Careers in dance

Program applications

Artists and companies from across Australia are invited to apply now to showcase and pitch their work at APAM 2014, 18 – 22 February in Brisbane.

APAM provides an opportunity for artists and programmers from Australia and around the world to discover new artists, find new collaborators, and meet with fellow professionals.

You can submit work under either one of two categories: Showcase or Pitches. Eligible work for the Showcase category includes finished and tour-ready productions, which can be presented in either full-length, as a 25-minute excerpt, or a new APAM Club 7 – 12 minute excerpt. Work in development falls into the Pitch category.

Apply now

Deadline for applications: midnight 22 July 2013 (AEST)

Delegate registrations

Presenters, producers, agents and anyone interested in attending APAM2014 are encouraged to register before midnight 10 December to get the earlybird price of $650 (Full price $790)

Register now. For more information visit the APAM website.

Brisbane City Council is the principal supporter of APAM. The Queensland Government, through Arts Queensland and Tourism and Events Queensland, proudly supports APAM 2014, 2016 & 2018.

Sydney Dance Company is holding an invitation only audition at the end of June 2013 for male and female dancers.

All applicants must have a vocational qualification, professional experience in contemporary/classical dance and be 18 years or over. To be considered you must be experienced in task work with a professional choreographer and possess strong improvisation skills, display high levels of stamina and flexibility, and have an understanding of SDC’s creative outputs.

If you meet this criteria please email a current CV, ONE headshot and ONE full body dance shot. (Attachments should not exceed 500KB and each file should be saved as 'Your Full Name'.

Deadline: Monday 10 June 2013

Successful applicants will be invited to audition on 29 & 30 June 2013 in Sydney at your own expense. For further information visit the Sydney Dance Company website.

If you are an independent Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander dance artist based in NSW and you are interested in developing new skills and networks, you can apply now for a palce in the Birrang program.

Focused on expanding indigenous dance horizons in NSW, Birrang is a new professional dance development initiative supported by Arts NSW, coordinated by Ausdance NSW, Regional Arts NSW and Bangarra Dance Theatre in partnership with NAISDA Dance College, Carriageworks and the Australian Film, Television & Radio School.

In this first year of the initiative, the Birrang program includes:

• Creative Lab: 29 April – 3 May @ Carriageworks, Redfern
  (deadline for applications is 29 March)
• Creative Business Course: 22 – 24 May @ AFTRS, Moore Park
  (applications now open)
• Dance Residency*: 23 September – 5 October @ NAISDA, Kariong
  (applications open in July)
• Market Development and Enterprise Workshop: November, venue tba
  (applications open in October)

*To be eligible for the Dance Residency, applicants must have completed either the Creative Lab and/or Creative Business Course.

Artists are encouraged to apply for all activities. Download application forms.

If you are in Sydney contact Ausdance NSW (T 9252 4800) for more information. If you are based in a regional or remote area contact Regional Arts NSW (T 9270 2507)

Congratulations to Joseph Simons of Dubbo who is this year's recipient of the Tanja Liedtke Fellowship (TLF).

The fellowship will take place in Berlin and Frankfurt in August/September of 2013. The two key objectives of the 2013 Fellowship are:

1. To provide a program of opportunity for a developing Australian dancer/choreographer to expand and develop his/her creative boundaries,
2. To enable young artists to meet and work collaboratively in the context of international exchange and experimentation.

Previous TLF recipients have been Antony Hamilton (2009) and Katarzyna Sitarz (2011).

Read full Media Release.

For further information contact Tanja Liedtke Foundation.
 

Opening and closing with interactive visioning sessions, the program featured a full morning 'Open Space' session on the Sunday tapping the pulse of the forum, and through it that of the dance sector in Australia.

Keynote artists-in-conversation were Dalisa Pigram, co-Artistic Director of Marrugeku, with David Pledger, and Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre Garry Stewart with Anne Thompson.

Diverse breakout sessions covered panel, presentation, roundtable and screening formats:

• BlakDance First Nations Dance Panel
• 'Whose responsibility is it to make sense of this?'
• Dramaturgy, outside eye or feedback?
• Virtuosi industry preview screening
• 'What role dance education play in shaping Australian culture for tomorrow?'
• Beyond hybridity: current Australia/Asia-Pacific dance practices
• A Lifetime's Collaboration
• BETWEEN US: Connections within and beyond the independent dance sector
• What is dance doing in Australia? And what is Australian dance doing in the world?

The NDF2013 Facilitator was Jeff Khan, co-Director of Performance Space, Sydney. Also joining the NDF2013 team for a number of sessions was Janenne Willis, guest co-facilitator, roving provocateur and catalyst at large. Janenne brought her energy, seasoned facilitation skills and experience co-creating futures one conversation at a time.

Download the full program and list of speakers.

Program overview

At the recent meeting of the Tertiary Dance Council of Australia (TDCA), serious concerns were raised about the massive cuts to TAFE training in several eastern States.

In this article for Artshub, Tamara Winikoff, Executive Director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, also raises these concerns, and the broader issues of career pathways for artists. While Tamara focuses on the visual arts, much of her analysis could be applied to dance in the TAFE sector, especially with the imminent introduction of the new Australian Curriculum: The Arts.

We'll be making our concerns known to the Victorian, New South Wales, South Australian and Queensland governments about their proposals to so drastically cut TAFE funding. We suggest you read Tamara's article and respond to your own governments about the future of arts training in your State.

The latest Australia Council Snapshot of Major Performing Arts Company Key Trends shows that Australia’s major performing arts companies are robust, stable and have continued to expand their city audiences in line with population growth. They have also extended their reach and engagement in regional and remote communities.

The 2012 Australian Dance Awards were presented in spectacular fashion at the beautiful new Heath Ledger Theatre in the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia on 1 September.

Catherine Osborne (l) President, Ausdance WA and Lauren Malkin (r) Client Manager AON Risk Services, presented Lucinda Sharp with her award for Services to Dance. Photo: Matthew Thompsett

Thank you for a great weekend. The National Dance Research Forum was stimulating, energising and so well organised with great food and venues. (Dr Cheryl Stock)

Last weekend we had the pleasure of partnering with the Tertiary Dance Council of Australia to welcome 35 Australian and five international dance researchers to the first national dance research forum held for many years.

The forum provided a unique opportunity for everyone to hear some high-profile speakers, share their own research, join small discussion groups and make plans with potential collaborators.

Speakers included: (l to r) Dr Carol Brown (Uni of Auckland), Megan Beckwith (Deakin), Dr Kim Vincs (Deakin) & Ruth Gibson (igloo).

The National Library of Australia has integrated the Australia Dancing service into the national discovery service Trove.

Trove is an exciting destination for dance researchers and expands the potential of finding new and rare materials in many diverse collections. Trove takes you to resources in libraries, archives, performing arts collections, galleries; to biographical databases and online collections including pictures, digitised newspapers and finding aids. Trove also incorporates the National Library's dance resources, which continue to grow each year.