Table of contents for October-November 2018 in Dance Australia

THE Australian Dance Awards took place in Brisbane just as this issue was heading to press. It has been my very great privilege to be a judge on these awards, one of panel of thirteen. Congratulations to this year’s winners and indeed all of those who were nominated. It is a very big and difficult job narrowing down the winners from a pool of such talented artists, but one that brings many of its own rewards. One of the most consistently impressive categories is Youth Dance. The quality of the nominations is outstanding. In many cases the choreography, production and performance are up there with professional productions. I believe that, for the directors and choreographers, having to work with a large group of performers, usually of varying dance experience, often…

BANGARRA Dance Theatre will be showcasing its work overseas this Octovber and November. The company will be touring to India in October and Japan in November presenting “Spirit 2018” in both countries, as well as Waangenga Blanco and Deborah Brown’s I.B.I.S in Japan. Whilst in India, Bangarra will perform in New Dehli, Bangalore and Mumbai, including a free outdoor performance at the Qutb Minar in New Delhi. A highlight of the Australian Government’s Australia Fest program, the performance will be presented at the outdoor complex on a purpose built stage overlooking the main minaret, and will offer thousands of people the opportunity to learn about the history and vibrancy of Australia’s First Nations people. The company will also teach masterclasses and undertake various regional community engagement projects. The tour will…

Most dancers put enormous effort into achieving their best. Training, fitness protocols, injury rehab, rehearsals, performances – dancers often surpass what is necessary in their drive towards excellence. Unfortunately, they often forget one crucial aspect – the body and mind can’t benefit fully from each day’s work without a good night’s sleep. Everyone needs seven to nine hours sleep each night to maintain general health. During intense workloads, a regular 10 hours sleep helps dancers maintain better mood and higher performance levels. Whenever the full 10 hours is not possible, a 30-minute daytime nap improves physical and mental performance. Regular, adequate sleep is essential for the brain, heart and lungs, general metabolism and resistance to disease. Sleep restores motivation and the ability to learn and recall information. It is also…

Returning home from another victory in the Empire’s war, Roman consul Crassus is honoured with gladiatorial games. Spartacus, a Thracian warrior and champion gladiator, will be forced to fight for the amusement of his Roman captors. Broken by years of brutality, Spartacus’ only salvation is his love for his long-lost wife Flavia. Preparing for battle, he learns that his wife is alive but also enslaved by the Romans. Forced to slay a friend in the arena, Spartacus is spurred to rebellion and incites his fellow captives to break free. They force their way into Crassus’s property, rescuing Flavia. Spartacus engages Crassus in hand-to hand combat, but when the Roman loses the fight and threatens Flavia’s life, a struggle ensues during which Crassus’ son is killed. Crassus and his legions eventually…

OF the great historical opera houses of Europe, La Scala is among the greatest. Although ballet is often defined as beginning with Louis XIV of France (1643-1715), in fact it can be argued that Italy is its true birth place. Dance spectacles were being performed in Italian courts from the early 15th century. Italian teachers were seminal in the development of ballet: the great dance technician, Carlo Blasis, gave us The Code of Terpsichore, and his pupil, Giovanni Lepri, handed down the tradition to Enrico Cecchetti, whose method is still taught today. The Imperial Ballet School, founded in 1813, became one of the finest in the world. The history of ballet sparkles with numerous Italian stars, including three of the famous Romantic ballerinas: Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerrito.…

Jody Marshall-Luplau Director of Jody Marshall Dance Company, Perth. I would absolutely expect a mother to come to me if she felt her child was not benefitting from a class and we would get to the bottom of why that was. Sometimes a student might think they have been corrected more than others. But if I don’t pick these things up, the student might equally complain they haven’t been corrected enough. I let them know that I am correcting them because I want them to get the steps right. It’s always a balancing act.…

WHEN Dance Australia magazine last spoke to Joshua Jack Price it was for our “Superstars of the Future” article in 2017. As a result of his performance in the 2017 Prix de Lausanne, Joshua had just accepted a full scholarship to study at the San Francisco Ballet School. Twelve months on, Joshua is thrilled to have been offered an apprenticeship with the San Francisco Ballet, a position which, he explains, is “the equivalent of being a younger and newer corps member”. He says that being an apprentice will give him an opportunity to adjust to company life and the added responsibilities that come with being a company member, while still being contracted, paid and cast for roles. The appointment caps off a year of growth and hard work for Joshua.…

FRESH from starring in The Boy From Oz in Melbourne, international star of the stage and screen Caroline O’Connor has been named as the RAD’s Ambassador for its new Silver Swans program. The Silver Swans program features branded ballet classes created specifically for the over-55s and taught exclusively by Silver Swans licensed teachers. Specially designed for mature dancers, classes help improve mobility, posture, coordination and energy levels and, most importantly, impart the sense of wellbeing that dance brings. Says Caroline O’Connor: “I have been a dancer all my life and see no reason why I shouldn’t keep enjoying dance for many years to come! That is why I am so delighted and honored to be the Patron for the Silver Swans here in Australia. This wonderful organisation encourages people to…

‘Jersey Boys’ is written by Academy Award-winner Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, and is directed by two-time Tony® Award-winner Des McAnuff and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo. ‘Jersey Boys’ was made into a film directed by Clint Eastwood in 2014. The film starred John Lloyd Young, Michael Lomeda, Erich Bergen, Vincent Piazza and Christopher Walken. ‘Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’, opened on Broadway on November 2005 and closed on January 2017 as the 12th longest running show in Broadway history. The show first opened in Australia in Melbourne, July 4, 2009, and went on to play to over 1.6 million people in Australia and New Zealand.…

THE Royal Ballet School (RBS) is holding an “Intensive Course” in Hong Kong from April 17 to 23, 2019, during which all participants can audition for a place in the London school. The course is open to students between 10 and 18 years old. A corresponding Intensive Course will also be held at the RBS White Lodge campus in London in April. Last year, across its two April intensives, the School welcomed 278 students from 34 different countries. Applications are now open: visit www.royalballetschool.org.uk. Closing date: October 17.…

SYDNEY Dance Company and Carriageworks will combine forces to present the fifth incarnation of “New Breed”, a season established in 2014 to support emerging Australian choreographers. “New Breed 2018” will see the creation of new works by independent choreographers Prue Lang and Katina Olsen and SDC company dancers Holly Doyle and Janessa Dufty. “New Breed 2018” plays Carriageworks, 29 November to 8 December. More: www.carriageworks.com.au/  www.sydneydancecompany.com…

AUGUST saw two long-standing artistic directors announce their departures from their respective companies: Chunky Move’s Anouk van Dijk and Expressions Dance Company’s Natalie Weir. “After seven years of leading Chunky Move, a cycle is coming to an end, and I will be resigning as artistic director to pursue other national and international opportunities,” says van Dijk. “Leading Chunky Move has been ... truly one of the most important and meaningful experiences of my career. True to our mission, all of my work with the team at Chunky Move has sought to expand the boundaries of what is traditionally considered dance. I have taken works outside of the regular performance spaces, many of them have involved artists from different disciplines, and all of my projects have strived for a unique and…

Lucas Jervies is an Australian theatre and dance maker, choreographer and director, working across ballet, contemporary dance, cabaret, opera and theatre. A graduate of The Australian Ballet School and the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Jervies danced professionally with The Australian Ballet, Dance Works Rotterdam and Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. He has choreographed works for Australian companies such as The Australian Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, Queensland Ballet, West Australian Ballet, Expressions Dance Company, Melbourne Ballet Company and Opera Australia. Overseas he has made work for Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Louisville Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Korzo Theatre Den Haag, Noverre Society Stuttgart Ballet and CoDarts Rotterdam University for the Arts. Jervies has worked in directing/devising roles with companies/organisations such as Griffin Theatre, Vivid Festival and Sydney Theatre. He was dramaturge for The Australian Ballet’s…

Guest artists appearing in Brisbane David Hallberg (American Ballet Theatre), Leonid Sarafanov (the Mikhailovsky Theatre), and Maria Eichwald (Stuttgart Ballet will join La Scala’s own Nicoletta Manni, Claudio Coviello and Timofej Andrijashenko. Queue for Don Q! On Saturday, November 10, there will be a state-wide audience simulcast of Don Quixote screened live from the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, accompanied by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, including behind-the-scenes interviews prior to the performance. Towns comprise Bundaberg, Long Reach, Mount Isa, Maryborough, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, Townsville and Hinchinbrook. Go to the website for locations. www.qpac.com.au/international-series/la-scala/whats-on/queensland-simulcast/.…

MANY student actors, dancers and musical theatre artists might fantasise about being plucked directly from graduation and cast in a lead role in a major musical, but that dream rarely becomes a reality. Musical theatre graduate Shubshri Kandiah, however, not only realised that dream when she was cast as Jasmine in the Australian production of Disney Theatrical’s Aladdin, but did so as a trifecta. On graduating from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University’s musical theatre program in 2017, the 23-year-old simultaneously landed her first professional gig and her first lead role, playing one of Disney’s feistiest princesses in the stage adaptation of the 1992 animated Disney movie classic. The bonus? Returning to her home state of WA as part of the tour of this popular Broadway hit. Growing up in Perth,…

Jake Burden is founder and director of Ballet Brothers, an organisation aimed at bringing together and supporting all male dancers. He is also a senior ballet and contemporary teacher at National College of Dance, a member of Australian Dance Adjudicators, and a freelance choreographer. He has danced with Singapore Dance Theatre, Leipzig Ballet (Germany) and Magdeburg Ballet (Germany). Whilst living in Germany he also performed in musicals, including West Side Story, Beauty and the Beast, Evita and Hello Dolly. Burden trained at Elmhurst Ballet School in association with Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Hammond School of Dance, and was a Royal Ballet associate.…

A FABULOUS opportunity is available to young Australian dance students early in 2019. On January 13, Carlos Valcárcel, director of dance at the English National Ballet School (ENBS), will be holding auditions in Brisbane for the ENBS Summer School as well as the full-time program. Annette Roselli Dance Academy will be hosting the auditions, which will cater for students 12 years and over for the Summer School, and 15 years and over for both the Summer School and the full-time program. Valcárcel explains that the Australian audition is part of a program to scout for young dancers around the world. “I’m happy to say we have secured auditions in Mexico and Japan, alongside Australia, as well as continuing with auditions in Italy and Spain,” he says. He is passionate about…

FORMER ballerina and Royal Ballet Dance Ambassador, Gillian Revie, has recently been announced as the Patron of bbodance Australasia (formally known as the British Ballet Organisation). The announcement came just days after Revie’s visit to Dance Days Australasia, the organisation’s flagship event for students and teachers in the Southern Hemisphere which takes place every year in Sydney and Christchurch. Founded in 1930, bbodance is an international dance organisation with a large membership in the UK and Australasia. The organisation provides a number of syllabi in Classical Ballet, Modern, Musical Theatre, Tap and Jazz as well as comprehensive dance teacher training. bbodance CEO Robin Bloor says, “I am absolutely thrilled that Gillian Revie has agreed to become a patron. We’re on a mission to modernise, increase our profile in the dance…

1 AUSTRALIAN DANCE’S NIGHT OF NIGHTS There was a lot of love and fellow-feeling at this year’s Australian Dance Awards, the annual celebration of the dance world’s achievements. The Awards were presented by Ausdance at the Brisbane Powerhouse. www.danceaustralia.com.au/news/australian-dance-snight-of-nights 2 AUSTRALIA AND NZ SCOOP THE POOL AT THE GENÉE Young Australian dancer Joshua Green shone brightly at the 2018 Genée International Ballet Competition. www.danceaustralia.com.au/news/australia-and-nz-scoopthe-pool-at-the-gen-e 3 CHANGES AT WA BALLET After four years with the West Australian Ballet (WAB), demi-soloist and choreographer Christopher Hill has made the decision to retire from professional dance. www.danceaustralia.com.au/news/changes-at-the-ballet…

CHUNKY Move’s “Next Move 11” season will feature new works by Lauren Langlois and Joel Bray. As the name suggests, this is the 11th time Chunky Move has presented “Next Move”, a season designed to bridge the gap between emerging and established choreographers by presenting work from up-coming dance makers. Entitled Dharawungara, Bray’s work is a contemporary exploration of the Wiradjuri word for the process of transition. Together with Naretha Williams as songwoman live on stage, Bray will invite the audience into a performance of a looping ritual that maps the emotional trajectory of a boy wrestling with his demons and becoming a man. Lauren Langlois’s work, Nether, looks at an absurd and darkly comic dystopian vision of the future that’s hurtling towards us. A hybrid of contemporary dance and…

EAR Parent, If your child is telling you that they’re feeling neglected in class and would like more attention and corrections, then you certainly need to discuss this with the teacher. Ideally, all students are given equal amounts of the teacher’s attention during class. Of course, that’s the ideal. In reality, a dance class is made up of students of varying degrees of talent, focus, work ethic and social skills and, whether they are aware of it or not, teachers often give some more attention or corrections than others. Even so, good teachers are considerate, and make every effort to spread their attention evenly across the class. There are many ways that they do this – changing the class lines and groups regularly; working in democratic formations like circles; and…

EXPRESSIONS DANCE COMPANY BRISBANE CONTEMPORARY DANCE INTENSIVE. QLD Running twice a year, Expressions Dance Company’s Brisbane Contemporary Dance Intensive (BCDI) is one of the country’s most highly regarded dance training programs. Enter now to win a placement in the popular summer program, weekdays from January 7-18 (must have a sound dance level). Specialising in contemporary technique and repertoire, students work with EDC’s professional ensemble as well as renowned guest artists. There are three streams catering for ages 12+, 13+ and 17+. www.expressionsdancecompany.org.au TURNING POINTE DANCE SA Turning Point Dance is thrilled to give away a place at our Summer School to one lucky winner. Held at our custom-built studio premises in Thebarton, between January 14 -18, this exclusive dance education experience includes access to a variety of styles and techniques…

OSHUA Green has had a stellar year. Exactly two weeks prior to the Sydney Eisteddfod Ballet Scholarship Finals he was awarded a Gold Medal at the Royal Academy of Dance’s Genée International Ballet Competition. Then on Sunday 26 August, the 17 year old dancer was named the outright winner of the 2018 Sydney Eisteddfod Ballet Scholarship (sponsored this year by the Guillermo Keys-Arenas Dance Trust). He was also given the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet’s Performance Award. This is all the more impressive because of his late start in dance just a couple of years ago. Joshua comes from Wollongbar, NSW, and trains at the Karen Ireland Dance Centre with fellow finalist Kayla Van Den Bogert, demonstrating that there is no shortage of ballet talent outside of the major capital cities.…

TWO young Australian dancers have had to keep a very big secret – news of the most exciting offer of their lives. Amelia Townsend (19) from Brisbane and Harrison Lee (19) from Sydney are now finally able to share the wonderful news of their appointment – to the Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme with the Royal Ballet. Both Townsend and Lee recently graduated from the Royal Ballet School (RBS) and started work with the company in August. Lee, who trained in Australia with the McDonald College and the Australian Ballet School (ABS), says, “The messages of congratulations and support have been amazing”. Townsend, who trained with the Annette Roselli Dance Academy in Brisbane and the ABS, says she is also very lucky to have the love and support of family…

YOUNG Australian dancer Joshua Green’s ballet future looks brighter than ever, with his recent gold medal win at the 2018 Royal Academy of Dance Genee International Ballet Competition. This 17-year-old dancer has been training for just two years at the Karen Ireland Dance Centre in Lismore, New South Wales. In that time, he has already completed his Advanced 2 RAD exam. He was the only Australian to make the senior final 20 competitors at the 2018 Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) in New York. He was the outright winner of the 2018 level 6 Jacqueline Moorland (RAD) awards and he won the Dame Darcey Bussell Genee Bursary to attend the Genee, which was held in Hong Kong in August. (Since this article was written he has also won the Sydney…