Bangarra: 30 years of sixty five thousand

Roslyn Anderson on Stamping Ground: Bangarra: 30 years of sixty five thousand

  • Choreography, Highlights, Behind the Scenes
... it is very exhilarating to be involved in completing the life cycle of Stamping Ground.

Roslyn Anderson has been staging works for Jiří Kylián across the world for more than 30 years. She travelled to Sydney to work with Bangarra’s dancers to bring Stamping Ground to life.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your role with Kylián Productions, and how that role brings you to this commission with Bangarra.

I was born and ballet-trained in Brisbane, before moving to Melbourne to train at The Australian Ballet School. I then danced with The Australian Ballet for six years, before joining Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in 1973 where, in my first season, Jiří Kylián was invited into the company to choreograph a work. From 1980 I began assisting Jiří on some of his creations for NDT and as a result began soon after to stage his works worldwide.

You were the original Repetiteur for Stamping Ground. Now, 36 years later, you’re working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dancers who are of the culture that gave breath to the inspiration for the work.

Yes, I was assisting on the creation of Stamping Ground in 1983. I find it very exciting to be staging it here for Bangarra. A huge responsibility and an enormous privilege!

... it is very exhilarating to be involved in completing the life cycle of Stamping Ground.

Kylián generously provided Bangarra’s dancers with guidance before rehearsals began, encouraging them to find their own skin in the choreography. Has the work changed as a result?

Bangarra’s dancers are storytellers and Jiří has indeed encouraged them to search for their own interpretation — to explore their own spirit in the movement. This has provided a wonderful challenge for me (also) to ‘allow’ this freedom while not changing or compromising the choreography.

Kylián has created more than 100 works during his career. Do you think that Stamping Ground marked a pivotal moment for Jirˇí's work?

The creation of Stamping Ground was a result of what was a very pivotal turning point in Jiří's career! His experience at the festival at Groote Eylandt has influenced each and every work he has created since then.

Bangarra’s works follow a cultural creation lifecycle — beginning on Country and ending back with the communities who inspire our stories. In a sense, Stamping Ground is now experiencing the completion of its own lifecycle of culture and creativity.

True — while traditions of passing along Jiří’s works are different from those of Bangarra’s unique method, it is very exhilarating to be involved in completing the life cycle of Stamping Ground. In a way, Bangarra is the only company in the world that can reflect the original context that framed Stamping Ground’s creation.

His [Jiří’s] experience at the festival at Groote Eylandt has influenced each and every work he has created since then.

Roslyn Anderson has been staging works for Jiří Kylián across the world for more than 30 years. She travelled to Sydney to work with Bangarra’s dancers to bring Stamping Ground to life.

Roslyn Anderson, Photography u.k., year u.k.

    • Roslyn Anderson
      Répétiteur
    • Choreography
      Jiří Kylián