| 
 The Wandjina
Photo: Gerald Jenkins |
A turning point for the company and Artistic Director Stephen Page, particularly in terms of international recognition, came about as a result of the company's key role in the creation of the Indigenous section of Sydney 2000 Olympic Games opening Ceremony called "Awakenings".Choreographed by Stephen Page and designed by Peter England, The Awakenings section featured Djakapurra Munyarryun, Bangarra dancers and more than 1000 Indigenous people from different clans all across Australia and the Torres Strait.
The Awakenings segment began with Djakapurra as guide and songman, calling together the Indigenous peoples of Australia to welcome the world to the site of the Olympic Stadium which sits on Darug lands. It ends with the lawmaker and ancestral spirit Wandjina arriving and throwing down a lightning bolt. A burst of fireworks symbolise the bushfires that cleanse and regenerate the earth. "It is like a big corroboree", Stephen Page said at the time, "We wanted all these nations to bring their stories and for urban youth to have the opportunity to build bridges with elders from Arnhem Land. Working with a thousand Indigenous people, all the elders trusting me to take their stories and put it on that ground, bringing black clans together, gathering in our own backyard. I think that we, as a black nation, need to get together and work sacredly to develop a new language that speaks to the 980 different clans around the country." An excellent documentary has been made called "The Awakening: An Aboriginal/Indigenous Triumph at the Sydney 2000 Olympics" and is available through the Video Arts Education website. 
Djakapurra leaves the stadium. Photo: Gerald Jenkins 
Bangarra featured in the 2000 Olympic Arts Festival - the final event of the four year cultural program leading up to the Games. More than 4000 artists starred in fifty-three major productions and fifty exhibitions across forty-five venues. Bangarra staged two productions as part of the festival - Tubowgule and Skin. | 
