Australia Dancing - Page, Stephen (1965

Page, Stephen (1965 - )

Lynkushka, Angela: Portrait of Stephen Page, 1993

Brisbane-born Stephen Page is the first choreographer of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent to have achieved major national and international recognition. Page's upbringing was urban although it still centred on indigenous cultural values such as strong kinship bonds and a non-separation of art and life. His Aboriginal ties are to his father's community, that of the Munaldjali people of the Yugambeh tribe whose traditional land in south-eastern Queensland extends from Charleville in the west across to Surfers Paradise in the east.

Page studied dance at the college of the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) and after graduating in 1983 began a professional career as a dancer with Sydney Dance Company. With Sydney Dance he appeared in After Venice, Wilderness, Nearly Beloved, Shining, Poppy, Company of Wo/men and King Roger and toured with the company to Greece, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea. Graeme Murphy created the role of the Faun in Late Afternoon of a Faun on Page and, while with Sydney Dance, Page choreographed Mooggrah (1991) for the company's season, The Shakespeare Dances. 1991 also saw Page choreograph Trackers of Oxyrhyncus for the Sydney Theatre Company and a sextet for Opera Australia's Marriage of Figaro.

In 1988 Page toured with the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre, the performing arm of NAISDA, to Germany and Finland and in 1989 he was artistic director of the NAISDA end-of-year show Kayn Walu. Page joined Bangarra Dance Theatre as principal choreographer in 1991 and at the end of that year was appointed artistic director of Bangarra. In 1992 he choreographed Praying Mantis Dreaming, Bangarra's first full length work. In addition to his many works for Bangarra, which include Ochres (1994), Fish (1997), Skin (2000) for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival, Corroboree (2001), Walkabout (2002) and Bush (2003), he has choreographed works for a wide range of companies and organisations beyond Bangarra. They include the Australian Ballet, for whom he has made Alchemy (1996), Rites (1997) and Totem (2002) a solo for Steven Heathcote, as well as the Australian Football League, Sydney Dance Company and Sydney Theatre Company.

Page was the recipient of an Australian Dance Award for outstanding choreographic achievement in 1997. He is currently still artistic director of Bangarra and directed the Adelaide Festival in 2004. As a choreographer he seeks to meld traditional Aboriginal ideas and motifs with those of the urban culture in which he grew up.

Bibliography:

Extracts from Page's oral history interview for the National Library of Australia, and a list of his choreography to 1996, have been published as 'Feet to the Earth' in Michelle Potter, A Passion for Dance (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1997) pp. 93-103. A discussion of Page's work Rites, a collaboration between Bangarra Dance Theatre and the Australian Ballet is in 'Getting Together', National Library of Australia News, August 2001.

Research Materials

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Find more about Page, Stephen in:

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