Brisbane July 13th to 18th

Dance dialogues: conversations across cultures, artforms and practices

This July the World Dance Alliance Global Dance Summit will hit Brisbane, bringing together dance professionals from across the globe. The summit will provide a platform on an international level for dance performers, creators, teachers, students and managers to share performance work, training approaches, networking opportunities, and collaborative and community ventures. It will foster the exchange of ideas and visions, empowering dancers to develop their art forms, and be an event of scale and significance, encompassing and inclusive of culture as part of the broader economic and social creative industries.

The summit is presented by Ausdance Queensland and World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific, in partnership with the Creative Industries Faculty of QUT, Queensland Performing Arts Trust, Brisbane Festival 2008 and Ausdance National.

Named ‘Dance Dialogues’, the conference presents a stage for significant critical debate and the extension of creativity and dance practice locally, nationally and internationally. It will be an international gathering of overlapping conversations in, through and about dance, the arts, humanities and sciences. It aims to build networks between international peers and colleagues to instigate ongoing collaborations, allow professional development for dance artists, researchers and academics, and explore cultural diversity in choreographic approaches. The conference will stimulate new ideas and knowledge to empower individuals and groups to effect social and cultural change and influence cultural policy and practice across government agencies and creative communities.

Artists will listen to outstanding international speakers from over twenty nations, view and discuss performances from around the world, physically participate in quality dance experiences and come together to discuss major issues facing the cultural sector.

Dance Dialogues focuses on four critical issues; mind/body connections, sustainability, transcultural conversations and re-thinking the way we make/teach dance and performance. A four-tiered program will identify and explore these key issues through the notion of dialogues: Physical Dialogues (international choreolab & international masterclasses), Dance Dialogues (a program of four facilitated conversations and the eighth Dame Peggy Van Praagh Memorial Address); Conference/Performative Dialogues (presentations and forums) and Networking Dialogues (global assembly of World Dance Alliance).

Speakers include David McAllister (Artistic Director, The Australian Ballet), Professor Susan Street (Executive Dean Creative Industries and National President of Ausdance), Lucy Guerin (Artistic Director, Lucy Guerin Co), Marilyn Miller (National Indigenous Dance Coordinator, Treading the Pathways), Gideon Obarzanek (Artistic Director, Chunky Move), Maggi Sietsma (Artistic Director, Expressions Dance Company) and Gavin Webber (Artistic Director, Dance North), to name a few.

International master classes will be held by leading artists and teachers (including Janis Claxton, Michael Parmenter and Liz Lea), conducting two hour studio workshops over four days and performances will include renowned Australian dance companies such as Queensland Ballet, Expressions Dance Company and selected screenings from the Reeldance Festival.

The Global Summit is a major event on the international dance calendar and an important step in the continued development of Australian dance. Support our industry, get involved and register today! The dance industry depends not only on local and national support, but international networks and opportunities, which is an important platform offered by this program. The issue of sustainability has been the subject of several government inquiries over the last decade by many governments, so discussion with perspectives from a number of countries is timely.

To find out more and register visit
http://www.ausdance.org.au/outside/global_summit08/wdaAP_summit.html

World Dance Alliance (WDA) is a not-for-profit global service organisation which serves as a primary voice for dance and dancers throughout the world, and encourages the exchange of ideas and the awareness of dance in all its forms through a range of workshops, performance events, conferences, publications, research and allied activities. Membership subscription to Ausdance in your State includes membership to the Australian Chapter of the World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific.