Careers in dance
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Artists—the new elite
Professor Sue Street presented the eighth Dame Peggy Van Praagh Memorial Address alongside David McAllister Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet. She explores some of the major challenges faced by the dance sector and reflects on some of the achievements.
Sustainability
Strategies for sustaining dance in the following papers occur from two perspectives: culturally in terms of preserving and contemporising traditions in India, Cambodia and Thailand; and pedagogically through strategies for life-long learning in the tertiary sector and improved teacher training for children.
National qualifications for the dance industry
For the first time in Australia there are national qualifications for the dance industry. Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA), in consultation with experts in the dance industry, have created a new training package for the dance sector. It is called the Live Performance Training Package (CUA11).
“Follow your heart and something will come”: subjective factors in the sustainability of early
Dr Kim Vincs (Deakin University, Melbourne) reports on her investigation into the reasons that dancers continue their practices and manage to sustain themselves in a bleak economic environment.
Sustainability in dance practice—the case of the ‘mature artist’
Liz Schwaiger (PhD Candidate, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne) looks at an underfunded and underresourced Australian dance industry. She talks to dancers about how they perceive the term 'mature dancer' and about how we might creatively develop hybrid microcosms of opportunity in a culture which does not highly value dance.
Artists in the academy: reflections on artistic practice as research
Sarah Rubidge PhD,(Senior Research Fellow, School of Visual and Performing Arts, University College Chichester) reflects on the practice-led research she did for her PhD in this keynote address, and how it led to a radical shift in her artistic practice—from live dance works to interactive installation works.
Scenes from another life
Dianne Reid (Dancehouse, Melbourne) writes poetically and fluently about her working processes and what dance means for her. As a dancer she reflects on the world through the instrument of her body. Her choreography is a montage of her other lives "public and private, past & present, actual & virtual, real & imagined, stage & screen, as live body and televisual body."
Diversified moves of a specialised ecology: can this art form be sustainable?
Dr Maggi Phillips (Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University Perth) examines the two ecologies of which human dance activity partakes within the frames of diversity, change and balance. Can environmental thinking shed any light on the problem of the sustainability of dance?
Cecil street studio: improvised community and sustainable practices
Shaun McLeod (Deakin University Melbourne) pays tribute to some of the people who have been vital to establishing and sustaining regular meetings for dance artists to practice improvisation as performance. He talks about the groups' activities and some of the values and artistic concerns that meld the disparate individuals and practices into a flexible but functioning community.
Working solo
Martin del Amo talks candidly and elegantly about the way he makes work—how he begins, how he collaborates with others and how they "get things done".
Goals
Sustainable careers for dance artists
The dancer’s performing life is highly focused, demanding dedicated vocational training from an early age, and it depends on time-consuming creative and physical regimes. Dance artists, in contrast with other artists, are particularly challenged when it comes to professional career development.
Projects
2011 National Dance Forum
Some of Australia’s most exciting dancers, choreographers, curators, critics and collaborators met to discuss and reflect on the state of dance practice in Australia now, and to chart a course for the future.
Securing career opportunities and professional employment for artists
SCOPE’s aim was to ensure that dance artists proactively participated in and effectively managed their own careers, education and personal development. Each of the artists worked with a professional career counsellor to develop their own career action plans. The program aimed to capture, transfer and adapt the creative capital of the individual artist to other areas of work and productivity.
Supporting the Live Performance Training Package
After nation-wide research, Innovation and Business Skills Australia concluded that 'there is strong industry and community demand for national qualifications to help lift standards across the profession and set clear national benchmarks which promote consistency while maintaining flexibility'.
Publications
The Dame Peggy van Praagh memorial address
Dame Peggy van Praagh, founding Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, had a vision of developing a unique dance culture for Australian dance. The Ausdance memorial addresses pay tribute to, and acknowledge, her legacy in this country.
News / Blog / Press Releases / Events View all
Sydney Dance Company intensive workshop week
SDC's intensive workshop week for tertiary/vocational dance students and emerging professionals will run from Monday 21 – Friday 25 May, 9:30am – 4:30pm daily.
Fee: $385 (inc. GST) Early Bird Discount if you book and pay before Friday 23 March ($350).
To apply please send your CV Katherine Duhigg, Education Coordinator
Deadline for applications and payment: 30 April
Australian dance-movement therapy research grants
The Dance Therapy Association of Australia (DTAA) and the Hanny Exiner Memorial Foundation (HEMF) are inviting applications for grants from Australians conducting (or planning) projects or research in the field of dance–movement therapy. The intention ot the grants is to provide public encouragement and recognition of this work as much as financial assistance.
Go to DTAA's website to find out more.
Deadline for applications: 15 June, 2012
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
Australian Ballet’s 50th year sees new star rising
In its 50th anniversary year, The Australian Ballet is celebrating a new rising star in its ranks, Chinese Australian dancer Chengwu Guo.
The ABC's 7.30 program profiles his work and interviews his mentor Li Cunxin, the teenage dancer Chen played in Mao's Last Dancer, the hugely successful film based on Li's autobiography.
PhD scholarship at Deakin University
Deakin University is offering a 3–year full-time PhD scholarship in conjunction with the new ARC Discovery project 'Building innovative capacity in Australian dance through new visualization technologies'.
This is a terrific opportunity for someone interested in dance and technology to join the team at Deakin.
Details at Deakin Motion.Lab PhD Scholarship in Dance, Deakin University.
Deadline for application: 31 March 2012.
Churchill Trust Fellowships open
Applications for Churchill Fellowships are open now until 29 February. They've provided many Australian dance artists in the past with the opportunity to explore their ideas overseas and share their experiences with the Australian dance community.
To apply you’ll need to be an Australian citizen over the age of 18 years, and these FAQs will help you decide whether you're eligible.
Competition is high for these fellowships, so make sure you articulate your project clearly and with passion!
Dance people receive Australia Day Honours
Former balleriona Josephine Spaull, respected ballet teacher, Tanya Pearson, and Judith Anderson, formerly General Manager of The Queensland Ballet, have today been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Josephine was recognised for “for service to the performing arts, particularly dance, as a teacher and administrator". Tanya's citation was "for service to the performing arts, particularly ballet, as a teacher and mentor to young dancers". Judith's citation was "for service to the Queensland Ballet and to women". We congratulate Josephine, Tanya and Judith for their outstanding achievements.
The website It's an Honour has all the information you'll need to nominate more dance people for Australia's highest Honours!
Celebrating our Australian of the Year
There have been celebrations around the country today for our new Australian of the Year, actor Geoffrey Rush.
We congratulate him on his acceptance speech that placed the arts at the centre of Australian life and culture. He acknowledged the role of the First Australians, and said he was sure "that my colleagues will see this as an endorsement of our national story of creativity".
Senior Australian of the Year is Laurie Baymarrwangga, an extraordinary elder from the island of Murrungga in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
The Australian of the Year Awards were announced last night by the Prime Minister.
Visit by American Dance Abroad director
Andrea Snyder is co-director of American Dance Abroad, a new initiative in the US that promotes the export of American dance. Andrea was formerly CEO of Dance USA, and is a valued colleague of Ausdance.
Andrea will be visiting Australia for the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) in February, so we’re putting her in touch with the Australia Council and dance producers in Sydney and Melbourne before she goes on to APAM. She'll see a lot of Australian dance while she's here and importantly will be establishing Australian networks for possible future exchanges.
National touring framework
Rick Heath and Harley Stumm of Push Management have been commissioned by the Australia Council to develop a framework for national touring.
They have now completed a wide-ranging consultation process with the sector, interviewing about 300 people representing over 285 arts organisations and practitioners. You can read the results of their first report, Summary of Sector Consultations.
The project is still in its early stages, with the final report due on 30 April. This will affect the ways in which dance is toured, and there's still an opportunity for you to have your say, so email Rick Heath or phone 08 9298 8822 if you have further comments.