Education & training

The Tertiary Dance Council of Australia (TDCA) is comprised of academic members from Australian higher educational institutions that offer programs in Dance and Dance Education. It is chaired by Associate Professor Peter Cook, Deputy Head of the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland.

This national body has identified the absence of a national cultural policy that is inclusive of all art forms, their benefits and accessibility, and the impact of arts education and training on the lives of all Australians.

During the recent pandemic lockdowns, society turned to the arts which pivoted their practice for online audiences, and for aesthetic and well-being contingencies. The arts need to be recognised and celebrated for their capacity to nurture, develop and reinvigorate research for the benefit of the wider society.

The TDCA also has serious concerns about the Federal Government’s re-prioritisation of research funds resulting in ministerial intervention and the enacting of veto powers in relation to the Australia Research Council’s Discovery Grants and Linkage programs.

This narrowing of scope is taking place as we are facing, according to Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, “an unprecedented crisis in the cultural sector” (Reshaping policies for creativity). Although the arts and cultural sector is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world, it is also one of the most vulnerable and is often overlooked by public and private investment, including the distribution of public research funds.

Tertiary dance programs undertake practical academic explorations, often involving performance and choreography, that are completely aligned with research principles in their planning, execution and dissemination. They explore contemporary and cultural topics, develop theoretical positions, and engage methods and methodologies that work towards better understanding of, and knowledge about, the issues at hand.

Seeing the downturn of arts-based grants compounds already disenfranchised academics, many of whom are undertaking unfunded and in-kind research projects that benefit society.

Inclusion of arts research projects and their interdisciplinary approaches clearly fits the paradigms from which society benefits. Limiting arts research program funding endangers the unique contribution that arts research makes towards the aesthetic leadership and engagement of well-being, so required as we live through the pandemic world and its recovery.

The technologising of the field, together with its diversification and partnerships across science, health, humanities and ecology, evidences how dance enhances lives across generations and within communities.

We also note the following:

• Covid has had a major Impact on the sustainability of private dance schools, which are TDCA feeder schools.

• The extreme vulnerability of the arts in higher education.

Recommendations:

• Commitment by all political parties to the development of a National Cultural Policy that includes arts education and training, and developed in consultation with artists, arts educators, the community, industry and peak arts bodies.
• Allocation of ARC grants to a broader industry cohort to redress diminishing arts research in dance in particular. Ministerial interference in ARC decision-making processes must stop.
• Support for research into the vulnerability of the arts in higher education.
• Reversal of increased tertiary fees in the Creative Arts, made on the false premise that this area of study does not lead to employment.
• Enabling of research into the private dance studio sector to assess the impact of Covid-19 on the viability of this important ‘feeder’ sector in dance training and employment.

The Tertiary Dance Council of Australia (TDCA) is comprised of academic members from Australian higher education institutions that offer programs in Dance and Dance Education. It exists under the auspices of Ausdance National, and is chaired by Associate Professor Peter Cook of the University of Southern Queensland.

The TDCA is seriously concerned about the Federal Government’s re-prioritisation of research funds, resulting in ministerial intervention and the enacting of veto powers in relation to the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Grants and Linkage programs.

The TDCA has recently made a submission to the Senate's Australian Research Council Amendment (Ensuring Research Independence) Bill 2018.

Australian dance educators are also being encouraged to sign the Australian Parliament House Petition to prevent political interference in ARC funding grants (closing on 16 March).

The Ausdance National Education Committee, led by Dr Jeff Meiners and Sue Fox, has prepared a submission to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) in response to its review of The Australian Curriculum: The Arts.

The proposed revisions aim to declutter the content through improving the curriculum's clarity of structure and refine the content descriptions and achievement standards. This response relates specifically to Dance in the F-6 curriculum, as this is the identified focus of the review.

As Ausdance’s reps on the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) Council, Jeff and Sue have also contributed to the NAAE's submission, which has reached a review consensus across all art forms.
 
We thank Jeff and Sue and the Ausdance National Dance Education Committee who contributed to Ausdance's submission, and who will continue to work with ACARA on next steps. 
 
Ausdance National Education Committee members are:

• Rachael Bott (WA)
• Trish Brown (ACT)
• Sarah Calver (NT)
• Peter Cook (NSW)
• Megan Cooper (SA)
• Julie Dyson (ACT)
• Candice Egan (VIC)
• Sue Fox (QLD)
• Lesley Graham (TAS)
• Julie-Anne Grant (QLD)
• Rikki Mace (TAS)
• Kate Maquire-Rosier (NSW)
• Jeff Meiners (SA)
• Helen Mullins (QLD)
• Katrina Rank (VIC)
• Amy Wiseman (WA)

Calling all aspiring professional dancers aged 18–24 years, applications are now open for Sydney Dance Company's Pre-Professional Year 2019.

“Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year is an outstanding opportunity for aspiring dancers to gain exposure to Australia’s leading contemporary dance company. Pre-professional dancers will develop all the skills essential for a lifelong career in contemporary dance as well as being provided with unique professional development, networking and mentorship opportunities under the guidance of the artistic staff of Sydney Dance Company.” Rafael Bonachela, Artistic Director, Sydney Dance Company

Key information

Applications are
 open to Australian and New Zealand citizens or permanent residents only.

Application closing date: 
Monday 27 August 2018 

Audition: The first round of Pre-Professional Year auditions will be an online application process that includes a video submission.

Successful first round applicants will be invited to a second round in-person audition at Sydney Dance Company Studios on 17 September 2018 between 9am and 6pm.

For more information please visit 2019 Pre-Professional Year Audition Application.

Since our last report, NAAE has been engaged in meetings and correspondence with the NSW Education Minister, Mr Rob Stokes, and the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) about the development of a new Creative Arts syllabus in NSW.

The NAAE will have its next meeting on 11 December, but NSW reps will in the meantime be meeting with NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) to discuss concerns about the way in which the Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus is being rewritten, and about the exclusion of Media Arts from the NSW curriculum, despite agreement by all Australian governments to adopt the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. It’s clear that NSW’s options clearly do not represent the agreement endorsed at COAG (which included the NSW Education Minister). (Minister’s response [PDF 2.9MB]

MEDIA RELEASE (84Kb PDF)

Tuesday 22 August 2017
For immediate release

Australia’s peak dance organisation, Ausdance National, will host a two-day forum next month bringing together dance makers, producers and presenters for a highly topical forum focusing on the future of dance within the digital domain. The National Dance Forum is Australia’s key platform for dance artists, industry professionals and educators in providing rich opportunities to discuss, debate and collaborate with some of the most influential individuals and organisations in the country.

The NAAE supports the review of the VET FEE-HELP rules, and understands the need to weed out those rorting the system and those private providers delivering sub-standard courses in line with Australian Quality Framework (AQF) that applies to all post-compulsory education. However, we have major concerns about the methodology used to identify courses that will no longer qualify for government assistance, and take this opportunity to provide information that may not have been available earlier. 

NAAE noted firstly that the department must take account of poorer SES students who may use VET courses as a gateway to university study. If reputable RTOs offering arts courses are eliminated, these opportunities will immediately disadvantage some students, particularly those from regional and remote schools where the arts have been a major factor in eliminating poor attendance records, and where career pathways in the arts are identified. 

NAAE also questioned why some previously eliminated providers are already back on the list, and yet the larger reputable TAFEs and arts training institutions are not. NAAE would like to know what criteria were used to make these decisions.

In response to a question about whether there was another sector like the Arts, NAAE noted that the arts industry was unique in the ways in which it trained and employed artists.

Recommendations about the methodology used to define eligible courses

The National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) has had a very productive start to 2017, with the NAAE paper advocating for inclusion of the Arts in the STEM agenda being submitted to the Federal Government’s Inquiry into Innovation and Creativity: Workforce for the new economy. The paper was co-authored by John Saunders and Sandra Gattenhof (Drama Australia), with input from all other artform members of NAAE, including dance educators Jeff Meiners (SA) and Sue Fox (Qld).

While most people only refer to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) when discussing innovation and creativity, the Arts are considered in many countries to be an essential element of an innovative economy, hence the increasing advocacy for STEAM in Australia. We note with real concern that the arts were not included in the Federal Government’s original National Innovation & Science Agenda, nor do most submissions to the current inquiry mention the Arts.

However, strong submissions were made for a STEAM agenda by several prominent organisations, including the Australian Major Performing Arts Group (AMPAG), the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), the Australian Copyright Council, and Arts Educators, Practitioners & Researchers Australia, as well as several universities.

NAAE wants to bring together all those advocates for STEAM and develop a new strategy for increasing the voice of the Arts in this country’s innovation agenda.

To keep up with current NAAE agendas and discussions about future activities, go to our NAAE Facebook page and join the conversation.

Julie Dyson – Chair

VET funding cuts—impact on professional dance training—media release (246 KB PDF)

Senator the Hon. Simon Birmingham
Minister for Education and Training
PC Box 6100, Senate
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Dear Minister,

Ausdance is deeply concerned about your decision to include some of Australia's leading professional dance training courses in the crackdown on courses eligible for VET student loans.

We are particularly concerned about the statement that these professional dance training courses are being subsidised because they are 'used simply to boost enrolments, or provide 'lifestyle' choices, but don't lead to work'.

We are pleased to announce that applications are now open for Sydney Dance Company's 2017 Pre-Professional Year. Australian and New Zealand dancers aged 18 or over are eligible to apply.

Led by course Director Linda Gamblin, this nationally accredited one year intensive offers students the chance to work with some of Australia’s most renowned choreographers and dance educators. Students will develop their technique, artistry and performance skills alongside members of Sydney Dance Company led by Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela.

Ausdance coordinated a meeting of eight representatives of the nationally funded dance companies with the CEO of the Australia Council and senior staff on 12 December 2015.

The aim was multiple: to understand the further implications of the diversion of funds to the National Program for Excellence in the Arts (now Catalyst); to query the status of the vacant role of Chair of Dance, as an announcement had not been made about retaining this role; and to discuss the role of funding in sustaining the dance ecology so carefully developed over the past years.

The diversion of funds does challenge the current number of nationally funded small to medium dance companies, and the announcement of funding or otherwise in April 2016 will reveal the extent of the loss. We note the recent departure of the Australia Council Director Dance Carin Mistry and thank her for many years of dedicated championing of professional dance. We congratulate the new Arts Practice Director, Dance, Adrian Burnett, and look forward to a similarly productive relationship.

Other meetings attended include a teleconference with ArtsPeak; a teleconference convened by the MEAA at the request of freelance commercial dancers to consider minimum pay rates, which will result in a first-ever survey of this sector (think #paythedancers); and a teleconference to consult with youth theatre companies with the thought of learning for youth dance funding.

Sydney Dance Company is pleased to invite applications from talented Australian and New Zealand dancers wishing to take part in its Pre-Professional Year program in 2016.

Key information

Applications close 13 August 2015
Course fee: $13,500
For advanced dance students aged 18 or older (or turning 18 in 2016) with a high level of training in Ballet and/or Contemporary dance.
Qualification awarded at completion: Certificate IV in Dance (CUA40113)
Course length: 1 year (Monday–Friday, 9 am – 4.30 pm)
Course location: Sydney Dance Company’s Walsh Bay studios
Application guidelines and FAQs: Apply for the 2016 Pre-Professional Year

Australian Dance Theatre’s Secondment Week is an unparalleled opportunity for graduating tertiary dance students to receive training in:

• tumbling, choreographic tasking and stagecraft
• current company repertoire
• audition technique
• forums on related topics like company life, diet, nutrition and marketing.

Key information

• Dates 10–14 August 2015
• Cost $300 per student.
• Location Australian Dance Theatre (Adelaide), 126 Belair Rd, Hawthorn SA 5062
• Applications Email to [email protected] your CV, two full-body dance photographs (files should not exceed 1MB, file saved as your first & last name), and up to two links to video footage.

NAISDA's 2015 auditions for the 2016 intake are at NAISDA Dance College 21–25 September 2015. 

Audition is by application and invitation only. Audition applications close Friday 7 August 2015.

For more information and to apply for a NAISDA audition, visit the NAISDA website and download the Audition Pack.

Edith Cowan University is excited to announce that WAAPA has a new motion capture facility that will be used to prevent injuries to dancers as well as a teaching and performance tool for its elite dancers.

This facility is the only motion capture setup of its kind to incorporate the skills of a biomechanist directly into a university dance program in the interest of preventing dance injuries.

What makes motion capture at Mount Lawley unique is that we have access to a large cohort of talented dancers, in addition to scientific and artistic academics who are willing and able to use the lab in the investigation of the prevention of dance injuries.

—Dr Luke Hopper, Biomechanist and health in performing arts specialist, ECU

Read the extended articles

• Motion capture raises the barre for WAAPA dancers (ecu.edu.au)
• Technology helps WA Academy of Performing Arts dance students tap into better performances (abc.net.au)

Theme: ‘Transform: from inception to innovation in arts education’

We invite you to share your research evidence, innovations and best practices in arts education globally.

Participation in this summit is by invitation only. If you are successful you will be part of approximately 90 presentations from quality arts educators across the globe in dance, drama, media arts, music, visual arts and cross-arts education.

Abstracts due 30 June 2014.

Summit date and location

26 – 28 November 2014
Griffith University, School of Education and Professional Studies, Mt Gravatt Campus, Brisbane

The National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) made a submission to the review panel for the Australian Curriculum (500 KB PDF) strongly urging it to recommend that the Australian Curriculum: The Arts be implemented in its present form. The NAAE said that processes of refinement should be managed by classroom teachers piloting the curriculum, not a review panel.

National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE), have expressed concern UNESCO has recently voted to downgrade its cultural program (including arts education), thus risking the program's eventual elimination. Writing to the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, NAAE have outlined concerns about the possible downgrading of UNESCO's cultural program, and requesting Australia's representatives prioritise this program when it votes again at its November meeting. NAAE also acknowledges the leadership role UNESCO has played as an active advocate for Arts Education internationally.

Toshi Kawaguchi, Secretary-General of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO has recently responsed:

Australia is not a member of the Executive Board. As such, we were not involved in the decision. The Australian National Commission for UNESCO intends to participate in the General Conference, however, and has registered National Advocates for Arts Education’s (NAAE) views. We appreciate your input as the peak national arts education association.

Australia has much to offer in the cultural and arts education sphere and places value in arts education, including working to elevate creativity and cultural expression nationally.  As you note, education ministers endorsed the Australian Curriculum for the arts in July 2013 so that for the first time, all Australian students from Foundation to Year Ten will have access to an arts education that covers five art forms of drama, dance, media arts, music and visual arts.  To the credit of cultural bodies such as NAAE and Drama Australia, the Australian Curriculum for the arts recognises the opportunities that the arts learning area offers students in relation to further developing their general capabilities such as literacy, personal and social capability, and intercultural understanding.
 

NAAE will continue to monitor the progress of the decision and the outcome of the General Conference.