By Paul Ransom.

Australia’s peak dance body might not always get your next project funded but Ausdance is busy dancing for your supper; and according to national director Julie Dyson, it’s all about sustainability.

What if there was a service organisation dedicated to dance? Suppose they lobbied government, inaugurated national dance awards and drove research into safe dance practice. What if they were working to ensure a viable, sustainable industry? Suppose they were the champions of dance.

Well, that would be Ausdance, wouldn’t it?

Yet for all that, and a nationwide membership base of two thousand, one question looms large. What can you do for me?

It’s a question that Ausdance’s national director Julie Dyson has heard many times before. “There are serious questions about service organisations; are we competing with artists for the money and all of that. I completely get that,” Dyson states. “But from our point of view we provide infrastructure without which we’d all be much poorer. Who’s going to go and lobby the minister, negotiate the partnerships or publish the books if we don’t?”

As Australia’s peak dance organisation, Ausdance is effectively the industry’s lobbyist and, as Dyson explains, their brief is to sell the sector rather than individuals. “It’s about ongoing advocacy for dance,” she says. “Most people are interested in their own particular aspect of our work. So if you’re an artist or an educator, you want to know what we’re doing for you or your particular area, but what we have to try and do is to marry a lot of those interests so that the whole ecology of dance is represented.”

However, the local dance community (and indeed the entire arts sector in this country) is necessarily fixated on the question of funding. Work that doesn’t involve the signing of cheques or wins that happen in the background often get overlooked. “Our brush is very broad and sometimes that leads to people not quite understanding what we do focus on,” admits the Ausdance chief.

As an example, she cites the inclusion of dance in the national curriculum and its obvious flow-on benefits for dance educators, not to mention the building of a broader based dance culture and, ultimately, more bums on seats. “And it’s largely the work of Ausdance that got it there,” Julie Dyson argues.

To the cash strapped company or table waiting artist, talk of the longer term health of the sector can seem a little removed. From her office in Canberra, Dyson is keen to suggest that playing the game in the rarefied air of the national capital is critical to people’s real world practice. “Understanding how Canberra works is really a big part of our job. We try and stay near to ground and knowing what the political climate is.”

A beat later, she reiterates, “I would never claim that we could help anyone get more money for this project or that. We’re more about getting money for the whole sector.”

To this end, she believes that people in the dance community need not merely to work together but to be more active. “Sometimes you’ll get a company saying ‘where are you up to?’ but actually, ‘where are you up to?’ We’ve all got to be in this.”

For Ausdance projects like the national dance collection (an ever growing archive of film, flyers and other memorabilia), the soon to be published Shaping The Landscape (with thirty five artist contributors) and even the much beloved national dance awards are all part of pooling knowledge, creating networks and celebrating the creative strength of the community.

“Between us we’ve all got a lot of intelligence and I think what Ausdance does is facilitate the sharing of that information,” Julie Dyson expands. With cultural policies and their attendant funding mixes almost always coming for one review or another, the work is ongoing. “We’re all about the sector being connected, viable, sustainable, properly funded and having a profile.”

The challenge for Ausdance going forward is perhaps one of perception, as its national director duly acknowledges. “We need to raise our profile and talk a little bit more about what we’ve achieved. We’re a bit under the radar. The fact that people are still saying, ‘well, what do they do?’ is an indication of that.”

Meanwhile, in their Canberra HQ and their various state offices, Ausdance staff focus on the long term, doing the often un-sexy work of writing submission papers, organising forums, and updating their website. However, visions of highly paid bureaucrats swanning about in airport lounges are, according to Julie Dyson, a tad unfair. “Well, there are only four people in our office, so it’s hardly a bureaucracy,” she jokes.

As for a call-to-action, well, that one’s obvious. “It’s important for the dance community to be proactive,” Dyson declares. “If you have a problem with Ausdance, pick up the phone.”

After all, it takes two to tango. 

Support the organisation that supports the Australian dance industry – Ausdance.
For more information about Ausdance and membership visit www.ausdance.org.au

Dancing your way through high school

By Paul Ransom.

We all know the rules: start early, practise relentlessly, never give up.

Dance is like many things in this regard. Hard work is the bedrock of success; and while we might argue about what constitutes ‘success’ there is no doubting the nature of hard work. Perhaps this is why more and more high schools around the country are now offering young people the opportunity to study dance in a formal education setting. What better way to ally the passion of the dancer with the more defined and perhaps sensible outcomes of the school system? 

Critically, studying dance at high school reduces the need for young dancers to quit school in order to chase their dream. Schools like McDonald College in Sydney, (which has specialised in performing arts since its inception in 1984), are determined to keep artistically minded students in the education mainstream. 

Principal Maxine Kohler puts it simply, “kids change,” she says. “It’s one thing to want to be a ballerina at twelve but by fifteen you may have changed your mind completely … We were very concerned that young dancers were being talked into leaving school and cutting off their academic options. So we’re really keen to see that dancers and all performers have every opportunity to follow their passion whilst still getting an academic education.”

This may seem a rather obvious point to stress but for parents it is remarkably reassuring. “We try to tell students that they’re not all going to make it onto the stage and that’s the reason why they have to have their HSC [Higher School Certificate]. For children these days to be leaving school at twelve or thirteen to do full time dance is simply not necessary.”

QDSE students take a master class with Daniel Gaudiello of the Australian Ballet

North of the border, the Queensland Dance School of Excellence (QDSE) has at its core a similar principle of keeping young dancers in touch with the academic education system.

Graduate and former dancer turned QDSE marketing officer Gabrielle Holden expands the school’s philosophy. “It is common knowledge that a dance career is relatively short compared to other professions and there is always the possibility of obtaining an injury or illness which can end that career suddenly. That is why at QDSE talented dance students are able to pursue their dream at the same time as preparing a realistic plan B.” 

But of course studying dance within the confines of the secondary education framework is not all about ‘having something to fall back on’. Plan B notwithstanding, there’s still the sweaty business of stretches and spandex to navigate.

“Great focus and commitment are required in order to juggle the physicality and intensity of the course with the additional study requirements,” Holden explains. “Fortunately, most students who have experienced the discipline of dance training from early on in their lives tend to be the type who excel in all areas and can commit whole heartedly and strive for the best, even when the pressure is on.”

Maxine Kohler elaborates the point. “Obviously, to be successful in HSC dance you need to have had a dance background but also you need to be consistent and thorough in all the components. You have to apply your intellect too and not just think, ‘oh well, I’m a good dancer so …’

Insofar as tips for prospective students; well, it’s hardly rocket science, but it is hard work. “If you want to be a dancer,” Kohler asserts, “you need to be focused and you need to work hard. You need to listen to the feedback that is given to others and not just to yourself. Be aware all the time. Be ever vigilant and always learn somebody else’s part.”

Gabrielle Holden concurs, adding, “Also, limiting your commitments outside of the dance course and allowing enough down time for your body to rest and stay injury free is imperative to keeping on track.” 

Both QDSE and McDonald College are studiously careful to avoid making promises. A high school dance pass may get you a tertiary entry score but it obviously isn’t a ticket to the ballet.

“HSC dance isn’t necessarily going to get you a job,” Maxine Kohler declares, “but so too it isn’t necessarily not going to get you a job if you’re a good dancer.”

From a parent’s perspective the incorporation of dance into the school curriculum ensures that their teenage children will be kept very busy. McDonald College certainly look to engage their students in rehearsals and productions throughout the year, and as the Principal jokes, “it might be school holidays now, but all our kids are here.”

Clearly, high school dance has come a long way since prom night.