2016 Australian Dance Awards recipients
The annual Australian Dance Awards recognise and honour professional Australian dance artists who have made an outstanding contribution to Australian dance.
Presented by Ausdance and Harlequin Floors, the 2016 Australian Dance Awards were held at The State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Perth, Sunday 18 September at 6.30 pm as part of the MoveMe Festival 2016.
Ausdance thanks presenting partner Harlequin Floors, Gaynor-Minden, Equity, and AON Risk Services. Ausdance is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The Australian Dance Awards are produced by the Australian Dance Council—Ausdance National.
Terri Charlesworth was awarded the 2016 Australian Dance Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Outstanding Performance by a Company
Bangarra Dance Theatre's Lore for an uplifting, intense and beautiful double bill, incorporating myriad choreographic styles performed by an ensemble of versatile and superb dancers.
2016 Australian Dance Awards nominees’ citations
The Australian Dance Awards citations are based on information provided by nominators and are written by Leanne Craig, Australian Dance Awards nominations coordinator, in consultation with the Australian Dance Awards nominations panel.
Terri Charlesworth receives 2016 Australian Dance Award for Lifetime Achievement
Terri Charlesworth’s initiative, dedication, generosity and passion have greatly influenced generations of Western Australian dancers. As well as being a dazzling performer, Terri has had outstanding success as a teacher and leader in dance education and training.
Born in Perth, she began her early ballet training in Melbourne with acclaimed dancers such as Kira and Serge Bousloff and Xenia Borovansky. She joined West Australian Ballet for its inaugural 1953 season and was later appointed Assistant Artistic Director.
Photo: Darren Clark2016 Election wrap—what’s next?
Remember 2 July? What a day for the arts in Australian democracy. Over the previous 12 months, the Arts sector had engaged with the Senate through the inquiry into the ‘Impact of the 2014 and 2015 Commonwealth Budget decisions on the Arts’. The strong recommendations from that process set a tone for the election campaign. Arts became an issue for parties; the ALP, Greens, and Xenophon Team released policy positions and the Arts Party claim that between 40-50,000 Australians gave them their first preferences. An election debate, focused solely on the arts, allowed the sector to explore key issues with the major parties.
Here we are, now four weeks later, and we’re still waiting for the full results of the Federal Election. We know the Liberal-National Coalition will form government, and who the Arts Minister (Senator Mitch Fifield from Victoria) and Shadow (former Minister Tony Burke from NSW) are, but we still wait for the full results of the Senate count.
So, what happens now?
Have you done the Safe Dance IV survey?
Ausdance National has a long history of researching dancer health and well-being, and Safe Dance IV is the latest in a series that looks at how professional dancers manage injuries and sustain their careers. Safe Dance IV is a little different to I, II and III, as it is being conducted online by PhD student Amy-Jo Vassalo under the auspices of the University of Sydney.
What do we hope to learn from Safe Dance IV? For starters, the survey will update the authoritative findings from the previous surveys that helped to improve the management of injuries. One of those findings was the importance of the warm-up, especially a warm-up with a cardiovascular component for rehearsals.
And the definition of a professional dancer is probably wider than for the previous surveys as the range and style of professional practice has expanded, so the potentially wider data pool may bring in new information.
In the past few months, information about the survey has been widely circulated through our e-news and on Facebook. Ausdance staff have sent hundreds of emails to dance companies and individual dancers requesting them to share and take the survey. Hard copies have been printed and sent to The Australian Ballet, the West Australian Ballet, and the Queensland Ballet. Don’t be shy about sharing it further!
But we still need more responses to create the size of data pool Safe Dance IV deserves, to allow for the authoritative findings that can help to sustain careers. If you are a professional dancer—and the very first question is a filter question to help answer this—please do the survey. It will take a little time but it is completely worth doing to help sustain your career.
Read more about Safe Dance IV.
daCi and WDA announce World Dance Congress for 2018
How can dance help in transforming society? This and many more questions will be a focus in 2018 at one of the world’s largest gatherings of dance educators and young artists in Adelaide, Australia.
During the week of 11–15 July 2016, delegates from daCi (dance and the Child international) and WDA (World Dance Alliance Education and Training Network) met in Adelaide, Australia to collaborate in planning for a joint congress to be held from 8–13 July 2018. How to connect with UNESCO and initiate global advocacy informed our planning.
Big Dance Australia 2016 update
Big Dance is a biennial festival of people dancing led by the Mayor of London in partnership with People Dancing and the Big Dance Hubs, a network of leading dance organisations across the UK.
Big Dance Week ran from 2 to 10 July 2016 and Ausdance Queensland and Tracks Dance in Darwin hosted Big Dance events.
Australian Dance Awards 2016 shortlist
Congratulations to the shortlisted nominees.
Presented by Ausdance and Harlequin Floors, the 2016 Australian Dance Awards will be held at The State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Perth, Sunday 18 September at 6.30 pm as part of the MoveMe Festival 2016.
Get your tickets from Ticketek.
Ochre Contemporary Dance Company performing at the 2014 Sculpture by the Sea at Cottesloe beach, WA. Photo: Dana Weeks Photography.Call for applications—Sydney Dance Company pre-professional year 2017
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.
National Advocates for Arts Education supports implementation of the Arts curriculum
National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) met in Canberra on 19 & 20 June to discuss a range of outstanding issues affecting implementation of The Australian Curriculum: The Arts. Several projects were identified that would assist classroom teachers, students, governments and other decision makers in the implementation process. NAAE plans to develop these projects in the coming months, and seek partnerships and funding to bring them to fruition.
Members of the National Advocates for Arts Education at the National Library Australia, 19 June 2016. Taking time out to #IStandWithTheArts #ArtsChangesLives while talking Arts Education advocacy! L–R: John Saunders (Drama Australia), Roger Dunscombe (Australian Teachers of Media), Sandra Gattenhof (Drama Australia), Bradley Merrick (Australian Society for Music Education), and Julie Dyson (NAAE chair).Sir Matthew Bourne auditions male dancers for Melbourne production
Arts Centre Melbourne, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and Re:Bourne, the charitable arm of New Adventures are working towards a major creative project that will culminate in a one week season at Arts Centre Melbourne’s State Theatre in Autumn 2017.
This project offers an opportunity for Melbourne-based dancers to work for one month with choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne’s leading international dance company.
Sir Matthew Bourne and other members of the New Adventures team will be in Melbourne in August 2016 to audition six male dancers to join the company for this one-off project at Arts Centre Melbourne.
Key information
- Audition date: Saturday 6 August 2016 (applications required)
- Recalls: Sunday 7 August 2016
- Where: Auditions and recalls will be held in a centrally located venue in Melbourne
- Rehearsals & season: Sunday, 14 August 2016 (workshop) & Monday 13 March – Sunday 9 April 2017
- For Melbourne-based male dancers with at least three years of professional level training in classical or contemporary dance with a stage appearance age between 14–22.
- Audition notice and application information on the Arts Centre Melbourne website.
- Applications close COB Tuesday 12 July 2016.
Arts Centre Melbourne seeks two community dance artists for one-off project
Arts Centre Melbourne, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and Re:Bourne, the charitable arm of New Adventures are working towards a major creative project that will culminate in a one week season at Arts Centre Melbourne’s State Theatre in Autumn 2017.
This project offers an opportunity for Melbourne-based dance artists and physical performers to work with a leading international dance company.
Sir Matthew Bourne and other members of the New Adventures team will be in Melbourne in August 2016 to find two community dance artists to join the company for this one-off project at Arts Centre Melbourne.
Key information
- For artists with experience in classical or contemporary dance, physical performance, mentoring of young people and dance workshop delivery.
- Interview & workshop date: Monday 8 August 2016
- Training: Friday 12 – Monday 15 August 2016
- Outreach workshops: Monday 3 October – Sunday 11 December 2016 (P/T) & Saturday 18 February and Sunday 19 February 2017
- Rehearsals & season: Monday 13 March – Sunday 9 April 2017 (P/T and F/T)
- Further details and position description on the Arts Centre Melbourne website.
- Applications close COB Tuesday 12 July 2016.
Asia-Pacific Channels June 2016 issue out now
Asia–Pacific Channels is the bi-annual newsletter of the World Dance Alliance (WDA), published by Ausdance National in collaboration with MyDance Alliance in Malaysia. It profiles dance events and activities from WDA members throughout the Asia–Pacific region.
Download the June 2016 issue (2 MB)
Images from the June 2016 issue.We produce and publish Channels as a contribution to the World Dance Alliance and dance in our region. It also helps us build the international networks that provide professional development opportunities for Australian dance artists.
Our work producing this publication helps us contribute to the World Dance Alliance's goals, which are:
- To promote the recognition, development and mutual understanding of all forms of dance.
- To facilitate communication and exchange among dance individuals, institutions and organisations interested in dance.
- To provide a forum for discussion of matters relating to dance.
- To encourage and support the research, education, criticism, creation and performance of dance.
- To liaise, co-ordinate and participate in activities with other dance organisations in the world.
Queensland Ballet—company and academy auditions
The Queensland Ballet will hold auditions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in September 2016 for the Queensland Ballet Company, Jette Parker Young Artist Program & Pre-Professional Program.
For audition information and times, visit the Queensland Ballet auditions.
Write for Brolga—an Australian journal about dance
Submissions are open for Brolga #41 under the broad theme 'A place for dance'.
Key information
- Submissions due 31 August 2016
- Email your submission to the editor Olivia Millard
- Brolga guidelines for contributors (48 KB PDF)
The art and community ecology in which dance exists is delicate and complex. As with the fight for survival by animals in compromised environments perhaps it is the ‘charismatic’ or ‘innovative’ artists who survive. If so, where is the place for the dancers and dance makers who exist outside the realm of publically notable; who eschew spectacle or even notoriety? And how is it possible for a dancer to find their dance place in the rich history of skill and experimentation?
WA hosts the 2016 Australian Dance Awards
Australian Dance Awards 2016 key information
- 6.30 pm Sunday 18 September 2016
- Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Perth
- Tickets: ticketek
The 2016 Australian Dance Awards image is from WA-based Ochre Contemporary Dance Company. Photo: Dana WeeksThe dance community in Western Australia is gearing up to host the 2016 Australian Dance Awards at the Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Perth, on Sunday 18 September. Ausdance WA is working with Claudia Alesssi, creative producer of this year’s event, to curate a truly memorable evening, showcasing Western Australian dance companies, and more.
Update: 2016 Australian Dance Awards nominations process
With about three months until this year’s Australian Dance Awards (ADAs) in Perth, the selection panel has finished looking at all the viewing links for the long list of nominations and have submitted first-round votes. The next step is for the panel is to look at the top four or five contenders in each category and then submit another round of votes. Sometimes a teleconference is convened so that everyone can contribute to the discussion about any issues, tied or close scores etc.
We hope to have the 2016 shortlist confirmed by early July. The nominations coordinator will then contact all shortlisted nominees.
Dancehouse’s Housemate Residency
The Housemate Residency is about accompanying dance artists through the entire creative process, from vision to realisation. The program offers time to explore, space to examine possibility and the financial support to bring the Resident's project to fruition.
EOI submissions close 7 July 2016 at midnight.
Ausdance honorary life members respond to Ausdance National’s loss of operational funding
The founders and honorary life members of Ausdance—the Australian Dance Council—are extremely disappointed that an organisation with such a high national and international reputation for innovation and creativity has not been supported with four-year organisation funding by the Australia Council.
Funding cuts to the organisation’s innovative partnerships, public forums, its advocacy campaigns to support the small to medium dance sector (including years of work with the Australia Council to increase the Council’s own profile and funding—petitions to both Houses of Parliament in 2006, Dance Plan 2012 etc.); its seminal publications, dance education programs, and its international leadership in Safe Dance research leaves us believing that the Australia Council no longer sees value in the leadership shown by Ausdance National
Dancenorth experiment fills in the blanks
Media release
Next week Dancenorth opens their tour of the double bill ‘If _ Was _’
Tour performance dates and locations
- 9–11 June, Dancenorth, Townsville
- 15 June, Mackay Entertainment Centre
- 16 June Proserpine Entertainment Centre
- 23–25 June, Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane
- 29 June – 2 July, the Substation, Melbourne
Delve into the fanciful and illusionary worlds of two extraordinary choreographers, Stephanie Lake and Ross McCormack, as they fall down the rabbit hole of imagination and fill in the blanks for Dancenorth’s most recent double bill.