'OK, let me think of an idea and what that would be," Page says.
Each Bangarra story inspires the next.
These productions include Unaipon, about Ngarrindjeri inventor David Unaipon; and Dark Emu, inspired by the work of Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian author Bruce Pascoe.
Most recently, Bangarra premiered SandSong: Stories from the Great Sandy Desert, which honoured the legacy of Wangkatjunga woman — and close cultural collaborator with Bangarra — Ms Lawford-Wolf and her family.
For this new collaboration Page looked for inspiration closer to home — guided by his late brother David, a foundational member of Bangarra and composer of more than 40 of its productions before he died in 2016.
"Since he's passed, he is constantly with us. And he really inspired this idea of coming back home [for the new work]," Page told the opening night audience for Wudjang: Not the Past.
"[When we worked together] he kept saying, 'Oh, you're doing everybody's works from all around the country. Everybody's stories. You're taking it, they're trusting you with it. You're feeding it out to the mainstream.' And he always wanted to do work from home."
Born in Brisbane, Page is a descendant of the Nunukul people on his mother's side and the Mununjali clan of the Yugambeh Nation on his father's side.
Working within his own community, Page applied the same creative and cultural protocols as his previous collaborations.
He consulted with different family members and community Elders, considering the best way to approach the work.
"I had to really reflect on the stories carefully before I could move forward on what I wanted to do," he explains.
Page wanted to take the time to "breathe in" the memories and stories of his family and community.
The result was a work about resilience, repatriation and language reclamation featuring five singer-actors, four musicians, and 17 Bangarra dancers.
In Wudjang: Not the Past, Yugambeh man Bilin (Kirk Page, Stephen's cousin) finds ancestral bones while excavating for a dam.
This ancestor is Wudjang (Elma Kris), who longs to be reburied in the proper way and entrusts Bilin with returning her to Country.
In the process of doing this, Bilin attempts to teach his niece Nanahng (Jess Hitchcock) about her culture and language, her past, and her songlines, despite her reluctance and frustration.
Wudjang: Not the Past melds scenic art, language, music and sacred cultural knowledge into a rock opera experience that Page calls a "contemporary ceremony".
It's co-written by playwright and dramaturg Alana Valentine, who worked on Bangarra's Helpmann Award-winning show Bennelong in 2017.
Having so many creative voices involved in developing the work might seem overwhelming, but Page has a long history of collaboration — especially with his family.
"And I've just always moved as a clan or a mob. So when we started getting creative teams together, I always just felt safe keeping that clan, and learning with that clan, falling over with that clan, getting back up," he says.
Inspired by the music of language
A key initial inspiration for Wudjang: Not the Past was a four-minute piece of music composed by David for a section in an earlier Bangarra work.
"He had worked with my father's language [Yugambeh Mununjali language] probably about a decade before he passed away in 2016. And that reconnecting to language was as my father was getting older … he shared with David some beautiful language, words and story. And David kept that to him close.
"And before David passed, he did a four-minute song, utilising that language … He didn't elaborate on it. And I knew it was language from home. But just before David died he shared that story with me. And so I think that just lingered with me.
"And out of that comes this [show]. It just kept spreading as a form of inspiration," Page marvels.
Page enlisted his sister, Donna Page, as a language consultant.
"It was an honour to be able to help him put the language right within his dream and vision of Wudjang: Not the Past," she says.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions Donna initially had to run her language sessions with the artists remotely. During those sessions, she would emphasise the musicality of the language.
"I kept saying to people, 'Just sing it.' If you get stuck with a word just sing it and it flows real clear," she says.
But for both siblings, learning and working with their father's language has, at times, been daunting.
Page also welcomed the emotional challenge.
"I love how vulnerable and exposed I've become as I've gotten older. And it's only thanks to reconnecting that I feel like I'm finding real strength. I think it's truth."
He explains that their parents were from a generation who were deeply impacted by assimilation policies, and these experiences meant they didn't often talk openly about their cultural knowledge and language.
"They weren't as fortunate as I am in my generation to be empowered by my identity and my culture. And so, for David and I, when [our parents] were moving on and getting ready for their next life they were sharing a lot more."
This sense of agency is perhaps why Wudjang: Not the Past is able to navigate deeply distressing topics, including the massacre of Yugambeh people at Nerang River, while still looking to the future with optimism. (The production notes specifically warn that the show includes depictions of violence and sexual assault, recommending audiences should be aged 12 and over).
For Page it's important to resolve works that examine social issues with a sense of resilience, as distinct from hope.
"And that's what Wudjang is about in a way. It's a play on words of 'not the past' because we are still existing and that resilience is still alive today in the present. And it's stronger than ever for me."
Saying nyanyabhu to Bangarra Dance Theatre
Wudjang: Not the Past is Page's final original work for Bangarra as artistic director.
While Page hadn't necessarily planned to end his run at Bangarra with a story from his community, he does appreciate the symbolism.
"It just felt like the right time [to leave]," he says.
In 2023, he'll be handing custodianship of the company over to Bangarra's associate artistic director, Frances Rings.
In Mununjali language there isn't really a word for 'goodbye'. Instead, there is 'nyanyabhu' — which translates closer to 'until we see each other again'.
It seems like a particularly fitting sentiment for Page's relationship with Bangarra.
Page is looking forward to collaborating with another member of his family in the future — his son Hunter Page-Lochard. But he's open to returning to Bangarra as a choreographer, or director of storytelling.
"Look, if Fran ever wanted me to come back and create in years to come, I would."
Wudjang: Not the Past runs until February 12 at Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney; February 18-19 at Theatre Royal, Hobart; and March 15-18 at Adelaide Festival Centre as part of Adelaide Festival.
