We are storytellers. We are fire makers
Bangarra is a Wiradjuri word meaning ‘to make fire’.
Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Australian company of professional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performers. One of Australia’s leading performing arts companies, Bangarra has been sharing its culture with communities and audiences across Australia and the world for 37 years.
Based in Sydney, on the Country of the Gadigal people, we create contemporary dance works grounded in 65,000 years of story, culture and community, developed with artists and cultural knowledge-holders. The work is carried by strong choreography, original music and bold design - made for main-stage audiences.
In February 2026, the Company was recognised with the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Dance by the Biennale Danza, the dance division of La Biennale di Venezia, becoming the first Australians to receive the esteemed award since its inception.
Between 1991 - 2022, Bangarra was led by Artistic Director Stephen Page. A creative icon, Stephen’s vision has made Bangarra one of the most successful First Nations performing arts companies in the world. Today, under the joint leadership of Artistic Director and Co-CEO Frances Rings and Executive Director and Co-CEO Louise Ingram, Bangarra continues to tell the stories of First Nations peoples to nurture understanding, shape conversations, and create lasting change.
Bangarra are for the hundreds of First Nations Communities across Australia — and for anyone who wants to be a part of our story. We have toured our productions to notable venues across the world including: the Lincoln Centre, New York City Centre, Sadlers Wells Theatre in London, Théatre de Châtelet in Paris, Vancouver Playhouse, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Theater Bonn, Teatro Sociale, and Hanoi Opera House.
Most recently Bangarra performed Terrain at the Biennale Danza 2026 in Venice and the company are performing the international premiere of FuturesPast at the 54th Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, Mexico, and at Teatro Julio Castillo of Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL) in Mexico City in late 2026.
Choreographed by Frances Rings, Terrain is a breath taking exploration of Australia's largest salt lake, Kati Thanda - Lake Eyre. The 65-minute performance evokes the power of body and land converging to bring spirit to place.
For over 65,000 years, the First Nations people of Australia have maintained an unceded connection to Country, deeply rooted in trade, kinship, lore, ceremony.
