Monica Stevens is mBabarum. She is a Bama woman of Kuku Yalanji and Yidjini ancestry from Far North Queensland, born on Yidjini Country in Far North Queensland.

Monica Stevens is mBabarum. She is a Bama woman of Kuku Yalanji and Yidjini ancestry from Far North Queensland, born on Yidjini Country in Far North Queensland. She moved to Sydney after graduating from Innisfail State High School to pursue a career in dance.

Monica is a 1984 National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association graduate. She performed as a professional Contemporary Dancer for 12 years: first with the original Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre (AIDT), and is a Founding Member of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, where she toured and educated people about Aboriginal Australian people through performances as a Dance Artist and teaching classes in national and international arenas. Monica also played an integral part in Bangarra's early years, working across various roles including costume fabrication, company and production management, cultural relations and engagement and company marketing and publicity.

Monica has been a member of the Australia Council Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board and continues to explore her choreographic and artistic roles in the industry, including Chair of BlakDance Board 2014-17. Her passion for fusing dance and technology started in 2007; she partnered with Deakin University MotionLab to produce Coding Indigenous Dance in 2008 and the 2012 Dance Research Forum.

Monica continues to contribute her expertise, knowledge and experiences to design, produce and stimulate provocative and intelligent dance theatre. Recent highlights are Threads (2018), the NAISDA alumni 40th Anniversary performance Chjowai (2016), Birrang Creative Workshop (2016), and Walking Ways and The Ink is Black and the Page is White (2014, 2015) in partnership with Campbelltown Arts Centre.