Australia Dancing - Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festivals (1997

Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festivals (1997 - 2000)

Seselja, Loui: Tubowgule, Botanical Gardens, Sydney, 2000

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games were complemented by a major arts festival - the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival. Officially named Harbour of Life, the 2000 festival was the culmination of a series of annual festivals that began in 1997. The earlier festivals were Festival of the Dreaming (1997), A Sea Change (1998), and Reaching the World (1999).

The 2000 festival, Harbour of Life, was officially opened at dawn on 18 August, almost a month prior to the start of the Games, with Tubowgule (Meeting of the Waters) devised by Stephen Page and Rhoda Roberts. This event progressed throughout the day with a series of performances by Bangarra Dance Theatre and Doonooch Dance Company. Components of the performance were staged around and near Sydney Harbour, at Congwong Bay Beach, the Botanical Gardens, and in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point.

Harbour of Life featured a significant number of dance performances by both Australian and invited international companies. Newly created works included Stephen Page’s Skin for Bangarra Dance Theatre, Graeme Murphy’s Mythologia for Sydney Dance Company and Stephen Baynes’ Personal Best for the Australian Ballet. Established works performed by the Australian Ballet during to 2000 festival included William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated; Nacho Duato’s Por Vos Muero, Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, Jiri Kylian’s Bella Figura, and Maurice Bejart’s Bolero, which featured guest artist Sylvie Guillem. Productions from international companies included Lloyd Newson’s Can we Afford This for DV8, Pina Bausch’s Masurca Fogo for Tanztheater Wuppertal, Lin Hwai-min’s Nine Songs and Moon Water for Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, and Bill T. Jones's You Walk for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company.

Festival of the Dreaming (1997), directed by Rhoda Roberts, opened the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival series with a celebration of Australia’s indigenous peoples. It also 'welcomed other first nations’ peoples of the world’. The 1997 festival encompassed traditional dance, song, story-telling, painting and craft as well as contemporary indigenous arts such as music, theatre, dance, painting and literature. Dance companies performing in the Festival of the Dreaming included the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre, Bangarra Dance Theatre, and Marrugeku from Australia, as well as Chang Mu Dance Company from Korea, and Silamiut from Greenland.

The second festival, Sea Change (1998), was directed by Andrea Stretton. It focused on 'transformations in Australian culture', and celebrated Australia's development into a multicultural society and the impact of immigration. Dance events featured in this festival included performances by Bangarra Dance Theatre, Chunky Move, Dance North, Mornington Island Dancers, Nadoya Music and Dance Company, Expressions Dance Company, City Contemporary Dance Company from Hong Kong, Kate Champion, and Aku Kadogo.

The third festival, Reaching the World (1999) was also directed by Andrea Stretton. It sought to take Australian visual and performing arts to the rest of the world. Australian dance companies who toured overseas with this festival included the Sydney Dance Company who toured throughout North America, Marrugeku Company who toured to New Caledonia, and Bangarra Dance Theatre who toured to Woman USA in Seattle.

Bibliography:

Karen van Ulzen, 'Olympian Dance', Dance Australia, 104, (October/November 1999), pp. 47-48.

Research Materials

Ephemera

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Find more about Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festivals in:

Internet - Google
Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
Pictures - Picture Australia