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Gary Lang completed the first development of Baya Rakarum with a residency at The Australian Ballet in October 2023. space
Baya Rakarum is large-scale, full-length work that sees Lang's choreogaphy style 'Aboriginal Ballet' realised en pointe for the first time in his career as Artistic Director. Working closely with Rirratjingu loreman Banula Marika, the Lang continues to explore Yolŋu manikay and buŋgul with the classical music and dance that inspires Lang. space
The work is being developed over two years between Garramilla (Darwin) and Yirrkala (East Arnhem Land). space

+ Creative Team

Artistic Director & Choreographer Gary Lang
NT Dance Company General Manager Erica McCallum
Producer Elizabeth Rogers
Cultural Consultant Banula Marika
Rehearsal Director Noelle Shader
NT Dance Company Artists at The Australian Ballet Claire Voss, Zachary Wilson, Ruby Platemotley with Peta Rixom (NAISDA Dance College Advanced Diploma student)
Photo Edita Knowler

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The Other Side of Me offers insights into the mindset of a man through the lens of his letters written between 1990 and 1994. In his mid-to-late twenties, he's re-evaluating his life and trying to come to terms with his First Nations Australian origins from the other side of the world. The ease and haste of the adoption process, which took less than a week, reflects the wider Australian federal and state government policies from 1910 until the 1970s to remove children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent from their families and culture.
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A powerful and moving dance duet that navigates the limits of physical expression. Choreographed by Gary Lang, Artistic Director of NT Dance Company, this biographical dance work communicates a story of personal trauma and poses questions about relationships between country of origin, identity, adoption, the criminal justice system and psychological health.
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The work is an international cross-cultural collaboration between Gary Lang’s Indigenous-owned Northern Territory Dance Company and Northumbria University’s Assistant Professors, Dr Laura Fish and Liz Pavey in the UK. The project uses dance to tell this complex story and provides an international platform for engagement with important global debates concerning dislocation, social justice, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and ensuing conversations within Australia and the UK about ‘race’, identity and equality.
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+ Creative Team

Artistic Director & Choreographer Gary Lang
Co-creator, Writer & Dramaturg Dr Laura Fish, Northumbria University
Co-creator & Dramaturg Liz Pavey, Northumbria University
NT Dance Company General Manager Erica McCallum
Production/Stage Manager Elizabeth Rogers
Rehearsal Director Noelle Shader
Lighting Designer Joe Mercurio
Sound Designer Arian Pearson
Costume Designer Jennifer Irwin
Animation Chloe Rhodham
NT Dance Company Artists Alexander Abbot & Chandler Connell & Jesse Norris (understudy)
Cultural Consultants Josephine Crawshaw & Jesse Norris
Photo Paz Tassone

+ Publicity

Arts Hub Review
Stage Whispers Review

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Waŋa is an evocative new dance worked created by Larrakia man Gary Lang, Rirratjŋu lore man Banula Marika and MIKU Performing Arts, together with Darwin Symphony Orchestra’s String Quartet. space
Opening with an expressive interpretation that touches on the funeral rites of the Yolŋu people, Waŋa moves between ceremonial dance and Gary Lang’s own unique style of contemporary ‘Indigenous ballet’. This moving and epic production exquisitely captures both the pain and relief of a spirit’s passing, and shares solace in the sorrow of those left behind. space
“When the soul leaves the spirit world and is conceived to this world, the spirit world sheds tears of sadness. When the soul is born to this physical world, we shed tears of joy. Likewise, when the soul leaves this world, there are tears of sadness and when it steps back into the spirit world there are tears of joy…” – Gary’s Grandmother

+ Creative Team

Artistic Director & Choreographer Gary Lang
Rehearsal Director Christopher Hill
Costume Designer Jennifer Irwin
Lighting Designer Beck Adams
NT Dance Company General Manager Erica McCallum
Project & Production Manager Elizabeth Rogers
Stage Manager Eve Lynch
NT Dance Company Artists
Senior Artists Floeur Alder & Alexander Abbot
Company Artists Brianna Kemmerling, Hannah McVinish, Jordan Bretherton, Zachary Wilson
NT Dance Company Understudies Ruby Platemotley & Sammy George
Junior Artists Ruby Platemotley, Sophie Kuswadi, Sammy George
Victorian College of the Arts Students Jazmin Griffiths & Anastasia Lonsdale
Cultural Consultants Rachael Wallis, David Banuka Marika, Janet Munyarryun
Traditional Artists Ngalkanbuy Munungurr & Inneke Wallis
Darwin Symphony Orchestra String Quartet Jonathan Tooby (Conductor), Clare Gorton, Tara Murphy, Erin McCann
Photo Paz Tassone

+ Publicity

NITV Radio Interview
ABC article
ABC News report with Lang and Marika
Dance Australia Article of Lang

+ Program

Download the program to read on your device

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Forbidden is a cross-cultural, cross-border collaboration between NT Dance Company, NAISDA Dance College and East Arnhem Land’s Miku Performing Arts. space
This 50-minute work explores human reaction and the emotional and often uncontrollable spiral we get caught up in when presented with harrowing circumstance. Forbidden takes the audience on a journey exploring life’s complex and competing emotions, as the dancers interpret one man’s encounter with adversity, peer pressure and community expectation that forbids him from openly expressing his darkest emotions. space
The piece is broken into periods of time termed 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, with each stage representing a different level of healing. As the journey to recovery unfolds, the dancers explore the often-explosive emotion experienced by the man’s loss, beginning with the darkest moments where aggression, despair, and resentment, lead to feelings of self-harm and suicide. Ultimately healing triumphs and the broken spirit is cured.

+ Creative Team

Artistic Director & Choreographer Gary Lang
Rehearsal Director Christopher Hill
Lighting Designer Tomm Lydiard
NT Dance Company General Manager Erica McCallum
Production/Stage Manager Joshua Grant
NT Dance Company Artists
Senior Artists Lauren Carr
Company Artists Amy Green, Jordan Bretherton, Chandler Connell, Hannah McVinish
Junior Artists Ruby Platemotley, Sophie Kuswadi
NAISDA Advanced Diploma Students Kiara Malcolm Bodle, James Boyd, Brianna Kemmerling
Cultural Consultants Rachael Wallis, David Banula Marika, Janet Munyarryun
Traditional Artists Ngalkanbuy Munungurr & Loretta Yunupingu Ballet Mistress Lisa Heath
Photo Paz Tassone

+ Music

Dimitry Shostakovich
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Manikay (songlines) Banula Marika, Ngalkanbuy Munungurr, Michael Buwatpuy Gumana, Kevin Malngay Yunupingu

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Co-produced by our greatest supporter the Darwin Entertainment Centre, ‘Inspired’ premiered at the Garrmalang Festival in May 2016. The creation of ‘Inspired’ allowed Gary to indulge in an uplifting spiritual experience, exploring the beauty and lightness of movement that the musical score of Tchaikovsky’s inspires in Gary’s choreography and his dancers.
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After the darkness and sadness of the sensitive journey of Mokuy, Gary sought to celebrate the music of this much loved classic. Inspired introduces some quirky and unexpected elements to the musical score complementing the application of Gary’s signature movement. space
Photo: Nicholas Gouldhurst

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Introducing new choreography created by our Artistic Director Gary Lang specifically for this unique event, the DSO under the direction of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Matthew Wood, featured four world premieres of new Australian music written for the people of Darwin by leading Australian composers Ross Edwards, Iain Grandage, Lachlan Skipworth and Kat McGuffie.
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Photo: Tim Nicol

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In May 2014, “Mokuy (Spirit)” premiered at the inaugural Garrmalang Festival at the Darwin Entertainment Centre.
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“Mokuy” is a series of vignettes that depict a haunting reflection of the journey of the spirit following death through contemporary dance, projections and traditional and contemporary music. For Gary Lang, “Mokuy” represents his personal response to youth suicide in remote Indigenous communities.
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Mokuy required a tremendous emotional journey of sadness that weighed heavily on Gary in terms of its content and execution to ensure that cultural and extended family sensitivities were respected.
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Photo: Glenn Campbell

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Set against the backdrop of Arnhem Land’s northern flood plains, Goose Lagoon explores the story of the magpie geese of the Top End; the furl of wings in the first light of the wet season, the frenetic struggle against the hunter’s gun, the tender love of delicate young goslings.
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The puppetry was directed by Erth Visual and Physical Theatre. The Company interspersed human movement and role of the dancers with the magpie geese puppets to enhance the story. In August 2010, Goose Lagoon premiered at the Darwin Festival, performing at the Playhouse Theatre in the Darwin Entertainment Centre.
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Phot: Glen Campbell

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During 2008, Gary Lang researched and created Munuk Gapu – Fresh water Salt water - a dance production that interprets the lives, adventures and misadventures of Territory pearl divers from a bygone era.
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In August 2008, Munuk Gapu was featured at the Darwin Festival, performing at the Playhouse Theatre in the Darwin Entertainment Centre.
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Photo: Peter Sparkman