Frances Rings

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Frances Rings (born 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian dancer, choreographer and former television presenter. She was born in Adelaide, South Australia and is a descendant of the Kokatha people. She is the associate artistic director for the Bangarra Dance Theatre and will take over the role of artistic director in 2023.

Frances Rings
Born
Frances Rings

Adelaide, South Australia
NationalityAustralian
EducationBundamba State Secondary College National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association
OccupationAssociate Artistic Director

Choreographer

Former Dancer

Early life and education[]

Frances Rings was born in Adelaide, South Australia.[1] She is a descendant of the Kokatha people from her mother's side, and is of German heritage from her father's side.[2][3] She has a younger sister Gina who is a dancer and choreographer. At the age of 3, Rings’ parents had divorced.[1] Her mother had chosen to continue living on the west coast of South Australia, and Rings went to live with her father.[1] Her father was a railway worker in Port Augusta, where she partially grew up.[4][3] During this time, Rings’ family was facing financial issues which led her father to send Rings’ sister Gina to another family so that they could raise her.[4] From that time Rings’ and her father started to move around Australia frequently.[5] For his work, her father was transferred to Kalgoorlie, and then they eventually went on to move to Albany in Western Australia, and then to Queensland because of the climate there.[4][5] During this period, Rings stated that she was unhappy at home because she was tired of constantly moving around, and changing schools.[4] Due to moving around Australia multiple times, she had gone to a total of 6 different schools.[4]

Railway Station in Port Augusta, South Australia

Growing up in Port Augusta during her early childhood, Rings had voiced an interest for dance, but her family was unable to afford to pay for ballet lessons.[6] She continued to show her passion for dance as she created a theatre in her backyard out of water tanks, which she turned into a cubby house and decorated with curtains, as well as dressing up her siblings in costumes which she made out of bits of materials that were available to her.[6] She would often stage mini productions with her siblings in her makeshift theatre.[6]

At the age of 16, Rings was living in Ipswich, Queensland where she attended a boarding school. In year 11, when pursuing her Higher School Certificate[disambiguation needed], dance was offered as a HSC course.[1] Rings decided to sign up for HSC dance as one of her electives.[1] She mentioned that she had an encouraging dance teacher who pushed her to do her best.[1]

When Rings was 17, her speech and drama teacher at school told her about the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) college in Sydney, where Indigenous students are given the opportunity to learn about dance and culture.[1] Her teacher encouraged her to apply to NAISDA. After completing Year 12, Rings left Ipswich to attend NAISDA in Sydney.[1]

Career[]

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York City

In 1992, Rings graduated from NAISDA.[7] Rings performed in her graduation performance where Stephen Page, the artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre at the time, saw her and invited her to join Bangarra.[6] In 1993, Rings joined Bangarra to develop her skills as a choreographer.[7] She also performed in Page's production of Praying Mantis Dreaming, and Ninni and Ochres. She became the first choreographic Artist in Residence for Bangarra.[7] In 1995, Rings went to New YorkCity on an Australia Council Grant, to study at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for three months.[8]  In 2002, Rings made her mainstage choreographic debut with the choreographic production, Rations.[9] She went on to create 6 more works for Bangarra, including Bush (2003), Unaipon (2004), X300 (2007), Artefact (2010), Terrain (2012), Sheoak (2015).[9]

Within Australia, Rings has choreographed works for leading dance companies like the West Australian Ballet, Tasdance and performed for Legs on the Wall Theatre in Sydney.[9] She has also danced in works by leading Australian choreographers like Meryl Tankard and Leigh Warren.[9] Internationally, she has worked with companies like Kahawi Dance Theatre in Six Nations, Turtle Islands (Canada), as well as Atamira Dance Company in Auckland, Aotearoa (New Zealand) where she was a guest collaborator and performer for their production of MITIMITI.[9] In 2018, she choreographed a new piece for Atamira called Kotahi.[9]

In 2016, Rings returned to NAISDA as the Head of Creative Studies until 2019.[9] Within this period, she directed five end of year productions including, Your Skin, My Skin (2014), Kamu (2015), From Sand to Stage (2016), Restoration (2017) and Story Place (2018).[9] After leaving NAISDA, she returned to Bangarra as the Associate Artistic Director in 2019.[9]

As of December 2, 2021, it was announced that Rings would take over the role of artistic director from Stephen Page in Bangarra.[10] She will officially assume the role in 2023.[10]

Influences[]

Rings’ earliest memory of dance is watching Young Talent Time (1971-1988), an Australian variety show on television which inspired her to become a dancer.[1] Some of her earlier dance heroes were Alvin Ailey, whom she admired due to his American Dance Theatre which was one of the first professional dance companies that welcomed dancers of all races and backgrounds.[4][11] Before Alvin Ailey, she was inspired by Michael Jackson.[4]

During high school, Rings’ dance class was taken on a trip to Sydney to watch a live performance of Cats the musical at the Theatre Royal.[1][8] Rings remembers being fascinated by the way dancers were able to move their bodies and stated she did not know dancers could use their bodies to create such movements.[1] The performance inspired her further to pursue dance as a career.

Choreographic Influences[]

Ring's choreographic works are often influenced by her childhood experiences with nature.[3] During Rings’ childhood, her father, a German migrant, struggled financially to provide for his family due to the aftermath of World War II.[3] His main source of sustance he provided for his family included those that he grew in his own vegetable patch and orchard.[3] Rings also recalls how on the way to school in the morning, she would climb over other people's fences to pick figs, nuts and grapes.[3] She believes that because of her father, Rings developed her ‘connection to country.’[3] It was not because of her Aboriginal background, or from a cultural perspective.[3]

Rings mentions being influenced by the way her aunts and sisters told stories, specifically their body language, such as gestures and expressions, and how she is able to see them reflected within the shape of trees.[3]

Terrain (2012)[]

Lake Eyre Sign Post

Stephen Page asked Rings to choreograph a work depicting Aboriginal views on landscape.[5] She recalled her trips to Flinder Ranges which she used to visit every weekend as a child, and visited Lake Eyre as her main influence to choreograph a piece that illustrates how geographical features influences people's mood and spirit.[5][3] She wanted to incorporate imagery of Lake Eyre that she had witnessed during her visit.[2][3] She states how on the first day of her trip to the lake, it was filled with water, but the next day she described it as being empty and shiny.[3] She also took a tour with an Arabana elder, who showed her around waterholes and sacred sites.[3] She had access to stone tools and ancient paintings that mapped secret waterways.[3] Rings was influenced by literal ideas of elements that make up the physical landscape of Lake Eyre, and explored figurative ideas of human connections to land and nature which she incorporated into her work, Terrain (2012).[12]

Sheoak (2015)[]

When choreographing Sheoak, Rings was influenced by sheoak trees and how it is used by people to provide medicine, shelter and food amongst other purposes.[13][14] Through symbolism, Through the choreography, Rings wanted to create a connection between the sheoak trees and indigenous stories, focusing on how like sheoak trees, Indigenous language, customs and knowledge are endangered.[13]

Television[]

Rings has starred in the documentary drama The Widower (2004).[15]

Other roles[]

As of 2005 Rings was a member of the Dance Board of the Australia Council.[16]

Awards[]

Year Award(s) Category Recipient/Nominated Work Result
2003 Helpmann Award Best Ballet or Dance Work Frances Rings 

Walkabout

Won
2003 Deadly Award Female Dancer of the Year Frances Rings Won
2004 Australian Dance Award Outstanding Achievement in Choreography Frances Rings

Unaipon

Won
2010 Helpmann Award Best Regional Touring Production Frances Rings

True Stories

Won
2011 Green Room Award Frances Rings

Artefact

Won
2013 Helpmann Award Best Ballet or Dance Work Frances Rings

Terrain

Won
2016 Helpmann Award Best Ballet or Dance Work

&

Best Choreograph in a Dance or Physical Theatre Work

Frances Rings

Sheoak

Won
2017 Helpmann Award Best Regional Touring Show Frances Rings

Terrain

Won

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pointes·4, Claudia Lawson·Talking (27 August 2021). "The Rise of Frances Rings". Fjord Review. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b Nil, Rose. "Bangarra Dance Theatre – Frances Rings & Rose, a Tête-à-Tête". The Culture Concept Circle. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Power, Liza (22 June 2012). "Of land and limb". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps". Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d Frances Rings & David Page talk about TERRAIN, retrieved 2 January 2022
  6. ^ a b c d Blake, Elissa (14 July 2012). "At home with Frances Rings". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "Frances Rings appointed as NAISDA's Head of Creative Studies". NAISDA Dance College. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Our Dance Of Many Colours – MDM". Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Frances Rings". Bangarra. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  10. ^ a b Jefferson, Dee (2 December 2021). "Stephen Page to step down from Bangarra artistic director role, passing torch to Frances Rings". abc news. Retrieved 28 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ "Alvin Ailey + Revelations". www.kennedy-center.org. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  12. ^ "Terrain (2012)". Bangarra. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  13. ^ a b "Frances Rings on Sheoak". Bangarra Knowledge Ground. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  14. ^ Dow, Steve (13 June 2015). "Bangarra's Frances Rings branches out with Sheoak". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Frances Rings". IMDb. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Media Release: Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp announcing Frances Rings appointment to the Australia Council Dance Board, 14 September 2005". Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2007.

External links[]

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