By Rain Francis.

Starting to think about full-time dance training? Now more than ever there are some fantastic options out there – and they may be closer than you think. Gone are the days when you have to move to Melbourne or Sydney to get the best training. While there are some amazing courses offered in these two cities and a wealth of dance opportunities, don’t dismiss the high quality training options offered elsewhere – staying closer to home could be a good option for you.

One of the most important factors in staying closer to home is of course having your loved ones near. “The family can directly manage all aspects of their child’s development and training, providing hands on love and support,” says Canberra Dance Development Centre Director Jackie Hallahan. This means having a helping hand with everything from your day-to-day living tasks, to just having a shoulder to cry on when you are exhausted or frustrated.

“Dancing full time can be very demanding physically, mentally and emotionally,” says Beth James, director of Western Australia Conservatoire of Classical Ballet. “For a young student, having these demands – as well as living on their own without family – and having to go home to cook, clean, and prepare after an exhausting day can be tough. And of course, having your friends close by on your day off can be just what you need to keep a healthy balance away from dance.” Although you will make lots of new friends wherever you study, it’s wonderful to be able to keep in touch with your established friends – and not just on Facebook!

“In our experience, most students find the transition from high school to 30 hours a week of intensive training somewhat overwhelming, especially throughout the first term,” agrees Phil Talbot, CEO/Director of Principal Academy of Dance and Theatre Arts in Perth. “By being close to home they have the support of family members to help them maintain a healthy lifestyle and cope with stress, especially at assessment time.”

Canberra Dance Development Centre full time student Georgia Powley. Photo by Greg Primmer.

It is perfectly normal to find the transition to full-time training difficult. Besides dealing with a new environment, new people and the physical and mental stresses of such a full-on workload, if you’re living away from home there are additional pressures. It might be the first time you’ve had to do your own food shopping, transport yourself to the studio, pay bills and deal with other everyday realities. After a long day of training, it’s likely that all you’ll want to do is have a bath and then vegetate on the lounge room floor. This is where unhealthy habits can start to creep in, such as living on ‘convenience’ food. Living at home can give you more stability, so you are freer to put all your energies into your training.

Another thing to consider is money. Full-time training can place a large financial burden on you and your family, and training closer to home can help ease that considerably. Though it may be tempting to leave home and head for the big smoke, try to be realistic about the pros and cons.

Living at home can save thousands per year on rent and other living costs. And if you are living away from home, you’ll be paying much more to live in one of the bigger cities. Unfortunately, getting yourself into debt early on can really affect your future. “It’s not just the family – the student takes on the financial burden as well and this can interfere with decisions made down the track,” James explains. The reality is that you may not be able to travel to auditions or afford to do all the classes you need to after graduating.

Hallahan agrees, adding, “[Staying at home means that] the students’ parents may be able to invest more money in their child’s training rather than on additional living costs.” So if there’s any way to avoid getting into debt – or placing strain on your family’s finances – it’s advisable to investigate and consider these options.

Australia’s most successful dancers didn’t all come from the schools in the big cities. Terry Simpson Studios in Adelaide turned out Remi Wortmeyer (The Australian Ballet and Dutch National Ballet), Nicola Leahey (Compagnie Thor, Belgium), Jesse Scales (Sydney Dance Company) and Nicola Wills-Jones (Royal Ballet, Flanders). Graduates of Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in Perth have worked in Western Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Australian Dance Theatre, Expressions Dance Company and many international companies.

There are also some world-class dance companies outside of Sydney and Melbourne. Adelaide has Australian Dance Theatre and Leigh Warren and Dancers, Townsville has Dancenorth and Launceston has Tasdance, just to name a few. Making yourself known to these companies while you’re training – either through secondments or taking company class – can be a great way to build relationships which may lead to employment after graduation. Also, if you are considering a career as a choreographer, do some research into the local grants available from your state’s branch of Ausdance, or from your regional council. Sometimes, being in a smaller centre can actually be an advantage; there are less people vying for the same funding dollars. So, make the most of all your area has to offer.

Of course, I’m playing devil’s advocate here; there are also advantages to flying the coop. The truth is that no matter where you choose to study, you will find a way to make it work, and to get absolutely the most out of every opportunity that comes your way. Your full-time training will be one of the most challenging things you will ever do, but it is also an exciting time which will pass you by far quicker than you can imagine!

Be sure to check out Dance Informa’s 2014 Full Time Dance and Auditions Guide, out this July. The Guide lists the best full-time schools and courses across Australia.
To check out the 2013 Full Time Guide, click here.

Interview with Alexandra Knox and her mother Jennifer Barry Knox.

By Jo McDonald.

It was 1964 on a Sunday afternoon. Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Barry was at a ballet rehearsal when a tall woman with a ponytail came into the studio. She was introduced to the group, and then asked them to take their shoes off and sit on the floor. Some of the dancers were horrified, but for Jennifer, this was a life changing moment that set her on a path to become a pioneer of modern dance in Australia. The woman with the ponytail was Elizabeth Dalman, and Jennifer was one of a group of young dancers who began taking class with Elizabeth. On 10 June 1965, this group of young dancers lead by Dalman became officially known as Australian Dance Theatre (ADT).

Back in the early sixties, there was no contemporary dance in Australia – or modern as it was known then. This changed when Elizabeth Dalman returned to Australia after working in Europe with choreographers like Eleo Pomare, a Columbian-American choreographer. The experiences Dalman brought home with her were to ignite a passion for modern dance in the hearts of young ballet students like Jennifer, who now had the opportunity to learn the techniques of the modern dance greats, such as Martha Graham, Jose Limon and Lester Horton.

Now, almost 50 years later, Jennifer’s daughter, Alexandra, is also immersed in the world of professional dance. But she finds herself in a very different world than that of 15-year-old Jennifer.

Based in Adelaide, after moving from Melbourne a couple of years ago, Alexandra is fresh from the premiere season of her first full-length work Cor during the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Cor was made possible thanks to a $15,000 Choreolab residency, an incubator program for emerging choreographers run by Ausdance SA. The Choreolab Residency program was funded through a grant from the Australia Council for the Arts.

Photo by Chris Herzfeld.

Alexandra is one of many young, passionate independent dance artists based in Adelaide, who aren’t just looking for work, but are creating their own work. The environment in Adelaide is conducive to the rise of the independent artist, with the Arts SA Independent Makers & Presenters grant programs and Ausdance SA’s strong focus on supporting independent artists through Choreolab, which provides freelance class programs, cheap rehearsal space, grant auspicing and advice. SA independent choreographers can also benefit from the Managing and Producing Services (MAPS) program of the Australia Council, which sees Insite Arts appointed to produce and manage new dance works so they can create, present and tour their work. Other Australian high-profile choreographers that call Adelaide home are Leigh Warren, Larissa McGowan, Katrina Lazaroff and Gabrielle Nankivell.

Back in the days of Jennifer’s early dance career, there were no arts grants. In fact, ADT didn’t receive its first grant (for $5,000) until 1971. The company had been surviving until then on fundraising, donations and Elizabeth’s private funds, yet had managed to tour extensively, including international tours to Europe, New Guinea, India and Thailand.

These days, dance artists looking to fund their own work need to be savvy grant writers. Alexandra has found the process of applying for grants to be quite useful, in helping her distil her ideas and find her own voice, although she is aware that for many dancers, writing grants is neither a pleasant or easy process, although some are quite good at it. This is perhaps due, in part, to their tertiary training. Jennifer notes that dancers these days are well educated, and this is something else that differs from her early experience, when there were no tertiary dance programs. Whereas now, there are tertiary dance programs at numerous institutions, such as AC Arts in Adelaide, the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), NAISDA[1] College, Deakin University, Macquarie University … the list goes on.

Alexandra herself is a graduate of the VCA. Fortunately, in the sixties, there was Elizabeth who brought her knowledge back from Europe. Ultimately, this meant that when Jennifer travelled to New York in 1968, she was able to walk into any class and hold her own. In one class, she recalls another dancer being mistaken for the ‘Australian girl’ because Jennifer was so well-versed in modern dance that she didn’t stand out from the American students as any less experienced.

So why is Alexandra following in her mother’s footsteps? Is it simply because she was exposed to so much dance, or is it in her genes?

‘Cor’ being performed at Adelaide Fringe Festival. Photo by Chris Herzfeld.

Jennifer recalls being 4 years old when she made the decision to become a dancer. In those days, choosing to be a professional dancer was very unusual, and she found herself ridiculed at school for her choice. But at home, her mother was very supportive and encouraged her to fulfil her dreams. She was adopted, so she doesn’t know if her biological parents were artistic, but she does know she was the first person in her adopted family who had any interest in the arts. So it seems that for Jennifer at least, dancing is in her blood.

Jennifer also recalls Alexandra as a one-year old child sitting in her chair, wiggling her bottom in time to the music, and thinking to herself, “Aha, I have a dancer.” It’s harder to tell if Alexandra’s passion is nature or nurture – probably both. Apparently she was always dancing as a child, improvising mostly, and Jennifer and Alexandra would dance and improvise together every night. The first work that Alexandra presented in Adelaide was a fully improvised work, Wyrd With Grace, which she first presented at the 2011 Melbourne Fringe Festival, then the October 2011 Choreolab, and again at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2012.

Alexandra had her first professional gig at the age of 6, dancing with her mother in Meryl Tankard’s Corte a Flora, presented for Floriade in Canberra. Jennifer had never imagined that she would be dancing at age 43 with her daughter in the same production. Alexandra was a pincushion and Jennifer a flower. This experience exposed Alexandra to the world of professional dance and one of Australia’s great choreographers, but also gave her the chance to work with some of Australia’s best contemporary dancers, including Tuula Roppola, Paige Gordon and Michelle Ryan. Alexandra describes the experience as “overwhelming, like an oversize dream coming to life”, but she was inspired by these amazing women who had a great acting ability and dance training.

Both Jennifer and Alexandra have returned to Adelaide to be with their mother.  Jennifer has been a gypsy most of her life, and she wants to spend time with her mother, who is now 95.  After her adopted father passed away when she was ten, it was just Jennifer and her mother, so they are very close. Alexandra is also an only child, and has come to Adelaide to be close to her mother. Their close bond is obvious, and there is a great warmth and gentleness between them. They both share the same eyes – a clear and beautiful green – and an absolute necessity to dance.

Alexandra, on the brink of an exciting dance and choreographic career, is now in the midst of writing a grant application for a new work for Next Wave in Melbourne with AC Arts recent graduate Alicia Min Harvie, and she is working in June and July with Adelaide choreographer Katrina Lazaroff on her new work Wasted.

Jennifer is currently writing a book on her experience during her time with ADT, which also includes content based on interviews from other ADT dancers at the time.  It will be titled Dirty Feet, inspired by a comment Sir Robert Helpmann made to Jennifer at a party – he said that modern dancers were fat, they can’t do classical ballet, and they have dirty feet. Since then, Jennifer has always been careful to wash her feet before a performance. It is perhaps ironic that Alexandra worked with Sydney-based contemporary dance organisation DirtyFeet, which supports independent dance artists and promotes community engagement in the arts.

It will be ADT’s 50th anniversary in 2015, so it is timely that Jennifer is writing a book about the dancers’ perspective. Various events are in the pipeline for the anniversary celebration. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see Alexandra dance in the 50th anniversary in a role created for her mother?

[1] NAISDA is the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association

Photo (top): Alexandra Knox and her mother Jennifer Barry Knox. Photo by Jo McDonald.

By Rain Francis.

In 2012, a new dance company was born over in Kiwi-land. Led by Artistic Director Shona McCullagh, The New Zealand Dance Company (NZDC) hit the road rolling with its launch season Language of Living. Met with positive responses from both Auckland audiences and critics, the production is now being rebooted for a North Island tour.

Language of Living comprises a diverse programme performed by some of New Zealand’s top dancers, including Ursula Robb, Craig Bary, Justin Haiu, Hannah Tasker-Poland, Tupua Tigafua and Lucy Lynch. The works come from both extraordinary emerging voices, such as Sarah Foster-Sproull, and New Zealand’s choreographic royalty, such as Arts Laureate Michael Parmenter.

Parmenter’s work Tenerezza, a duet for Craig Bary and Justin Haiu, explores the idea that no movement occurs without initiation by the other. “The piece began very much with the two dancers, both of whom I have worked with on a number of occasions,” says Parmenter. “I had a sense of the particular quality of relationship that I wanted to explore and so that led me to the particular piece of music [by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach], with which too I had had a previous choreographic relationship.”

Tenerezza was developed via two partner-improvisation forms – Piloting and T.A.C.T.I.C.S. – that Parmenter has been developing over recent years, and with which both the dancers had a certain degree of familiarity. “Initially the idea was to have a certain component of improvisation remain in the finished piece, but as it turned out the only remnant of this is in the choreographic relationship to the music, which since both the dance and the music are performed live, is not fixed but varies from performance to performance,” explains Parmenter.

Michael Parmenter. Photo courtesy of New Zealand Dance Co.

Craig Bary is a dancer who is much loved in both New Zealand and here in Australia, having performed with companies such as Australian Dance Theatre, Tasdance, KAGE and Chunky Move. He speaks fondly of Parmenter’s duet. “It’s challenging and exciting to perform every time,” he says. “Because it was created through improvisation techniques created by Michael, it’s really about us, the dancers, and that feels really special.”

NZDC audiences in Auckland and Wellington will be treated to performances of Faune by international choreographers Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Mark Lorimer. Set to Claude Debussy’s famous score L’après-midi d’un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun), the solo will be performed by Ursula Robb, who has worked with De Keersmaeker’s Rosas company in Belgium and the Paris Opera. On the Warkworth, Orewa and Whangarei legs of the tour, a new work has been added to the programme. Without Eve is a humorous take on the art of male conversation by UNITEC choreographer Ashleigh Coward.

Language of Living is an eclectic programme, and audiences can expect to see “world class dancers and choreographies,” as Bary says.

New Zealand Dance Company in ‘Language of Living’. Photo by John McDermott.

Parmenter agrees, even despite having yet to see the production in its entirety. The busy choreographer notes, “What strikes me about the glimpses I have seen of the pieces is a devotion to the ‘art’ of dance itself. This may seem somewhat quaint in light of the current theory-impregnated dance aesthetic, but I can’t help but see it as an act of respect for and maintenance of a rich tradition of aesthetic understanding.”

Aside from its professional performance seasons, NZDC has also been building a Youth Engagement Programme (YEP!). As part of the Language of Living tour, the company will be performing shows just for schools in a variety of centres. They will also be selecting talented local dancers to perform alongside the professional – a wonderful opportunity for dance students.

“The New Zealand Dance Company has a leadership youth engagement role, creating access and mentoring for young people to get hooked into dance,” says Artistic Director Shona McCullagh. “The art form and society are fortified by inspiring the values of courage, enthusiasm, independence and contribution.”

Like Australia – and let’s face it, most places on Earth – New Zealand has no shortage of dance and choreographic talent. With internationally respected training institutions such as UNITEC and New Zealand School of Dance turning out world-class graduates year after year (including a large proportion of Australians), the need for jobs is greater than ever.

“There has been a call for this kind of inclusive and mainstream company for quite some time,” says Bary. “Any company that allows for the development and practice of art forms is a great thing for the cultural diversity and language of its nation. Allowing a voice to our incredible artists and collaborators to share with an interested and excited growing audience is a great way to explore our identity nationally and internationally.”

Language of Living North Island Tour runs from May 25 to June 12. For full venue and ticketing information, visit www.nzdc.org.nz.

Photo (top): Craig Bary and Justin Haiu in Michael Parmenter’s Tenerezza. Photo by John McDermott.

Dance is all about movement. Or is it more like memory? Perth-based choreographer Sue Peacock takes time to reflect on this in her latest work, which has its world premiere in May.

By Paul Ransom.

When a choreographer declares that they are “returning to a primary focus on movement” you could be forgiven for wondering whether you missed something along the way. However, dance being the complex and abstract form that it is, you may well be asking exactly what a “primary focus on movement” is. A statement of the obvious? A post-modern ironic pose? Well no, not quite.

Speaking from her office at WAAPA in Perth, acclaimed choreographer and dance teacher Sue Peacock drills into the reasons behind her beguiling declaration. While conceiving her latest work Reflect she decided to strip back. “I wanted to focus much more specifically on the choreography,” she begins. “I mean, not that you don’t ever but really, this time, I tried to concentrate on the movement and the whole choreographic form.”

For Peacock this represents a response to her past use of text and video. “There is video in Reflect and we did try talking but I decided against it,” she explains. “I did think that maybe the piece was bit too esoteric and that the text might help people; and I did like it but when I watched it back on the video I realised that I had stopped watching. Because of the talking I didn’t need to pay attention to the movement.”

Sue Peacock’s ‘Reflect’. Photo by Christophe Canato.

In a career that has spanned eight years dancing for ADT, amongst others, and making work for companies as diverse as Chrissie Parrott, 2 Dance Plus and Expressions, Sue Peacock has been at the core of the Australian contemporary dance scene. Therefore, she has naturally been apart of its embrace of multimedia and the use of text. “This time I made a rule for myself that there wouldn’t be any props or talking. There would only be dancing.”

By employing a stark, white box stage and a small ensemble of five, Peacock’s Reflect puts the focus squarely on the physical. However, this is not to suggest that it is a themeless work. Reflect is about memory; the very act of reflection. “It’s also about the process of memory and how you remember, and how that’s important in terms of how you make a decision to do something different,” she adds.

Given the limits she has set for herself, Peacock’s challenge was to draw out the work’s central idea without the trigger of language or reference to prop devices. As she explains it, “Elements of the work are repeated throughout. So, there’s one section near the beginning which is then repeated with a different person. The video might focus on a particular movement but that is then repeated in a grainy way, or with time slowed down.”

Just as we repeat patterns in our lives, so too does the work. “In a sense the whole thing is a bit circular; but more like a loop that continues rather than a fixed circle.”

That all of this happens in a bold white space is no mere trick of aesthetics. “There’s comfort in blackout because everything goes quiet but white is very exposing,” Peacock argues. “The performers are very vulnerable. It’s my thinking that you’re focusing only on the dancers, so for me there’s a kind of truth you can get at through that.”

Dancers perform Sue Peacock’s new work, ‘Reflect’. Photo by Christophe Canato.

Returning to the theme of the work, she wonders, “Those things in your head that you can’t quite remember, do they slide off into black or slide off into white?”

With its use of minimalism and abstraction, Reflect could easily have become a dry, programmatic work. However, it took some unexpected turns in rehearsal, as Peacock recalls. “I did start out thinking that it was going to be abstract and quite heady in that sense but in actual fact it’s quite emotional in a funny way. That wasn’t my intention but that’s where it’s gone; and that because of the contributions of the artists.”

The five dancers, including West Australians Kynan Hughes and Tyrone Robinson, all brought “personal/specific” ideas to the palette and the result, according to Peacock, is a work brimming with very human subtext. “It’s like when you walk into a room and there’s tension. You know something’s happened but you don’t know exactly what.”

Minus the clue giving add-ons of text and objects, dance works risk befuddling their audiences, and while most artists are more than willing to take this risk, Sue Peacock admits to a more nuanced view. “I do think about how it will appear to an audience,” she says. “I suppose I just have this hope that there is something beyond language that translates. If we just watch and stop thinking we actually can understand it physically. There’s a kind of empathy that we have because everybody moves and breathes and feels things.”

And yet, like memory, dance is an elusive and shape shifting experience. “I like the mystery of dance,” Sue Peacock concludes simply. Oh yes, and the movement too.

Reflect
3 – 11 May
Studio Underground State Theatre Centre of Western Australia
Tickets on sale in January  through www.ticketek.com.au

Photo (top): Sue Peacock’s Relect. Photos by Christophe Canato.

By Grace Edwards.

Scottish-born Artistic Director Andy Howitt is set to make his mark on Melbourne’s dance scene. He is taking over as incoming CEO and Director of Ausdance Victoria, the state branch of Australia’s peak national dance body.

Howitt leaves behind his most recent post as Artistic Director of Citymoves Dance Agency in Aberdeen, Scotland. Prior to this, he was the Artistic Director at YDance (Scottish Youth Dance) for twelve years. He has also worked as Dance Director for TAG Theatre Company.

Howitt’s professional dance career began at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, where he originally trained in teaching and advanced performance. He went on to work extensively as a choreographer and performed with numerous companies including the Scottish Opera, Lloyd Newson’s DV8 Physical Theatre, Transitions Dance Company (Trinity/Laban), the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Dance Theatre, Dannsa for BBC Alba and Dance House (BBC2).

Adding to his wealth of experience, the Ausdance Victoria directorship marks a new phase in Howitt’s career. So how does he hope Ausdance will help dancers and dance lovers under his leadership? Dance Informa’s Grace Edwards spoke to him to find out.

Andy, congratulations on your appointment as CEO and Director of Ausdance Victoria. Why do you think it’s important for dancers to have a body like Ausdance?

For me, what’s really interesting concerning Ausdance is that it’s unique. It’s national but it’s also very local, and I really like that approach to work. I’m very interested in the whole concept of national against local, working to develop the local community but then giving that kind of development a national profile.

Ausdance Victoria

What is your perception of Ausdance’s target community?

I think all dance organisations are hitting a critical time across the globe. It’s got to do with this whole concern everyone has with asking each other — are you a business? Are you here to develop new ideas? Are you here to achieve?

It’s a tricky situation, isn’t it? When a company relies so much on what it is, rather than developing with what it can be.

Yes, perhaps as a result of focusing on survival?

Yes, though I think sometimes the art relies too heavily on what it is — “It’s a fantastic feature company,” “It’s a wonderful orchestra” — rather than actually developing new areas and new things to push the boundaries.

So, how do you see Ausdance helping in that regard?

I hope that Ausdance becomes a real ambassador and challenger for dance in Victoria. I’ve always been a big believer that dance is a changing and a developing art form that goes into other areas you wouldn’t expect it to, and finding gaps in the corners. I’m always interested in trying to expand, reignite or redevelop groups in ways that you don’t expect.

What’s been your experience of Australian dancers so far?

I’ve seen quite a lot of Australian dance over a period here in Scotland, and I actually came out in 2000 to Adelaide. I worked with five or six different choreographers from Australia and the same number of Scottish choreographers at the Australian Dance Theatre’s studios over three or four weeks. Then they came out to Scotland and worked for three or four weeks. We made work on each other and we developed work.

I’m actually still in contact with many of those people and I’m most looking forward to making new connections with new people.

One of Ausdance’s criticisms has been its focuses on ballet and contemporary dance at the expense of other areas of the industry. Do you hope to address that in some way?

Yes. I think we have a huge hang up on what ‘style’ is, for instance, what is good style or what is a new style? I don’t care what dance style we talk about, what I do care about is how well it’s taught and if what a particular group wants is what the group gets.

If the group wants ballroom, give them the best ballroom they can get! Just don’t give them bad ballroom. If a group wants contemporary that’s really different and unique, give them that. But the teacher or choreographer who’s working with that group has to be the best. I’m very hardline on that.

So what’s your opinion of the standard of Australian dancers?

I think we all want to monitor how good or how bad we are or what level we are at. I’ve never had that as my core value [laughs]. My core value has always been — where can we get to? How can we achieve? How can we develop? What can we, as a group, make amazing?

I’ve never had an assumption of what’s good or bad, it’s just never been something that’s been a part of my mentality. After all, you’ve got to say that dance development in Scotland is very, very far down the line in terms of other issues we have here, and sometimes it just takes too much time asking those questions. Sometimes you’re best just to ‘be’, and to be ‘doing’, if you know what I mean.

Staying on the topic of core values, what do you feel Ausdance Victoria’s main focus will be as you prepare to take on its leadership?

One of the big challenges, in my mind, is how to be accessible. How do we make or develop work or ideas which remain tangible across the whole of Victoria? My challenge will be how to get into the smaller areas or communities there.

I want to allow everyone to get the opportunity to experience dance and see the wonder of dance that we experience everyday of our lives.

That’s quite a big mission, isn’t it?

Definitely. But as you said, nothing’s unachievable!

Yes, that’s right [laughs].

For more information about Ausdance in your state, visit Ausdance.org.au

With its pop objects, x-ray screens and technical precision, Larissa McGowan’s full-length debut Skeleton stands poised to flesh out a very promising career.

By Paul Ransom.

Take 206 bones and make them dance. This is the challenge currently consuming one of Australia’s brightest young choreographers, Larissa McGowan, as she puts the finishing touches on her first full-length work, Skeleton.

Brisbane-born McGowan has been on an upward trajectory ever since she graduated from the VCA as the “Most Outstanding Talent” and moved to Adelaide to join the internationally renowned Australian Dance Theatre. Green Room gongs, Helpmann Awards and SYTYCD guest spots ensured her star kept rising. When Garry Stewart made her Assistant Choreographer at ADT in 2008, McGowan’s elevation was all but sealed.

Choreographer Larissa McGowan. Photo courtesy of Malthouse Theatre

Five years down the line and Skeleton is set for twin seasons at both the Adelaide Festival and Melbourne’s Dance Massive event. It’s a key moment in her career. “Yeah, I’ve been trying not to think about that too much,” she admits. “But I guess I’ve always been someone who has put herself out on a limb, both in my dancing and the work I’ve made; and this definitely is.”

Although Skeleton is not her first foray into choreography, Larissa McGowan is fully aware of its significance. “This is my first full-length work, but in saying that, I’m wondering what full-length actually means. I know I get impatient after about an hour.”

As the title suggests, the work seeks to peel away the skin and get down to the bones. “I think with all of my work I’ve been interested in one body system or another,” McGowan explains. “I like how that informs the kind of movement you can make; but also not make … As part of our research we looked into what happens when certain bones break or age. What happens to the body and our capacity for movement? How would this then influence a dance piece?”

While admitting that this might sound “a bit morbid” McGowan insists that the work is actually a high velocity piece with incredibly intricate staging involving the use of “x-ray screens.” To help her keep such a technically precise work coherent she engaged theatre director Sam Haren. “There’s no narrative with this, it’s just reflections, memories and ideas, so it’s been really great to work with him because he’s been able to help us with flow, with how things lock together.”

‘Skeleton’. Photos by Chris Herzfeld.

In addition to staging and choreographic challenges, McGowan is also one of the five dancers in Skeleton. “When I’m on stage I just have to think about myself and be focused,” she says. “I really don’t have a choice in that. In the studio it’s been really interesting. That’s where it’s been really good having Sam on board, because it’s really hard to step outside yourself and see yourself on stage.”

However, amidst the precision and the bones McGowan still manages to insert her love of pop culture. By utilising objects like BMX bikes, skateboards and high heels she juxtaposes the transitory and disposable nature of pop with the near permanence of the skeleton. “That’s just it,” she enthuses. “These objects, they were just things I grew up with. They’re part of memory really. It’s really interesting how kind of skeletal memory is too, and how it gets sketchier as you get older.”

Perhaps paralleling her penchant for pop culture is McGowan’s commitment to the ‘e’ word – entertainment. “I’ve always wanted to make work that was fun,” she declares. “I’ve never really been into what you might call self-indulgence. It’s good if an audience can feel that they get something. I think they get more involved that way rather than just staring at beautiful movement all night.”

Entertainment notwithstanding, Skeleton will not be heavy with puppet on a string, dancing bones-style choreography. But it will be fast and exacting. As McGowan states, “It’s very much pushing the dancers to the limits of what their bodies can do. This is different for each dancer and that’s exciting. Each body has its peculiar traits, its own history and moulding them into something coherent is one of the real challenges of making a work like this.”

Featured alongside McGowan onstage will be her friend Lisa Griffiths and three young male dancers from Adelaide. Describing the boys as “really good movers,” she can’t help but allow herself a joke at their expense. “Yes, it’s three young boys working with two experienced women; and we’ve definitely been moulding them.”

Luckily for the lads they are in very good hands.

Larissa McGowan’s Skeleton
February 28 – March 9
AC Arts Main Theatre, Adelaide
March 14-23
Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne

By Rain Francis.

“It’s just like Holland!” Anouk van Dijk exclaims cheerfully as she arrives at the Chunky Move studios. It’s 10:30am in late February and Melbourne is doing that thing where – after a prolonged streak of stifling weather – it’s really, really raining.

Van Dijk and I are meeting up today to talk about her new work for Chunky Move, 247 Days, which will premiere at the Merlyn Theatre on March 15. The new creation will be her second work as Artistic Director, having taken over from Gideon Obarzanek last year. Her 2012 work An Act of Now was a huge success, or in her words, “a total blast. Very outgoing, very site-specific and with lots of people involved. It was really an event.”

Presented as part of the Melbourne Festival, An Act of Now won best new Australian work in The Age Critic Awards. From van Dijk’s perspective, it was an excellent way to begin work with a new group of collaborators, to break her into her new role in a new country – and now the time has come to go deeper.

Chunky Move in ’247 Days’

“I have to start looking at things from different perspectives, inevitably,” she explains. “Moving to the other side of the world, moving to another culture, how do you communicate with people? In Europe, we all speak English with each other because that’s the only language we can all share. You develop a particular kind of language together, which people call ‘eurenglish’. For the last couple of months, I’ve been trying to understand how to speak English here.”

This question of communication and human interaction forms the basis of 247 Days. Van Dijk is interested in how we view the world, and how the world views us. “Do we behave as expected, or accept who we truly are?” asks the press release for 247 Days. “If we could observe ourselves in an unguarded moment, what would we see?”

To begin finding answers to these questions, van Dijk and her dancers made “a few thousand beautiful pictures” with celebrated dance photographer Jeff Busby, who also collaborated on An Act of Now. These images, amongst other devices, became the inspiration which has informed the choreography.

“I wanted to literally capture a moment in time, so we started to make photographs of people in movement; the dancers, their families, their friends, the staff, their families,” says van Dijk. “I wanted to capture these moments when people are taken off guard, or about to recover from something or surrendering into something. For me, this also stands for this moment in time, the discovery process we’re in.”

The cast of 247 Days includes five dancers from An Act of Now and one new addition, Tara Soh, formerly of Australian Dance Theatre. All in their early or mid-twenties, they are at a point of discovering new ways of moving and new ways of thinking about dance, van Dijk explains. “They are all discovering certain things for the first time and becoming aware of certain patterns and mechanisms, in themselves and in society. It’s a really exciting departure point for a dialogue, for all of us,” she says.

Part of the dancers’ discoveries can be attributed to learning Countertechnique, a method of thinking and a practice that van Dijk has developed over the past 20 years. The basic principle is that, rather than working with a ‘centre’, one works with energy directions. Every direction has an opposite and the two of them together create the balance. This application of this idea results in more freedom in the joints, freedom of mobility, ease of directional changes, and the ability to retain speed, momentum and balance. “That’s the mechanics we work with, and I’ve developed a toolbox full of practical knowledge the dancers can use in order to achieve this,” says van Dijk. “It enables them to be more proactive in their training, to deal with injuries better… and it makes movement less exhausting.”

247 Days is being presented as part of Dance Massive, a bi-annual festival of contemporary choreography. It’s an intoxicating time for Melbourne dance fans, with works being presented by Stephanie Lake, Larissa McGowan, Lucy Guerin, Antony Hamilton, Jo Lloyd and many others. “I would like to see everything,” van Dijk says emphatically. “That’s very frustrating, because in the first week I can’t see anything. It’s a really exciting way for me to get to know, in a short amount of time, many Australian artists that I don’t know yet.”

The spirit of curiosity, exploration and discovery is all around her, it seems. She left her European homeland last year to take up the coveted post of Artistic Director, the first person to take the helm of a much-loved company after the founders. So, while it also means “what’s going on in people’s consciousness 24/7”, the title of her new work also stands for the amount of time she has been in Australia.

As we head into Spring, these stifling days will become a memory, documented in part by a dance work created to capture the moment. And, with the next 247 days of van Dijk’s journey sure to bring more of our famous weather, I’m sure she will feel right at home in Melbourne.

247 Days by Chunky Move
Friday March 15 – Saturday March 23
Merlyn Theatre, The Malthouse
www.dancemassive.com.au

Top photo: Anouk van Dijk by Silvia Sztankovits

By Rain Francis.

The New Zealand School of Dance class of 2012 has been successful in securing the following contracts for 2013: Brydie Colquhoun – Black Grace; Chloe Einicke – West Australian Ballet; Samantha Hines – Australian Dance Theatre; Laura Jones – Royal New Zealand Ballet; Simone Lapka – Douglas Wright; Jia Xi Lee – Singapore Dance Theatre; Gareth Okan – New Zealand Dance Company; James Pham – Chunky Move; Luis Piva Junior – Singapore Dance Theatre; Matte Roffe – Australian Dance Theatre; Andrew Searle – Dancenorth.

Congratulations to all graduates and all the very best as you embark on your performance careers!

The New Zealand Dance Company is hosting an international exchange with Chicago based dance theatre company Lucky Plush Productions. This Professional Devising Workshop comprises of a morning technique class followed by two devising sessions, where participants will work with the Lucky Plush company members in their devising process. The workshop is suitable for actors, dancers and physical theatre artists at tertiary and professional level.

Luis Piva Junior in Loughlan Prior’s ‘Verse’ for New Zealand School of Dance Graduation Season 2012. Photo by Stephen A’Court.

Lucky Plush Productions will bring its distinctive devising process to Auckland’s dance and theatre communities as they begin creative research for the company’s second collaboration between Artistic Director Julia Rhoads and theatre director Leslie Danzig. This research populates classic physical comedy routines with different bodies and invites workshop participants to experience a contemporary reworking of this material. Through exploration of various research questions, the work considers how bodies generate and defy comedy, and how this classic physical comedy form can be opened up to a complex and lush choreographic language that speaks both viscerally and intellectually to audiences.

To find out more, email classes@nzdc.org.nz or visit www.nzdc.org.nz

Atamira Dance Workshop is a new contemporary dance and choreography workshop offered at Corban Estate Arts Centre’s Summer School 2013.  The workshop will be taught by the professional Maori Dance Company Atamira, who will share dance exercises inspired in their Kaha show and introduce some techniques for creative dancing. Whether you are interested in finding inspiration to innovate in your dance repertoire or just learning new steps, this workshop is for you!

Atamira will ignite new ideas by leading dance exercises and setting choreographic tasks that use dance to stimulate creativity. Dancers will practise some of Atamira’s repertoire and choreographic skills based on the arts of moko (body tattoo), kowhaiwhai (painting) and raranga (weaving) designs, and explore how contemporary art can be used to create new  choreography.

Location: Corban Estate Arts Centre. 2 Mt Lebanon Lane, Henderson
Dates: Mon 14 – Wed 16 January, 10am – 12.30pm
Fee: $65

Find more information at www.ceac.org.nz. Dance teachers, tutors and lecturers will receive a 10% discount on the course fee!

Top photo: Julia Rhodes from Lucky Plush Productions in Punk Yankees.

By Linda Badger.

With an enviable career, Kristina Chan is one of Australia’s foremost independent dance artists. Having worked with so many of Australia’s most influential contemporary and classical companies and choreographers, Kristina won the Australian Dance Award for  Outstanding Female Dancer in 2009 for her work in Tanja Liedtke’s Construct. She has taught in many dance companies, universities, dance institutions and the like and is an artist to watch, and be inspired by.  Even after many years of a full career, Kristina is still at her peak as a dancer and collaborator, seemingly going from strength to strength with each project.

Dance Informa’s Linda Badger had the opportunity to ask her a few questions about her work and career.

You began serious dance study with full-time classical ballet. Was that the path you thought you wanted to take?

I started ballet at the age of three and then did a full-time classical ballet course in 1994 and 1995. I thought that I wanted to pursue classical ballet, but halfway into the course I discovered contemporary dance and found that it was more suited to me. I found it much more inspiring and engaging.

What have been the formative moments in your career?

Getting my first professional job with Australian Dance Theatre in 1999 probably kicked me into gear and was a big learning curve for me at the age of 19.

Working with Tanja Liedtke – her dedication and vigour was admirable and inspiring. I learnt a lot from working with her. (Kristina was one of the key dancers in Liedtke’s creative team, working closely with her as a dancer and a collaborator on both of Liedtke’s full length productions, Twelfth Floor and Construct.)

There have been many formative moments and hopefully more to come.

Where are you currently based and what are you working on?

I’m based in Sydney, however work takes me all over the place. I am currently in Singapore Airport waiting to board my flight to Budapest where I will be touring with Chunky Move.

Kristina Chan performs in ‘In Glass’ at Spring Dance 2010. Photo by Ian Bird.

What is the most interesting work you have been involved in?

Because I freelance, my work is constantly shifting with each project I am involved in – that is the most interesting part.

What has been the biggest challenge in your career?

Performing at Tanja Liedtke’s funeral tribute. That was difficult, strange and surreal.

How do you prepare for a role?

With each role comes different preparation. I may work on a piece for several months, researching and creating material for a role. Other times I have to jump into an existing work with only a week to learn and hopefully develop my own feel for it.  It’s a completely different process, but I try my best to give as much as I can to the process so that I can perform it well and not just dance the steps.

What are your influences?

Visual art, movies, music, nature, peers – everything in your life influences you in some way or another.

You have such a captivating stage presence, how have you developed this?
I really am interested in exploring how movement is executed, with less emphasis on what the moves are.  Dance as an experience for both myself as the performer and hopefully, you as the audience.

How do you overcome disappointment in your career?

Put the past behind you… And what could be that disappointing when you have a career in what you love to do?

What is your favourite and least favourite type of choreographic process?
Least favourite would have to be a process in which the choreographer would give me all the choreographic material, it’s quite an old school method of making dance work. I much prefer to be in a collaborative process where the performers are included in the making of the work and get to contribute their own creative ideas. In saying that, I have worked with directors that ask you to create basically everything and don’t seem to contribute much themselves. A balance is ideal.

You created a piece for the IO Myers Studio which was shown at Spring Dance festival this year. Are you moving into choreography as a next step in your career, or was that just something you decided to do for that particular show?

Choreography is definitely a progression in my career but I am by no means labeling myself as a choreographer, not for now anyway. I am still very interested in performing in other peoples’ work. I am looking to find a mix of the two.

Would you ever create a full-length work? What would it be about?

I recently made my first full length work, Kingdom Mourning, on the third year students at Adelaide College of the Arts. In the work I looked at the relationship between an abstract world and it’s inhabitants, the community within it, both as a group/pack and the individuality within the group.

If you could dance with any company, which would it be?

I am very happy freelancing.

Sydney Theatre
October 17-21

By Linda Badger.

A simply gorgeous feast of diverse contemporary dance! In Neon Lights the truly versatile West Australian Ballet Company brought us a program nothing short of world-class contemporary dance based in their own classic roots. With four very unique, short-medium length works, we got a great choreographic tasting plate of varying themes, styles and intentions.  With all four choreographers being from different countries and cultures, it was great to see all their various works translated by the company.

WA Ballet is a very unique ballet company, in that the dancers have, refreshingly, a vast variety of physiques and strengths. They are not all seemingly cut out of the typical ballerina mould, but display very strong technique and a flair for contemporary work.

The night opened with a piece by the master, Jiri Kylian. Un Ballo, originally created on Nederlands Dance Theater II, showcased his signature style. We witnessed lengthy lines, beautiful formations and stylistically unaffected movement that was breathtakingly beautiful. The partner and group unison movement created almost optical illusions at times, as candles were strung across the stage just above the dancers’ heads as the lighting.  Even though this piece is intentionally about the beauty of the dance and music relationship, it hints at a night out at the ball, with pairs of dancers just enjoying themselves. Some of the dancers struggled to keep the simplicity and presence of this work at the forefront, but overall it was a fairly successful delivery. It would take years of studying to really embody this kind of work, and it is not something Australian dancers get the opportunity to experience much of. Kylian’s work is unsurpassed!

Matthew Lehmann, Fiona Evans & Daryl Brandwood of WA Ballet in ‘Strings 32′. Photo Jon Green

The second work of the night, Strings 32, was by Ivan Cavallari. Strings 32 was based on the different connections we make in life. The intention was shown beautifully through cleverly crafted moments utilizing the prop of retractable rope from many corners of the stage. The rope would stretch and fly back off stage upon being let go. This allowed for so much variety of interpretation, almost like a game. Humour was a strength of this work. The company performed this piece well and their technique was especially strong, with their performance quality really shining through. The use of the prop was quite intricate at times and it was fascinating to see how the theme was woven through this piece, using the strings at times as an extension of the dancers’ bodies, a partner in their movement, as the set or as a prop. Relationships were explored on many levels and by keeping the costuming simple, with the significant use of mostly one prop, the subject matter was able to be explored in depth and expressed beautifully through the movement itself. This work was quite mesmerizing, and beautifully executed, with some gorgeous choreographic moments.

Pre-interval was Spanish choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo’s work Lickety Split. This work was a cute, humorous, romantic, and slightly silly exploration of the quirky side of relationships. It was so much fun to watch, with a very vintage, eclectic feel. There were many non-sensical lyrics in the music but you got the feeling that in the end it was all going to make sense.  The choreographer’s use of quirky humour was a really fun way to break up the night of more serious contemporary dance, and the work left me feeling upbeat and joyful. The dancers got to explore their playful and silly sides. This was the choreographer’s first full-length work, originally choreographed in 2006 for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. It would be great to see some more of Cerrudo’s work in Australia.

The final piece of the night was by homegrown choreographer, Australian Dance Theatre’s Garry Stewart. The Centre and its Opposite, originally choreographed on the Birmingham Royal Ballet, was tailored to classical dancers, using their strength of line and technique as a base for the movement. The work lacked the usual Stewart signature death defying leaps, twists and floor work, but it was still a challenging piece for the dancers. Knowing Stewart’s style, the audience may have been waiting for explosiveness that never came, but the work was a study in movement that would show the strength of a classical company, not their lack of ability to execute his trademark style. The set consisted of the back and sides of the floor being framed by fluorescent tube light-bulbs and the costumes had a Star Trek feel to them, with music that was reflective of Stewart’s usual style.  Overall the dancers performed the work well, although the concentration required of them seemed to slip in moments. However, it was a very long program and they were fairly consistent throughout.

In all, the night was entirely successful with the dancers executing four very unique works. This is a very versatile company and one we should be entirely proud of. Standout performances came from the male dancers, who are definitely a highlight and strength of this company. Their movement was so strong and masculine, whilst very emotive and expressive.  If you get the chance to see WA Ballet, and this unique program, don’t turn it down.