Table of contents for October-November-December 2021 in Dance Australia

REMEMBER Prime Minister Scott Morrison spluttering over the word “barre” at the start of the pandemic? He clearly had never encountered it before. I don’t condemn him for that, but it was an example of how quickly our politicians have had to acquaint themselves with the multitude of variety of activities that make up our “economy”. No doubt they have learnt a great deal over the past couple of years. Dance has been tricky to categorise under pandemic restrictions, and especially dance schools. How do you classify them under the blunt instrument of shutdowns? They come in so many shapes and sizes. They are like sports clubs, but with the athletics held in doors. They are recreation or hobby providers; they are serious elite training institutions. They are held in…

Q I’m looking at moving into a leased/hired premises. What insurances other than Liability and Professional Indemnity should I consider? A: One cover you should consider is a Business Property Package. When moving into a leased premises you should always speak to your broker about any insurance clauses included in the lease. The lease will usually set out the types of insurances that the landlord requires you to hold, for example, Glass cover (or Plate Glass in some leases), Public & Products Liability and whether you are responsible for any fit-out that already exists at the premises. You will also need to consider insurance for your own business assets such as damage to your fit-out, flooring, contents and stock (computer equipment, mats, equipment, costumes, uniforms, etc.), theft of contents and…

THIS year’s Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships have been announced, and three dancer/ performing artists are among the lucky nine to have received the generous award. Jo Lloyd, dance (Vic), Eric Avery, music/dance (NSW) and Latai Taumoepeau, performance art (NSW) have been recognised alongside Alison Murphy-Oates (NSW), cultural leadership; Ellen van Neerven (Qld), literature; Hoda Afshar (Vic), photography; Joel Ma (Vic), music, multi-artform performance art; Michele Lee (Vic), theatre writing; and Tjungkara Ken (SA), painting. Lloyd is a highly respected, independent, Melbourne-based choreographer, performer and teacher. Avery is a Ngiyampaa, Yuin, Bandjalang and Gumbangirr artist renowned for being a classically trained violinist and composer as well as a professional dancer. Taumoepeau is a body-centred performance artist. Her work has been described as sitting between dance and visual art. Each Fellow is…

• Almost 2,000 people applied to be in the cast of 34. • There are over 70 different songs mixed into the show’s musical score. • Instead of dividing the ensemble between “male and female”, the show uses the more inclusive references of “skirts and tails”. Bree Langridge is swing for the six “skirts” and David Sirianni is focussing on learning the “tail” roles. • Ensemble member Emma Russell wears eight different costumes throughout the show. Alinta Chidzey, who plays Satine, has 16 costume changes. • Over 50 artisans have created more than 200 costumes for the Australian production, including some original designs that aren’t in the Broadway show. • Baz Lurhmann’s film Moulin Rouge was released in 2011. • Moulin Rouge! The Musical choreographer Sonya Tayeh was nominated twice…

WE all sympathise with the performers who are forced into a frustrating lack of activity during lockdowns. But what about the people behind the scenes who are holding the companies and productions together? When a show is suddenly taken off the stage, the dancers might go home, but the people in the office go into overdrive. Take Bangarra Dance Theatre, for instance. The company’s usual schedule is to undertake one regional tour in the first half of the year and then one national tour to most capital cities in the second half of the year, presenting a major new work. The pandemic has put paid to that. Last year’s tour was cancelled altogether and this year’s was cut in half. The management and administration team has had to handle the…

• Helen Rawlings – National Curriculum Co-ordinator, Australian Dance Vision. Originally from the UK, Helen has extensive experience across a diverse range of students, dance styles and learning environments. • Kym Degenhart – studio owner/ director of Bom Funk Dance Studio in Jerrabomberra (NSW/ ACT). She is an ATOD (Australian Teachers of Dancing) affiliate teacher and ADA teacher member, as well as a published author and part-time school teacher at Namadgi School, teaching Kindy to Year 10 Dance. Ausdance ACT Vice-President. • Lisa Clark – (LRAD, ARAD, AISTD, RAD RTS, Dip Dance Teaching and Management). Owner Lisa Clark Dance Centre for 31 years. Chairperson of RAD ACT/Riverina Regional Advisory Panel and boardmember of Ausdance ACT. • Valeria Alonso – Founder and Creative Director / Choreographer of El Ritmo in Adelaide.…

• They pulled back completely from allegro at the beginning of last year which was frustrating for a lot of the students. We then started to add a little bit in but it [the outcome] is a bit of an unknown. • The school did a risk assessment of the students’ home practice areas. Based on available space and varied conditions, the teachers almost had to bring training back to the lowest common denominator [to stay safe]. Training also had to be tailored to students’ available strengthening equipment [2] • ABS has a triage clinic for injuries. This was flipped to on-line, where students made an appointment, and a plan was made and communicated to teachers. “Students have had to be quite self-aware to be able to answer the questions…

WE know that dance schools are everywhere and that, everywhere you go, kids (big and small) love to dance. Out in the regions, in country towns and locations, they are often as popular as any sports club, bringing the community together, providing enjoyable recreation, catering to children’s creativity and imagination, exposing them to music, art and theatre, and opening up their young minds to career possibilities. Many regional schools are the seeding ground of international talent. Dance schools, like the local sports club, are a gathering place for children and adults alike, but, unlike the local sports club, their importance often goes unnoticed. For this feature, we asked readers to nominate a regional school they would like to see featured in Dance Australia. We received an overwhelming number of suggestions…

AN intimate affair with minimum scenic elements, “Bespoke” not only showcases dancers in movement that deviates from the classical canon, but also allows a linear snapshot in one program of the company ranks from Young Artist to Principal. This year the QB Pre-Professional Program students also performed – in the opening work, Caravanserai, by Paul Boyd. Inspired by the ancient Silk Road and the inns (or caravanserai) scattered along it, Boyd’s work is in seven movements for 14 dancers – the women in f lame-coloured, f lowing harem pants and tops, the men bare-chested and in black fisherman’s pants. Scenic elements help evoke the exoticism of the middle east, as draped swags rise and fall to denote each movement. The lighting, designed by Cameron Georg across the whole “Bespoke” program,…

GARRY Stewart’s Objekt was scheduled for its mainstage Adelaide debut in June 2020, but the Covid pandemic led to the season being cancelled. Originally created as a commission for tanzmainz, the resident contemporary dance company of Staatstheater Mainz, Germany, in 2016, it has actually been shown in Adelaide before: ADT mounted a version with the participation of Adelaide College of the Arts students that same year and presented it again as a once-off studio showing last year when the company was just emerging from lockdown. But this season marks the first fully professional staging of the work in its entirety in a major theatre, with the nine ADT dancers joined by company alumnus Lina Limosani and independent dancer Sam Hall. Stewart is credited with the conception, direction and set design…

SYDNEY Dance Company is making a welcome return to life in November: on screen, on stage and on-line. On screen is Years, “a meditation on the layers of legacy that shape both our past and our future”, choreographed by Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela (pictured) and featuring solos from SDC’s ensemble. Set to Stephen Emmerson’s reimagining of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for two pianos, Years was produced in lockdown and filmed in SDC’s new Neilson Studio Theatre. It will be free to watch on SDC’s website on November 4-6 (register online) but it will also be available to view globally, presented in partnership with South East Dance in the UK. Emmerson will play alongside renown pianist Sonya Lifschitz. On stage will be the company’s annual season of new works, “New Breed”, from…

Sydney Dance Company’s Executive Director Anne Dunn is to step down after almost 12 years in the role. Dunn has been appointed Executive Director and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Sydney Theatre Company. Serena Chalker has been appointed Creative Producer of Strut Dance National Choreographic Centre of WA. The Victorian College of Arts has two new lecturers joining the new Master of Dance and revitalised BFA Dance: Cara Hagan and Brenton Surgenor. Hagan is an internationally established artist and scholar from New York. Aotearoa-born Surgenor is a leading specialist in somatic education, choreography and dance science. Grace Carroll, a former pupil of Tanya Pearson Academy (NSW), the Paris Opera Ballet School and the Royal Ballet School (UK), has joined The Australian Ballet. Australian Primrose Kern has joined the Boston Ballet, as…

Bangarra has announced its new production for 2022: Wudjang: Not the Past. The company will join forces with Sydney Theatre Company to present the world premiere of what it is describing as “an epic-scale contemporary corroboree, and Bangarra’s largest stage production to date”. Wudjang: Not the Past will bring together 17 dancers, four musicians and five actors and combine poetry, spoken storytelling and live music with Bangarra’s unique dance language. Directed and choreographed by Bangarra’s Artistic Director Stephen Page and co-written with award-winning playwright Alana Valentine (Bangarra’s Bennelong, Barbara and the Camp Dogs), Wudjang: Not the Past promises to be a outstanding start to the new year. Dates: January 14 to 12 February as part of the Sydney Festival.…

A clear, well-written and well communicated social media policy for all dance schools cannot be underestimated. Dance Australia asked our interviewees for tips on how to set boundaries on social media usage by parents and students. • Once your policy has been set and communicated, you have to follow up on any deviations or violations. Our policy includes no posting without the permission of every student who appears in the photo or video. This has been effective in controlling what has been posted from classes by parents. Students are not permitted to take photos/videos in dressing areas. – Lisa Clark • I don’t allow phones in class. I don’t like to post a lot of photos of the kids on my own studio social media accounts. – Valeria Alonso •…

TWO Australian performers have made their debut at the Lido in Paris. After 18 months of theatre closures in France, the two showgirls received their promotion to the principal position called “Sublime”, the most esteemed title in the company. From Orange, NSW, Leah Dominiak has been in high demand ever since she left home at age 18 to take her first international contract. Six years later, she heard about the new revue at the Lido de Paris and jumped at the chance to try out. Auditions were held in Amsterdam, London, Berlin and Paris with hundreds of hopefuls attending each one. Dominiak was one of the select few chosen to be the original cast of Paris Merveilles. “I am proud to represent the Lido as one of their principal dancers,”…

DANCE Australia readers will no doubt be aware that the Australian production of Moulin Rouge! The Musical is due to open in Melbourne as soon as COVID restrictions allow. Based on the Baz Lurhmann film, the musical version will revisit the love story of courtesan Satine (to be played by Alinta Chidzey in Australia) and aspiring composer Christian (Des Flanagan) when they cross paths at the dance hall at the heart of Paris’s bohemian underworld in 1899. As in the film, dance will feature strongly in the musical version. Of course the famous cancan is a highlight, but audiences might be pleasantly surprised to discover dance is also integral to the show’s storytelling. It presents an exciting opportunity for dancers and dance fans to indulge in Sonya Tayeh’s Tony-nominated choreography.…

LEANNE Benjamin has had a brilliant career. In a way it is a classic story of a dream come true – little country Queensland girl becomes top international ballerina. But, like all such stories, the path to the top was not as smooth as it appears, with complications and crucial decisions and just a little bit of fate thrown in. It takes a special combination of things to become a great ballerina – the right body and the right facility, of course, but also the right circumstances, the right people, and the determination, intelligence and courage to do honour to the great talent you are born with. Benjamin’s story is even more extraordinary too in that she did not follow the classic script and retire at around 35, but continued…

AS a dancer, you get used to living with uncertainty as a constant companion. Will I get the exam grade I’m aiming for? Will I get injured? Will I get cast in my dream role? Will I make it at all? You can never be quite sure what your next months or years will have in store for you. While you do get used to this feeling of “what next?”, you also need to learn to live alongside it in a healthy and accepting way. In this article, I’m going to talk about three key steps that can help you deal with the lingering questionmark over your future and gain the confidence to think past it. Maintaining motivation and a long-term vision isn’t easy at the best of times; mid…

THE use of touch to correct dancers can be a fraught issue in this day and age. But in an art form like dance which is so centred around the body itself, many dance teachers would agree that some form of touch is virtually unavoidable. This is the case especially when explaining the detail of a specific movement or position and especially if the students in question have not responded to multiple attempts at verbal instruction. Or is it? Four dance teachers from different styles of dance and syllabus organisations spoke individually with Dance Australia to explain how they use touch with children of different ages so that you, the reader, can reflect on how you use touch with your own students. The majority of dance students are children, and…

Q: I am aware that my corrections can be misread as critical of my student’s body and have unintended consequences. Can you advise on ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ words or phrases? Aside from the obvious, such as avoiding comments about sticking out tummies, bottoms and wobbly thighs, teachers can guard against misunderstandings by keeping their corrections scientific and specific, using musculoskeletal principals and terms. “So, a teacher might say ‘flatten your tummy’,” Fumi advises, “when what he or she really means is they want the pupil to engage their core muscles, or their deep rotator muscles. Use a model to point to the areas, rather than touching students’ bodies.” When referring to concepts such ‘lightness’ and ‘heaviness’, a good approach is to teach dancers how that ‘lightness’ is achieved. To appear…

Music theatre a newfound love Bree Stephens studied at ED5 International in Sydney and is now a dance teacher, among other things. Did your original career aim change from when you started your studies to when you graduated? I switched through many career path ideas during my course at ED5 International, from dancing on cruise ships to becoming a singer. It wasn’t until my second year at ED5 that I discovered my love and passion for musical theatre. I have been fortunate enough to fulfill my passion with Royal Caribbean International Cruise Lines performing Grease and Hairspray. I have to thank the incredible directors of ED5 – William Forsythe, Elena De Cinque and Mario De Cinque – for their unconditional love and guidance because without these mentors I wouldn’t be…

“I spent the first act waiting for someone to speak or sing – it never occurred to me that ballet doesn’t (typically) include the voice!” You have played piano, violin and oboe since you were a child, sing in a chorus and play the pipe organ. Where did this interest in music come from? Mum and Dad definitely got me interested and have been very supportive of my pursuit of music studies throughout my entire life. Mum’s a nurse and midwife while Dad’s a plant operator. Both play piano – Mum learnt classical piano as a child but hardly plays anymore while Dad plays a little but can’t read music – he plays by ear (usually “numbers” he likes from the radio). While Mum and Dad enjoyed hearing me play…