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| Indigenous choreographer Stephen Page accepts honour with 'mixed feelings' | Indigenous choreographer Stephen Page accepts honour with 'mixed feelings' |
| (7 months later) | |
| Artistic director of Indigenous dance company Bangarra recognised in Queen’s birthday honours for work including theatre, film and Sydney Olympics | |
| Stephanie Convery | |
| Sun 11 Jun 2017 15.01 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 12 Jun 2017 00.19 BST | |
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| “I really had mixed feelings about all this,” says Stephen Page. “I kept thinking: I wonder what the Indigenous equivalent is?” | “I really had mixed feelings about all this,” says Stephen Page. “I kept thinking: I wonder what the Indigenous equivalent is?” |
| Page, a dancer, choreographer and the artistic director of Indigenous dance company Bangarra, has just been made an officer (AO) in the general division in the Queen’s birthday honours. “You mean my Aboriginal Order?” he says, when he is asked how it feels. | Page, a dancer, choreographer and the artistic director of Indigenous dance company Bangarra, has just been made an officer (AO) in the general division in the Queen’s birthday honours. “You mean my Aboriginal Order?” he says, when he is asked how it feels. |
| “I don’t know. I really haven’t found the words. Isn’t it funny – the English words never really explain how my true Indigenous spirit feels.” | “I don’t know. I really haven’t found the words. Isn’t it funny – the English words never really explain how my true Indigenous spirit feels.” |
| Page has been at the helm of Bangarra since 1991. His career highlights have included collaborations with Sydney Theatre Company, working on feature films such as Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires, and choreographing sections of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Sydney Olympics. | Page has been at the helm of Bangarra since 1991. His career highlights have included collaborations with Sydney Theatre Company, working on feature films such as Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires, and choreographing sections of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Sydney Olympics. |
| His achievements in the field of arts and culture are significant and worthy of the recognition, which he shares this year with other cultural figures including actors Cate Blanchett and fashion designer Collette Dinnigan. | His achievements in the field of arts and culture are significant and worthy of the recognition, which he shares this year with other cultural figures including actors Cate Blanchett and fashion designer Collette Dinnigan. |
| But as an Indigenous man, receiving an award from the Queen comes with an added layer of political complexity. Page says he didn’t want to come across as disrespectful, but noted the honour came with an irony that may also be felt by other Indigenous recipients, this year including actor Deborah Mailman. | But as an Indigenous man, receiving an award from the Queen comes with an added layer of political complexity. Page says he didn’t want to come across as disrespectful, but noted the honour came with an irony that may also be felt by other Indigenous recipients, this year including actor Deborah Mailman. |
| “I was ringing around to all my elders going, this is crazy, like, what do you do? ... Then a couple of my elders just spoke to me and said: ‘You’ve got to look at all the work you’ve done and you’ve got to think that your heritage is a lot older than the commonwealth.’ So you just respect it and take it in your stride, and just think about all those ancestors and people that have led before [you].” | “I was ringing around to all my elders going, this is crazy, like, what do you do? ... Then a couple of my elders just spoke to me and said: ‘You’ve got to look at all the work you’ve done and you’ve got to think that your heritage is a lot older than the commonwealth.’ So you just respect it and take it in your stride, and just think about all those ancestors and people that have led before [you].” |
| Page is currently in the middle of rehearsals for Bangarra’s upcoming production, Bennelong, about the senior Eora man who was captured by Governor Arthur Phillip in 1789 and would go on to have his own complex relationship with the colonial force. | Page is currently in the middle of rehearsals for Bangarra’s upcoming production, Bennelong, about the senior Eora man who was captured by Governor Arthur Phillip in 1789 and would go on to have his own complex relationship with the colonial force. |
| “His legacy is outrageous as well,” Page says. “You know, one of the first Indigenous humans to respond to the western system in a big way. So this order comes around and someone said: ‘How do you feel?’ and I don’t know ... You’ve just gotta keep going forward. It’s really for all the great work, I suppose.” | “His legacy is outrageous as well,” Page says. “You know, one of the first Indigenous humans to respond to the western system in a big way. So this order comes around and someone said: ‘How do you feel?’ and I don’t know ... You’ve just gotta keep going forward. It’s really for all the great work, I suppose.” |
| Being able to sustain a voice and message through his work at Bangarra, which turns 30 in 2019, has been a source of pride for Page. “Through the arts you can somehow have that voice, you know?” | Being able to sustain a voice and message through his work at Bangarra, which turns 30 in 2019, has been a source of pride for Page. “Through the arts you can somehow have that voice, you know?” |
| He talks about the Indigenous rights movements of the 1980s, and remembers dancing in Hyde Park as a student “with a thousand Indigenous people” for the bicentennial, and talking to his sister, who was 16 at the time of the 1967 referendum, about her memories of that era. | He talks about the Indigenous rights movements of the 1980s, and remembers dancing in Hyde Park as a student “with a thousand Indigenous people” for the bicentennial, and talking to his sister, who was 16 at the time of the 1967 referendum, about her memories of that era. |
| “Mum and dad [had] three jobs; they were just trying to put food on the table, a roof over their head. They came from a generation where they couldn’t celebrate their identity, they were forbidden – they had to hide under the shame umbrella.” | “Mum and dad [had] three jobs; they were just trying to put food on the table, a roof over their head. They came from a generation where they couldn’t celebrate their identity, they were forbidden – they had to hide under the shame umbrella.” |
| Page attributes his ambition, his curiosity, and the “wonderful annoyance that I had about being proud about being black” to growing up and seeing the things that his family had been unable to celebrate; the opportunities and advantages that were denied them due to their Indigenous identity. | Page attributes his ambition, his curiosity, and the “wonderful annoyance that I had about being proud about being black” to growing up and seeing the things that his family had been unable to celebrate; the opportunities and advantages that were denied them due to their Indigenous identity. |
| “I really try to work out, what is this country’s identity?” he says. | “I really try to work out, what is this country’s identity?” he says. |
| When asked what advice he might have for young Indigenous performers aspiring to similar success, he laughs. “Start digging a big hole in the land, your own sacred cave hole, and go back to the ancestors and wait until another century passes ‘cos the world’s a mess!” | When asked what advice he might have for young Indigenous performers aspiring to similar success, he laughs. “Start digging a big hole in the land, your own sacred cave hole, and go back to the ancestors and wait until another century passes ‘cos the world’s a mess!” |
| He adds, more seriously: “No, I just think that the sense of identity and who you are as a First Nations person should be a proud, an empowered thing ... I always just say, hunt quietly, and always know where you come from.” | He adds, more seriously: “No, I just think that the sense of identity and who you are as a First Nations person should be a proud, an empowered thing ... I always just say, hunt quietly, and always know where you come from.” |
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