What it Takes to Be a Dance Company’s Artistic Director

By Laura Di Orio.

When an audience sees a performance, it notices the dancers, costumes, lighting, sets and music. But the driving force behind it all, is the artistic director. In a dance company, the artistic director’s role is to fuse all the business and artistic elements of the company and its productions to ensure they coalesce to portray the group’s vision. Dance Informa speaks with artistic directors from three established companies to find out what’s involved in being at the helm.

What qualities does it takes to be an artistic director of a dance company?

David McAllister, Artistic Director, Australian Ballet
I think that an artistic director needs to be a good communicator but an equally good listener. I believe that your motivation should be to facilitate the company to be the best it can be, rather than trying to big-note yourself. I love the fact that the company is the star and I am there to keep that flame burning as brightly as possible. You have to care about the people you work with and have a big ambition for the company you run. Both competing forces somehow need to be balanced.

Peter Boal, Artistic Director, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle
Patience and perseverance. Clear vision helps, too.

Nan Giordano, Artistic Director, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago
Your skills need to be very extensive and cover anything from finding the choreographers or being in rehearsal to working with the board – you have to wear a lot of hats. You have to be efficient and organized. You need to be an inspirational leader. That’s part of what I do – inspire. How I live is how I operate our company – good energy, high energy.

David McAllister and Karen Nanasca, The Australian Ballet. Photo by Jeff Busby

What do you look for in dancers for your company? Is it more than just dance ability? Is character a part of your decision?

Peter Boal
There are a few common denominators I look for in dancers, but what inspires me is the individuality of each dancer. Versatility and an ability to connect with the audience are also key.

Nan Giordano
Of course they have to be a wonderful dancer, but we look for a very specific type of person and the energy they exude during the audition process. We look at the whole picture.

How do you choose your season repertoire?

Nan Giordano
We want to be the trendsetters, to be ahead of the pulse. I like working with new cutting edge choreographers who are just being discovered. We try to do three new works a year. Then I look back at the rep we have and see how it’s all going to tie together. For the dancers, it’s important to keep them challenged and interested, and it’s important to me that they like the rep they’re doing. The more they like it, the more successful the piece will be.

Peter Boal
I look for a balance of respecting the traditions that PNB was built on and adding to the repertory by building collections of works by relevant choreographers – both world premieres and/or new works to PNB.

David McAllister
In an organisation where around 70 percent of our budget comes from box office, the audience needs to be front of mind, but I believe that context is always the way to take an audience on a journey. If you only mount works that are proven to be popular, then the audience never has an opportunity to be surprised and sometimes enlightened by something they may not have seen otherwise.

How do you keep inspired?

David McAllister
By surrounding yourself with wonderful people who challenge and motivate you to be better. The best piece of advice I got from someone when I became Artistic Director was to always employ people who are cleverer than you and could do your job. It is a great way in which to work as you can workshop solutions to problems that on your own seem insurmountable.

Peter Boal
I travel as often as possible to see new choreography and to see other ballet companies. Included in these travels is always a trip to the art museum of whatever city I’m in. It helps keep me inspired.

How do you keep your dancers motivated?

Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. Photo by Cheryl Mann

David McAllister
That is the million-dollar question! I would say to try to provide a respectful, creative and supportive environment in which to work and a repertoire that inspires and is artistically diverse. It is integral to keep the flow of communication as open and transparent as possible and to be honest and timely with your feedback to the dancers individually and as a group.

Nan Giordano
We have a lot of fun together. They’re more than just employees. It’s a supportive environment. I feed them energy, they feed me energy.

Peter Boal
I think the repertory is a great motivator for the dancers. I also make a concerted effort to bring in coaches, stagers and choreographers who I know the dancers will benefit from working with.

What else should people know about being an artistic director?

Nan Giordano
You want to create a good arena so that you can create something great together. Our world really needs beauty, whether it’s on stage or in the classroom, so you need to focus on the positive.

David McAllister
Being an artistic director is the best job in the world. Each day is filled with unseen challenges and joys. To sit in an auditorium and see a dancer outperform their own expectations or to witness the premiere of a work that started with a conversation with the artists involved is a pleasure that has no price.

Top photo: Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal with principal dancer Carla Körbes in a rehearsal for Boal’s new staging of Giselle. Photo by Angela Sterling

Ausdance in association with QPAC presents the AUSTRALIAN DANCE AWARDS 

Spend the evening with Australia’s best dance artists!

Dance lovers take note and mark your diaries now!
For the first time Queensland is to host the annual Australian Dance Awards recognising and honouring outstanding contributions to dance on Sunday 24 July at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC).

Celebrate the amazing achievements in Australian dance in 2010/2011 with the presentation of 12 awards, handed out by well-known personalities. The awards are presented alongside a performance program featuring some of the country’s leading dance artists and companies.

Executive Director of Ausdance Queensland, the state’s peak body for dance, Ann McLean, said she is delighted that the Awards will be held in Queensland for the first time and encourages dance lovers to join the celebrations at QPAC.

“The Australian Dance Awards is the one night of the year when dance creators, performers, educators and enthusiasts gather to acknowledge and honour their peers. It is also a not-to-be-missed opportunity for dance lovers to sample some of the best works of the past twelve months. The Awards are a wonderful opportunity to showcase the diversity and richness of dance in Australia today,” said McLean.

The Awards cover nine categories including “Outstanding Service to Dance” and ”Outstanding Achievement by a Company” as well as “Lifetime Achievement” and “Hall of Fame” awards.  

From its humble beginnings in 1986 as a Dancer’s Picnic organised by Keith Bain, the Australian Dance Awards is now celebrating its 14 ^th year and has grown to become the major event on the national dance calendar, bringing prestige to nominees and winners alike.

Don’t miss this fabulous event showcasing and celebrating the best in the nation’s dance in QPAC’s Playhouse on Sunday 24 July from 7.00pm.
To book your tickets and for more information go to www.qpac.com.au or call 136 246.
Visit australiandanceawards.net.au for more info.

The Nominees for the 2011 Australian Dance Awards will be announced soon so look out for the news in an upcoming edition of Dance Informa.
Dance Informa is a proud sponsor of the event.

The 2011 Australian Dance Awards are supported by Arts Queensland and QPAC.

“What a night of nights! This year’s Awards was a celebration of all things dance by a growing and excited Australian dance industry.”
Dance Informa

“We have won other awards before but these are very prestigious, it’s great for the company.”
Stephen Page, Artistic Director Bangarra Dance Theatre

Image: Photographer/Dancer, Marisa Cuzzolaro

By Jessica Innes

It is said “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” and with tenacity and the right approach, the dream of dancing for a living can become a reality. We all dream of being a Broadway musical star or dancing in a Justin Timberlake video clip, however the sifting process in the performing arts allows only tiny portions of talent to make it through the brutal mill of the industry. So after hours of gruelling training and perfecting of your craft, what options do you have to utilize your hard work? It’s all about making yourself a versatile performer and finding your own niche to flourish in.

TEACHING: This is reliable and fulfilling work that will allow you to develop valuable choreography skills. Approach local dance schools and share your passion with the next generation of dancers. If you have no teaching qualifications look into taking the The Ausdance Skill Set for Teaching Dance as a start. It is a short course that provides experienced dancers and existing dance teachers with the skills and teaching strategies needed to successfully teach dance in community, recreational and social settings (including schools). A University Degree in Dance Education will open even more doors and allow you to teach HSC Dance.

INTERNATIONAL CONTRACTS: Many countries draw from Australia’s talent pool to fill positions on cruise ships, in theme parks, for Bollywood and casinos all over the world. You need to ensure you have a valid passport and are willing to commit to a contract of at least 6 months. Experience other cultures as you dance all over the world!

MUSICAL THEATRE: Triple Threat’s have a huge advantage in this area so develop your singing and acting techniques to increase your versatility. You often need an agent to be put forward for auditions so finding representation is a good first step.

MODELING AND COMMERCIAL: Dancers have the advantage of maintaining a good level of fitness due to regular training and have an increased awareness of their bodies. Many dancers will find they are suitable for modeling and extra work for film or television. Photographers are always looking for amateur models so start putting together a portfolio. Online casting sites such as AT2, Showcast and even StarNow have some great opportunities. Dance Informa also lists opportunities in our AUDITIONS section.

STAGEHAND WORK: Surround yourself with inspiring performances by working backstage or as an usher at a theatre. You’ll save money on buying tickets and you’ll gain valuable contacts that can guide you to the spotlight. TAFE Australia offers many different courses in Lighting, Set Design and Audio Engineering and any additional qualification is an asset to your future.

CREATE YOUR OWN OPPORTUNITIES: You are the master of your own destiny, so if you want to dance and don’t have an outlet, do something about it! Form a crew, collaborate with other artists and put on a community show or make a dance film. Every experience is going to add to your credibility and wealth of knowledge as a performer, so be proactive and put your best foot forward.

We wish you the best of luck with your future endeavours and a successful and fulfilling dance career!

The Emotional Aftershock…

By Elizabeth Ashley.

Wim Wender’s latest documentary Pina is a personal ode to an artist he considers a contemporary visionary.  Those expecting the sunny upbeat style of Wender’s Buena Vista Social Club will find Pina a stark and demanding contrast.

After 20 years as an abstract idea it wasn’t until U2 3D was previewed at the 2007 Cannes film festival that Wenders realised he had finally found the appropriate medium through which to capture the work of Pina Bausch – dancer, choreographer and friend.

Pina’s sudden death on 30 June 2009, just after filming had begun, lends the tone of a requiem to the film even as it attempts to celebrate her work and its artistic impact.

Who is Pina Bausch and what is her legacy to the dance world? Pina the film, is Wender’s attempt to answer this question.

Born in 1940 in Solingen, Germany, Philippine Bausch’s life revolved around the café run by her father where at an impressionable age she witnessed the impact of war on those around her. These confronting memories later come to life as Café Müller, Bausch’s masterpiece.

Her dance training under Kurt Jooss, a leader in the German movement to synthesize classical and modern dance, gave Pina a sense of the freedom to be found in dance whilst building a classical foundation. Importantly during this time was the proximity to opera, music, drama and other arts taught at the school. She earned a study grant to the Julliard School in New York training with Antony Tudor and dancers of the Martha Graham Dance Company before returning to the Tanztheater Wuppertal in 1973 as director and choreographer.

Pina sensed that the world had irretrievably changed and she determined to reinvent the language of dance to release it from traditional confines. Pina Bausch brought dance, theatre and German expressionism together – a blend of raw emotionalism, stark movement, earthly pathos and humour. As Wenders comments ‘it is there to shock you.’

Pina wanted to confront audiences with the teutonic ‘Sturm und Drang’ (storm and stress) of everyday life through her work. The German critic Manual Brug explains her philosophy as “the interpretation of the soul and the battle of the sexes.”

To demonstrate this philosophy in his film, Wenders chose excerpts from four of her 40 works – Café Müller (1978), Rite of Spring (1975), Kontaktof (1978) and Vollmond (2006) within which Pina uncovers a raw humanity fighting for its survival, highlighting the emotionality of the dancing body. As the pieces explore fragile and fraught human relationships we experience moments of unexpected beauty contrasted with our inescapable connection to the earth, symbolised with recurrent themes of falling and slamming up against an indifferent world.

Pina demanded from her dancers an open and authentic response to her vision and ideas, whether that be through dance, song, mime, spoken words or other. Dance technique and young bodies were not prerequisites for this revolutionized language of dance. Some of the Tanztheater dancers have been with the company for 35 years. As Pina said, “I’m not concerned with the way my dancers move, but what moves my dancers.”

Bausch changed dance fundamentally by removing the smiling ethereal ballerina attempting to float above us, replacing her with a fusion of radical interactive theatre, surreal imagery and ‘danced body language’. In contemporary dance today the influence of Bausch is seen in its rawness, relative freedom and willingness to explore a variety of forms so as to expose an internal world. Her influence is also seen in the way choreographers work with their dancers – a 2-pronged process where through improvisation ‘tasks’ the choreographer allows the soul of the dancer to enter the process.

Belgian choreographer Alain Platel was particularly influenced by Bausch; work-shopping ideas in the studio, asking dancers to improvise and drawing on dancers’ personal experiences. “Everyone in contemporary theatre is working the same way…there’s a long, wild period of improv…trying many different things. I was very shaken by the work of Pina.”

Meryl Tankard, Australian choreographer and former Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre (ADT), was a soloist with Danztheater Wuppertal for 6 years. The influence of Bausch is seen through her bringing together dynamic movement, singing, acting and music with a strong emotional content. Works such as Inuk 2 bring to mind Bausch-type themes with dancer/audience interaction, the use of water on stage, dancers crying out and a lack of narrative.

Pina Bausch’s vision for dance was essentially one without borders, adopting theatrical innovations where dancers move amongst the audience, musicians play on stage and multi-media is used. Theatre sets sometimes included piles of earth, rock formations and flowing water.  Her influence and collaboration included such filmmakers as Wenders and Almodovar whose movie Hable con ella (Talk to Her) opens with segments from Café Müller.

Wender’s film Pina is more than a tribute to an artist who was central to his own work.  He has crafted one of the few truly dance-centred films in recent years, seriously taking the challenge of dance to connect with an audience and covey life; in this case a singular life interpreted solely through dance.

For anyone interested in dance this film provides an insight into an artist who demanded authenticity and creativity with single-minded zeal.  While the loss of Pina is strongly felt in the film and throughout the contemporary dance community, her life and artistic vision still continue to inspire artists in various forms.

The film Pina was presented on the final night of the 2011 German Film Festival on 11 April 2011 at the Sydney Opera House. Wim Wenders was in attendance and gave an interview after the screening.

23 August – 4 September 2011

2011 will mark the third year of Sydney Opera House’s Spring Dance – Australia’s only international, contemporary dance festival. Curated by Wendy Martin, highlights of the festival will include a world premiere from Lloyd Newson’s UK-based company DV8, the first ever Sydney performance by Alain Platel’s acclaimed les ballets C de la B from Belgium and Spain’s avant-garde flamenco artist Israel Galvan who will perform in Australia for the first time.

This year Spring Dance will be dedicated to the legacy of Pina Bausch, one of the most influential and innovative choreographers of the twentieth century. Martin said, ‘By showcasing the work of choreographers Lloyd Newson and Alain Platel, we will bring together two artists who cite the enormous influence Bausch has had on their work. This seems like the perfect springboard to explore the influence this iconic dance maker has had on the landscape of contemporary Australian dance.’ A series of films and discussions will look at the singular vision of Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal.

Artwork - Ros Warby, Monumental, photo: L. Tomasetti; les ballets C de la B, Out of Context – for Pina, photo: C. Van Der Burght

In 2011 Spring Dance will take over the Western Foyers with performances in the Drama Theatre, Studio and Playhouse and a series of talks, masterclasses and exhibitions in the Western Foyer and precinct.

Sydney Opera House will host the world premiere of DV8’s, Can we talk about this? choreographed and devised by Artistic Director Lloyd Newson. Like his recent productions that have combined dance with verbatim theatre to tackle social and political issues head-on, Can we talk about this? will explore ideas around freedom of speech.

Alain Platel’s company, les ballets C de la B, will present the award-winning production Out of Context: For Pina. For its first Sydney season, it will include a ‘Pina Intervention’ by acclaimed Australian choreographer Meryl Tankard who was a star of Pina Bausch’s company in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Israel Galvan, the daringly innovative Flamenco artist from Seville will come to Sydney Opera House with the Australian premiere of his award-winning production Le Edad de Oro which uses the techniques and artistry of Flamenco while building on tradition to create a new, pared-back aesthetic for the genre.

Chunky Move returns to Spring Dance with I Like This – a witty and irreverent take on the making of a dance piece, created by two of Australia’s finest contemporary dancers and emerging choreographers, Byron Perry and Antony Hamilton.

The work of Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer Ros Warby has been acclaimed by critics around the world. She will return to Sydney to perform the award-winning Monumental at Spring Dance, in which she explores ideas around two iconic symbols of classical ballet: the swan and the soldier.

And for younger audiences, Sydney Opera House will present The Forest by the UK-based performance company Fevered Sleep. The Forest will reflect their interest in creating design-focused productions that develop theatrical environments to envelop their audience and draw them into a world of fantasy, intrigue, movement and storytelling.

This year’s Spring Dance festival will offer the rare opportunity to be taught by some of the world’s great dancers and choreographers with 6 master classes on offer. There will be a series of panel discussions, hosted by Caroline Baum, with prominent dancers and choreographers looking at Pina Bausch and her legacy. They will be accompanied by a program of film screenings.

Top photo:  Ros Warby – Monumental, Photo: Lisa Tommasetti

A New Baby for Broadway

Broadhurst Theatre, New York City
April 2011

By Deborah Searle.

Still in previews, Baby It’s You is a new show for Broadway with a similar script to the stage and screen hit Dreamgirls. The strength of the show is its infectious sound track of popular 50s and 60s music that has the audience dancing in their seats. With a score of famous tracks like “He’s So Fine,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” “It’s My Party,” “Shout,” and “Rockin’ Robin”, this show is set to be a huge success!

Inspired by the life of Florence Greenberg, the woman who in the late 1950′s took the male-dominated music industry by storm, Baby It’s You tells the story of a woman trying to change her life and the music industry. Along the way she pushes social boundaries, falls out of and in love and changes the lives of four young African American singing hopefuls. On a trailblazing journey from New Jersey housewife to record mogul, Greenberg launched the careers of some of the biggest recording stars of the 50s including one of the greatest girl groups of all time; ‘The Shirelles’, and Baby It’s You is a tribute to her success.

The show starts with a bang, immediately engaging us with an energetic song and dance number and we know straight away that we’re in for an entertaining night. This energy doesn’t falter and after the interval the show starts off again in fine form with an explosive song that draws us straight back into the story.

Tony Award winner Beth Leavel plays Florence Greenberg and is perfect for the role. She is believable, passionate and a consummate performer.  Leavel is backed by a brilliant cast that brings the story to life with impressive acting and piercing vocals. There isn’t much dancing in the show, but Kyra Da Costa as one of the Shirelles, is the strongest dancer of the cast, outshining the other performers with her obvious training and technique, and is a joy to watch.

Although the second act was a little drawn out, overall Baby It’s You is thoroughly entertaining and empowering. It’s the popular music that will drive the audience in, but it’s the convincing acting, interesting storyline and even the backdrop (complete with ever changing imagery across large screens) that will keep audiences strong.

Baby It’s You had me entertained, educated about the 50s/60s music scene, and literally dancing in my seat. Although I didn’t grow up in the story’s era, I enjoyed the show immensely proving that Baby It’s You is a great show for both young adults and Baby Boomers.