Stories + essays

It's standard Aussie holiday fare—families line the grassy foreshore, and picnics, cricket games and shrieking children abound. However, there are a few surprises in store along the foreshore on this particular Saturday. Scattered along the promenade are tents, caravans and campervans from a variety of eras, and 160 young dancers who dance in and around these temporary homes. This is Foreshore Cruisin', the performance that is the culmination of the 2009 Australian Youth Dance Festival (AYDF).

As soon as the lights and music started, I had this amazing feeling rush over me. It was then that I really knew that I was a part of something huge! Here I was, hours away from home, performing in a new town, right next to dancers from all over the country! Not only that, but I was dancing beside people from all different dance backgrounds and skill levels.

Both performances went so well that it was hard to believe we’d only choreographed the pieces a few days earlier. The show looked like we had been rehearsing together for months!

Tracey Brown and Sharon Teear, youth dance leaders from UK's Rubicon Dance, discuss their time at the 2006 Australian Youth Dance Festival with their youth dance group Nubrico.

The festival was great in exploring, sharing and learning different dance styles as well as sharing our passion for dance. Having the chance to go to Australia has been a fantastic experience for me and one that I will never forget! – Sophie

Kath Papas, Ausdance Victoria's EO during the 2006 AYDF, discusses the unique aspects of the 2006 AYDF in Horsham—its partnership with their annual arts festival, ‘Art is…’, establishing connections to the host community.

Diedre Atkinson, a teacher at John Curtain College of the Arts, accompanied her students to several Australian Youth Dance Festivals. She described the AYDF as "an irreplaceable experience in the students’ development and discovery of dance. Total immersion in dance through participation in workshops, choreographic process, observation, performances, reflection and evaluation results in an intensive learning experience, and opens eyes wide to so many more possibilities".

When Samara Cunningham attended the 2004 AYDF she was a Perth-based independent artist. Samara graduated from WAAPA with a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) in 1998. In this article she shares her experience of the Festival's choreographic development process and performance outcome.

Summaries of the projects and/or areas of interest of the dance professionals and students who attended the 2012 National Dance Research Forum. 

Dr Alan Brissenden was thrilled to be honoured at the 2013 Australian Dance Awards with his induction into the Hall of Fame. Here is his acceptance speech.

Annalouise Paul (Theatre of Rhythm and Dance) has recently returned from a successful tour of Game On in India.

Dean Watson from the Australian Chamber Orchestra talks about the ACO's inaugural movement and sound workshop for secondary students with disability.

For Stephanie Lake — recipient of the inaugural Ausdance Peggy van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship — this recognition was a valuable affirmation that her artistic career was heading in the right direction.

A Tribute to Robert Osmotherly’s inspired intellect and vision for dance and dance education in Australia.

BlakDance intern and dance and journalism student Ann-­Maree Long shares her experience of the performance Blakdance 2012.

National Director Julie Dyson, looks back on 2012—a year for celebration, reflection and achievement.

Historians of the future will be able to tell us much about the founding and ongoing evolution of The Australian Ballet. There is however another story to be told: one that survives in the recollections and feelings of those who were part of its making.

This brief paper gives an excellent explanation of the enormous legacy that Dame Peggy van Praagh left to the Australian dance world.

Researcher, teacher and artist Shirley McKechnie had a close relationship with the legendary Peggy. In this short paper, she talks about Paggy's traits, personality and legacy.

The seventh Australian Youth Dance Festival ended with a stunning site-specific performance in Mt Penang Gardens on the Central Coast of NSW on 14 April 2012.

Professor Susan 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.

Ross Stretton talks passionately from a performer's persepctive about the challenge for dancers to keep the dance personal, how not to lose the individual dance heritage under the weight of the collective heritage, and to embrace change.