Stephen Page

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Stephen Page was born in 1965, in Brisbane. He is descended from the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali clan of the Yugambeh tribe from southeast Queensland, Australia. He is a dancer and choreographer.

Stephen danced with the Sydney Dance Company until 1991 when he was appointed Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre.

In 1996, Stephen made his creative debut with The Australian Ballet, choreographing Alchemy.

In 1997, he brought The Australian Ballet and Bangarra together in Rites, performed to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. In the same year, he choreographed Fish for Bangarra, which had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival, before opening at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Indigenous Festival of the Dreaming.

Stephen choreographed the flag handover ceremony for the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 and directed the Indigenous segments of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. He also created the ceremony that opened the Olympic Arts Festival.

In 2000 he also Skin, which premiered at the Olympic Arts Festival. This production has since won Stephen and Bangarra the Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work and Best Dance Work.

Stephen's triple bill Corroboree toured nationally and internationally, including a sell-out tour of the United States with appearances at BAM in New York and Washington's Kennedy Center.

In 2001, Stephen won the Matilda Award for his contribution to the arts in Queensland and choreographed Totem for the Australian Ballet's principal dancer, Stephen Heathcoate. 2002 also saw the world premiere of Bangarra's double bill, Walkabout which Stephen co-choreographed with Frances Rings.

Stephen and Frances Rings later co-choreographed Bush for Bangarra, which sold out on its Australian tour as well as its 2004 tour to the United States. Bangarra returned, in 2004, to the Sydney Opera House with another sell-out production co-choreographed by Stephen and Frances, Clan.

In 2005, Stephen choreographed Boomerang which again enjoyed great critical and popular acclaim, selling out its Australian tour.

Stephen was recently commissioned by The Australian Ballet to choreograph a collaborative work with Bangarra called Gathering, a double bill consisting of a remounted work Rites and the new work, Amalgamate. Gathering has been one of the best selling contemporary works for The Australian Ballet.

Stephen's film and theatre credits include the contemporary operatic film Black River, numerous music video clips and most recently directing his own brother David Page in the highly acclaimed one-man show Page 8 which toured the UK.

Stephen was artistic director of the 2004 Adelaide Festival of the Arts, Australia's premiere arts festival. He was praised for reinvigorating the event with an impressive and highly successful world-class program.