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Bangarra awarded prestigious Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale Danza 2026

The First Nations dance company, under the artistic direction of Frances Rings, will be the first Australian company to win the award since its inception in 1995.

20 Feb 2026 10:42

Richard Watts

Bangarra's Terrain at Sydney Opera House. The photo shows an Aboriginal woman dancing, caught mid-routine, with her right leg dramatically raised; her right arm is bent above her head. Other dancers are visible, kneeling on the stage behind her.

Performing Arts

Bangarra’s Terrain at Sydney Opera House. Photo: Daniel Boud.

Bangarra Dance Theatre, the acclaimed First Nations dance company, will be the first Australian company ever to win the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Dance at the Venice Biennale.

The company, led creatively by Artistic Director and Co-CEO Frances Rings, a proud Mirning woman, will receive the award at the 20^th International Festival of Contemporary Dance in Venice, Italy in July, where Bangarra will also stage the European premiere of Rings’ seminal work, Terrain.

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Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in early 2020. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association in 2021, and a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Photo: Fiona Hamilton. Follow Richard on Bluesky @richardthewatts.bsky.social and Instagram @richard.l.watts