Creating dance
‘Shades of us’—a stunning AYDF finale
It was fantastic to be able to join the Ausdance NSW team, the choreographers and more than 150 young people from all over Australia on the last day of the Australian Youth Dance Festival at NAISDA Dance College in Gosford NSW.
Shades of Us, presented in Mt Penang Gardens on the final evening, was a performance that grew out of an intensive week of creative development with choreographers Sue Healey, Philip Channells, Anton, Kay Armstrong, Matt Cornel, Adelina Larsson, Lee Pemberton, Vicki Van Hout and artistic director Rowan Marchingo.
Communities making dance in Tasmania
Tasmanian Regional Arts (TRA) is leading The Dance Project in partnership with Mature Artists Dance Experience (MADE), Bust a Move and Tasdance.
This community dance project is happening in three Tasmanian regions—the North East, North West and the South—to develop and present three new contemporary dance works with, by and about communities. Evolving from the heart of each community, these works explore place, kinship and identity as experienced by the residents of these regions.
Australian Youth Dance Festival scholarship winners
Congratulations to the young people chosen for a scholarship to this year's Youth Dance Festival. All winners receive a week of intensive dance tuition at AYDF and a 1yr subscription to Dance Australia.
To win an AYDF scholarship, the dancers uploaded a video of themselves dancing, with a short clip of their teacher/mentor saying why their student should come to AYDF.
2013 Caroline Plummer fellowship in community dance
The Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance is open to any New Zealand or international community dance practitioner, teacher or researcher. Applicants need not possess a university degree or diploma, any other educational or professional qualification, or belong to any association or organisation of dancers.
Deadline for applications: 1 June 2012
Building the Indigenous contemporary dance collection
Ever since we convened the 2005 Creating Pathways national Indigenous dance forum in Canberra, Lee Christofis—one of the keynote speakers, and now curator of dance at the National Library of Australia—has been keen to develop the NLA's Indigenous dance collection.
In the March 2012 edition of National Library News, Lee discusses some of the material now held in the collection and outlines the importance of its provenance.
Building the Indigenous contemporary dance collection makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the development of Australian contemporary Indigenous dance.
More evidence that dance benefits the elderly
There are some startling new figures that support dancing as a protective strategy in preventing dementia. A Stanford University report Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter makes the following comparisons:
... almost none of the physical activities appeared to offer any protection against dementia. There can be cardiovascular benefits of course, but the focus of this study was the mind. There was one important exception: the only physical activity to offer protection against dementia was frequent dancing.
- Reading—35% reduced risk of dementia
- Bicycling and swimming—0%
- Doing crossword puzzles at least four days a week—47%
- Playing golf—0%
- Dancing frequently—76%.
The same university offers other insights into the benefits of dance in Thoughts, philosophies and musings on social dance, a useful reference for community dance practitioners in Australia.
BlakDance choreographic showcase announced
A choreographic showcase that celebrates First Nation contemporary dance choreography from Australia, Canada and New Zealand will be held at the Queensland Theatre Company in Brisbane from 4 to 9 June 2012
The showcase will provide a platform for Australian and international First Nation contemporary choreographers to work together in a program of performances, post‐production forums, an artist symposium and master classes.
Australian artists will include Rita Pryce (Baiwa Dance Company), Jacob Boehme (Idja Dance Theatre) and Tammi Gissell (Figures of Speech).
The international choreographers will include Sandra Laronde from Canada (Red Sky), and Jack Gray and Cathy Livermore from New Zealand (Atimira Dance Collective).
Other Australian First Nation contemporary dance choreographers, dancers and artists are invited to participate. For more information contact BlakDance or call +61 (0)7 3220 3377
Australia Council opportunities
The Australia Council has some exciting new initiatives on offer this year—
- 2012 Music and Dance Initiative
- Western Australia Contemporary Dance Initiative
New research with dance and the elderly
New research by the University of Western Sydney is demonstrating that folk dance has clear benefits for the health of the elderly. You may have missed this great report from the ABC’s 7.30 program on 4 January.
We’re very interested in research that proves the links between dance and health, and have been in touch with the researchers to find out more. We’ll keep you posted.
Registrations now open for ‘Dance, Young People & Change’
It's time now to register for 'Dance, Young People & Change'. This is an international event where youth dance practitioners and educators can share ideas about the relevance of dance in young people's lives and in communities.
There will be an amazing program of performances, workshops, master classes and panel discussions for people of all ages, hosted by Taipei National University of the Arts from July 14—20 2012.
'Dance, Young People & Change' will be the World Dance Alliance Global Summit, held in partnership with dance and the Child international (daCi).
Youth dance—where does it fit?
In responding to our suggestion of a campaign to support the smaller key dance organisations, Ruth Osborne, artistic director of QL2 Dance, came in to discuss some of the issues youth dance companies are experiencing.
Restless Dance Theatre’s Junction project
Junction is an artist exchange program initiated by Restless Dance Theatre to support and promote the development of new independent work. Piloting this program is independent artist Tobiah Booth-Remmers who is being mentored by Carol Wellman Kelly through the national JUMP mentoring program.