Daniel Mateo's Story Shines in Bangarra's Sheltering

Daniel Mateo and his eight siblings were all about sport at home. His mum was a tennis player, his dad played football, and all his siblings, well, you guessed it, all played football. But Daniel wasn't cut out for football. His year 11 teacher saw something different in him and encouraged him to attend a dance workshop in 2018.

That little nudge changed everything. Mateo went to the workshop for a week, and they told him, 'You should go to NAISDA', the dance college which Bangarra stemmed from. He went to the audition and, in his words, 'couldn't touch my toes, didn't know any dance vocab and miraculously got in.' From there, he fell in love with dance.

Born to Gomeroi and Tongan parents in Orange, central-western NSW, Mateo grew up learning about the negative stereotypes that beset his community, as well as facing them. He says this is what inspired Mateo's short film Brown Boys, which is the second of three performances in Indigenous dance company Bangarra's latest program, Sheltering.

'So many stereotypes and stigmas fall onto my family by default, and my family is riddled with all the atrocities of suicide, of incarceration, all of these kinds of heavy things,' Mateo says.

Mateo wanted Brown Boys to be a beacon of hope for brown boys who had similar lived experiences, and to start conversations to help them define themselves.

Brown Boys blends dance, narrative, and cinema, and is directed by Mateo and Cass Mortimer Eipper. Along with the other two shows in the program, Keeping Grounded and Sheoak, the performance will honour the late David Page, acclaimed composer and musical director of Bangarra Dance Theatre.

This film provides a way for Mateo to express the hidden traumas he feels within his identity. Growing up at a predominantly Indigenous high school, Mateo says there was an unspoken bond between him and his peers over shared traumas – but it was never openly discussed.

'I think that's just the shame factor that a lot of Indigenous communities have to not open these conversations,' he says. 'I remember going through my brother's passing, and just the overwhelming feeling that stayed within our house for months and years, and that was because we didn't speak about anything, which just added to the pain.'

Mateo wanted to use his work to try and break this silence and encourage people to speak about their traumas. Sheltering will be at the Sydney Opera House from June 3 to 13, and at Melbourne's Arts Centre from June 18 to 27.

Mateo's journey to becoming a professional dancer was unconventional. It shows how perseverance and following your passion can lead to great achievements. For Mateo, growing up in Orange was far from easy. However, through dance, he was able to find a way to express himself and tell his story.

With Sheltering, Mateo is part of something much bigger than himself – a powerful production that honours his family, his community, and a trailblazing dancer.

'This program, Sheltering, has an incredibly powerful message – we need to speak about the things that hurt us, we need to come home to ourselves, and we need to heal,' Mateo says.

Mateo will be part of a 30-strong cast and crew, and Bangarra's production will explore the struggles of reconciliation and the complexities of Indigenous identity.

Mateo's family, who left the family business to pursue the arts, are now part of the dance scene. Sheltering is not just a performance; it's a story of resilience and determination.

Daniel Mateo's story is a reminder that it's never too late to take a chance and follow your passion. His journey to becoming a professional dancer was paved with hard work and perseverance – and it's a journey that he shares with the world through Sheltering.