Indice dei contenuti per June-July 2018 in Dance Australia

ONE hears many anecdotes about auditions. Here are three. One: a dancer attended an audition in one state for a company based in another state. She was offered a position on the spot – verbally. However, the artistic director refused to sign anything or give any details until the dancer travelled to the company’s headquarters at her own expense. Two: a dancer was offered a position in a contemporary dance company, only to be subjected to an interview so heavy with sexual innuendo that it was clear that dancing was not all that was on offer. Three: a dancer attended a music theatre audition, got as far as the final line-up of eight, then had to pull out when asked to execute a simple tap step. She hadn’t done her…

BANGARRA Dance Theatre’s latest work, Dark Emu, is inspired by Bruce Pascoe’s award-winning book of the same name. Exploring the vital life force of flora and fauna in a series of intertwined dance stories, Dark Emu is directed by Bangarra’s artistic director, Stephen Page. Collaborators include Steve Francis (music), Jacob Nash (sets), Jennifer Irwin (costumes), Alana Valentine (dramaturgy) and Sian James-Holland (lighting design). ‘Dark Emu’ will premiere in Sydney in June, before travelling to Canberra, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. More at www.bangarra.com.au .…

Dancers are athletes; too often the balance of artist and athlete isn’t carefully maintained for the individual to optimise their greatest potential. The extremely physical nature of dancing professionally requires them to be at peak physical fitness for majority of the year, unlike other elite athletes who experience their “off” seasons. For this reason, it is essential to complement any dancer’s technique and performance work with strength and conditioning training. Dancers often over-train, under-eat and have imbalanced hormones. We need to eliminate weaknesses and reduce the risk of injury. Strength training benefits: • Improves muscle strength • Greater capacity to load muscle • Develops lean muscle mass • Improves flexibility and balance for optimal performance • Prevents injury • Improves movement control for barre, centre practice & allegro • Improves…

THE talented and multifaceted troupe at Sydney Dance Company (SDC) gained two new faces at the start of this year – Ariella Casu and Victor Zarallo. These dancers both hail from overseas, both charming and charmed by their new circumstances. I caught up with them not long into SDC’s 2018 season, at the company headquarters in Walsh Bay. It is always a reminder, when greeting people new to this company, just how extraordinary and exotic SDC’s location is – headquartered in these cavernous historic wharves, built with massive, lanolin-soaked beams, a lattice of wood and glass, jutting into the glistening, flashing water. Zarallo is Spanish. He grew up in Sitges, a coastal town near Barcelona. At the age of 15 he was a champion ballroom dancer. At the various competitions…

1978 VCA established in new, purpose-built studios in Southbank, with Anne Woolliams as dean. Bachelor of Arts and Diploma of Arts in Dance established. 1978-86 Anne Woolliams, dean of VCA School of Dance, incorporating VCASS Secondary School. 1987 Garth Welch, acting dean. 1988-97 Jonathan Taylor, dean of School of Dance. 1991 Bachelor of Arts in Dance (Performance) established. 1992 Graduate Diploma of Arts and Master of Arts in Choreography established – first postgraduate courses in Australia, based on the recommendation of the 1991 National Dance Summit. 1998 Sir Ken Robinson curriculum audit, “A VCA Curriculum for the New Millennium”. 1998-99 Acting head of dance, Maggie Lorraine. 2000 - Jenny Kinder appointed as head of VCA Dance. 2003 Implementation of Bachelor of Dance with Common Curriculum, delivered by Centre for Ideas,…

LOUISE Deleur is a respected Australian dance artist. She has been a professional dancer in both classical and contemporary companies, has worked internationally as a coach and choreographer and has directed her own company, Lucid Dance Theatre, in Brisbane. In 2015 and 2018 she has been involved at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne, the annual international classical ballet competition held in Switzerland, as a choreographer (the only female choreographer) and coach. Over her time in the profession, Deleur says, she has come across many dancers who may not fit the classical mould “yet often exceed some of their classical peers in many other qualities essential to the contemporary dance profession” and are definitely highly employable. “Many companies in Europe that often have ‘ballet’ in their title are actually doing repertoire…

Nick Len gets a job in record time. I graduated from Patrick Studios Australia in 2012. My last audition was for the Broadway transfer of The King and I to the West End in London. This audition was a little different to most as there was a very quick turnaround time. Normally, auditions are spaced over a few weeks/months, but I received a call from my agent saying they were casting the entire show within one week! My first round was a dance call where we learnt a few sections of the big ballet number, one straight after another. People were then cut and asked to come back to dance later in the day. They were so specific with what they wanted and there was no time for niceties –…

AS a professional dancer, I am always equipped with my headshot, resume, audition out-fit and sheet music, so at the drop of a hat I could step in front of a panel and give it all I’ve got. I was taught at Spectrum Dance to always be prepared to look and do my best even with the shortest preparation time. After hearing about the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line audition through Spectrum Talent Agency, I attended an open call audition. The audition involved first technical progressions across the floor in pairs, followed by a contemporary routine performed in groups of four. I was successful in getting through to the last round, where I was asked to then attend a second audition day for the panel to hear me sing. Spectrum Talent…

INCREASINGLY Australian dance companies are providing opportunities for their dancers to exercise their creative muscles by staging seasons of work by emerging choreographers. For a dancer like The Australian Ballet’s Jill Ogai, who made her choreographic debut in the company’s 2018 “bodytorque.atelier” season earlier this year, such programs may be the first step on the path to a career as a maker of dance. West Australian Ballet dancer Christopher Hill has choreographed a number of works in a professional context. A program like WAB’s June “Genesis” season, a mixed bill of works by the company’s dancers, allows him to further develop his creative skills whilst continuing a performance career. Christopher Hill Christopher Hill trained initially with his mother in Melbourne, then the Australian Ballet School and London Studio Centre. He…

HEARTBREAKING, frustrating and confusing, just three of the terms used to describe the impact of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) Student Loan eligibility cuts that have plagued the dance, musical theatre and acting sectors over the past 18 months. For VET students, their families and the training organisations that deliver these qualifications, the past couple of years have been a complete rollercoaster – and the nightmare ride doesn’t look like it will end any time soon. Recap Late in 2016, the Federal Government announced cuts to VET Student Loan eligibility across a range of dance, musical theatre and acting diploma and advanced diploma courses (Dance Australia reported these cuts in the Feb/ March 2017 edition). At the time the cuts were announced, Minister for Education and Training, Simon Birmingham,…

SYDNEY audiences will have the opportunity to see Ballet Preljocaj’s Snow White at the Sydney Opera House, June 6 to 10. The French company performed the work at QPAC Brisbane as part of the 2016 Brisbane Festival. A modern day interpretation by French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, Snow White features costumes by haute couture designer Jean Paul Gaultier, sets by renowned artist Thierry Leproust and musical excerpts from Mahler symphonies. Preljocaj conjures imagery from the Grimm Brothers’ original 19th century fairy tale, set around the innocence of a character with “skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony” against the envy, deceit and obsession of her stepmother Queen. “I was very keen to tell a story, offer…

EXPRESSIONS Dance Company’s “4Seasons” program showcases a mix of work from local, interstate and international choreographers, with new works from Dominic Wong (assistant associate director, City Contemporary Dance Company, Hong Kong), independent Sydney-based choreographer Kristina Chan, and EDC’s artistic director Natalie Weir. 2018 is Weir’s 10th year with EDC and during this time she has focused on building international collaborations, particularly with Chinese dance makers. “I’m very excited to be presenting a season of truly international new dance works with City Contemporary Dance Company,” she says. “Our practice has been refined by the new ideas and ways of working that come from cross-cultural collaboration. Each work will sensitively meld and reflect our different cultures and backgrounds. It’s a fitting celebration marking 10 incredible years with EDC. Partnership across art forms…

2018 is shaping up to be a groundbreaking year for Australian Dance Theatre. The company has moved into the upgraded Odeon Theatre in the inner city suburb of Norwood in Adelaide and is launching two initiatives that promise to impact significantly on the South Australian – and the Australian – dance community. The first is the inaugural Adelaide Dance Festival, 8-21 July, timed to coincide with “Panpapanalya”, the joint congress of the Dance and the Child International and World Dance Alliance’s Global Education and Training Network. The festival will feature the Australian Ballet in a season of David McAllister’s The Sleeping Beauty, the premiere of Lina Limosani’s The Spinners, and the Adelaide premiere of ADT’s The Beginning of Nature. Other festival events include a collaboration with the SA Museum; Freestyle…

“After my career I had always imagined returning to Australia. This opportunity from the National Theatre Melbourne to come back and work with a group of students; really focusing on the foundation of their technique and give them the knowledge to explore and experiment with their individual facility, is really exciting.” Having begun his training at the tender age of 9 Damian graduated from the MacDonald College in Sydney before being accepted into the prestigious School Of American Ballet in New York City. Damian was invited as a guest artist to perform with companies such as the Boston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, Ballet Du Nord and the New York City Ballet, but it was the San Fransisco Ballet where Damian was Principal Dancer for over…

I BEGAN ballet at the age of five at the Amanda Bollinger Dance Academy in Queensland. Under the guidance and wonderful training from Miss Amanda, I began auditioning in 2016/2017 for a variety of schools around America and Europe via video audition. In September, 2017, I accepted a place at the Junior Company of the Kirov Academy of Ballet and moved to Washington, DC, to further my classical training. Here, I have been preparing for company auditions, both in-person and video. Over the past couple of months, I have travelled around DC and to places such as New York and Boston to participate in on-site auditions, some of which were call-backs from the first audition process of a video. My video audition demonstrated two stage performances of contrasting classical variations…

I BEGAN my training at the ripe age of three at ED5International Part-time School and furthered my training completing the Advanced Diploma of Performing Arts at the prestigious ED5International Full Time College owned and operated by Elena and Mario De Cinque and William Forsythe. These two years were the hardest, yet most rewarding, and under the guidance of incredible mentors such as director William A. Forsythe and lecturer Leslie Bell, I attained countless skills and life lessons that would help me in my career as a performer. Back in February I travelled down to Melbourne for the Royal Caribbean audition. I know what you’re thinking – travelling interstate for an audition, are you crazy? -- not necessarily! You see, Royal Caribbean only audition once or twice a year, and this…

KYNAN Hughes tells the story of his successful audition for one of the country’s most prestigious dance companies with customary self-deprecating humour. Although he had always wanted to dance with Sydney Dance Company, when an audition opportunity came up shortly after the appointment of current director Rafael Bonachela, he felt like it was “out of [his] league”. After encouragement from friends, he sent in his application on the day of the deadline. At the time he was working with Leigh Warren and Dancers in Adelaide. “So I flew in to Sydney and I walked into the room and there were all these hardcore, amazing dancers in their unitards,” Hughes recalls. “The audition was intense. We did a ballet class first. I was right at the front of the room because…

DO • Be sure to always introduce yourself to the director (especially if auditioning privately) and take a spare copy of your resume with you. • Pack spare dance gear (classical and contemporary) and music (on CD) for your audition. • Take your passport to each audition with you as some companies like to scan it if they are interested. • Do carry a battery pack with you incase your phone dies (highly recommended). DON’T • Take a suitcase if possible. I suggest a big “backpackers” backpack that is easy to transport up and down stairs and through the snow. • Rely on being able to wear a skirt. • Book your accommodation and transport too far in advance unless you are sure that your schedule won’t change. In saying…

Kristina Chan MOUNTAIN CAMPBELLTOWN ARTS CENTRE APRIL Filled with imagery that lodges in your subconscious. MOUNTAIN is the second instalment in a trilogy of works conceived by dancer and choreographer Kristina Chan. Whereas the first work of the trilogy, A Faint Existence, is an hour-long solo, Mountain is a 40-minute work for three dancers, choreographed and performed by independent artists Kristina Chan, Melanie Palomares and Marnie Palomares. Like A Faint Existence, Mountain deals broadly with the effects of climate change but does so in subtle scenes which are open to interpretation, requiring the audience to engage imaginatively with the material in order to “read” their own interpretation of it. It starts off slowly. The aforementioned three dancers in white have taken their places on an unadorned stage before we, the…

SYDNEY Eisteddfod has announced a new ambassador, Royal Ballet principal dancer Alexander Campbell. Campbell won the second scholarship in the Sydney Eisteddfod Ballet Scholarship in 2002 and is thrilled to be able to support the competition and its aims. “I have had a long and special relationship with the Sydney Eisteddfod and it is a real pleasure to be formally recognised as an ambassador,” he says. “The wonderful thing about the Sydney Eisteddfod is that there are many different positive experiences that you can take from participating or even just watching. Young and emerging artists should enter the Sydney Eisteddfod as it is a wonderful opportunity to perform on stage in front of an audience.” Considering his own time as a candidate, he remarks, “There are too many wonderful memories…

1 ‘BILLY ELLIOT’ IS COMING BACK! Young male dancers had better start practising – a new production of Billy Elliot has been announced for Australia! Billy Elliot the Musical will hold its 10th anniversary tour in 2019, opening in Sydney. www.danceaustralia.com.au/news/billy-elliot-iscoming-back 2 QLD BALLET’S TERI CRILLY RETIRES After more than 10 years one of Queensland Ballet’s most recognised and loved dancers, Teri Crilly, has decided to hang up her pointe shoes and retire from the stage. www.danceaustralia.com.au/news/qld-ballet-s-teri-crillyretires 3 VALE PETER BROWNLEE (1929 – 2018) For 17 years, from 1978 to 1995, the general manager of Britain’s Royal Ballet was an Australian – Peter Brownlee. His passing is mourned by dancers and administrators alike, from around the world. www.danceaustralia.com.au/news/vale-peterbrownlee-1929-2018…

ADVICE from David McAllister, artistic director of The Australian Ballet (pictured). “Don’t be late, and if you are delayed make sure you have a contact number to let the company know of your predicament. Makes sure you introduce yourself to the teacher taking class. Make sure you wait until the class is starting to take a place on the barre as many dancers will have a preferred place to stand at the barre and may arrive at the last minute. Don’t push forward in a company class and get in the way of the principal dancers. Don’t wear too much make-up and crazy dancewear, clean lines and no ‘junk’ will always be appreciated. Ladies, pointe shoes are a must for a classical ballet company.” See our full audition feature on…

WHEN Ashley Wallen, a commercial jazz dancer, left Australia to “give London a go” at age 24, he only planned to go for six months to “see what happened”. Fifteen years on he has the most incredible body of choreographic work to his credit, including the Golden Globe winning movie The Greatest Showman; shows and film clips for artists such as Kylie Minogue, Sugababes and Alesha Dixon; the West End/Broadway/Australian productions of Ghost – the Musical; and the reputation for being the man behind the moves of T-Mobile’s famous Liverpool Station flash mob. Wallen grew up on the Gold Coast and started dancing around age twelve. “I used to dance around the house non-stop,” he recalls. “My mum said, ‘We should put him into some classes’.” Wallen’s mother came good…

Number of dancers in company? 51 dancers in full ensemble including Jette Parker Young Artists (and two trainees). Salary range (entry level)? Entry level starting at $52K as per the Queensland Ballet Dancer Enterprise Agreement. Do you audition individual dancers? Yes, we do individual auditions but really only mainly for overseas candidates as they have different yearly calendars to us. What is the best way to apply to audition for your company? Through our website or by sending through a CV and video footage if overseas. Usual length of contract? 12 month contract – calendar year. Do you hold annual auditions? If so, what is the usual time of year? Yes, we hold open auditions in September. Type of dancer you are looking for? We’re seeking versatile, technically strong, artistic…

NE of my auditions was for a group-with-solo contract with Zurich Ballet, Switzerland. Having sent my CV to numerous companies in Europe, I received an offer for a private audition. I turned up, was pointed towards the dressing rooms, and followed the other dancers into the building. They displayed varying degrees of friendliness (mostly not very) and I was at once shocked and relieved by how little notice they took of me. I found a place at the barre at the back of the studio next to some dancers who appeared younger. Towards the end of barre the director entered the room, a terrifying man of terrifying size who demanded his dancers display an impossible combination of lasse-faire beauty and technical perfection at all times. I felt like I displayed…

Alegria Dance Studios Wooolloomooloo, NSW  Course: Classical Full Time Course. Auditions: arranged privately and at any time throughout the year. www.alegria.com.au Amanda Bollinger Dance Academy Southport, Qld Course: Elite Half-Day and Full-time Programs including Certificate III/ IV in Dance. Auditions: Acceptance by private audition only. www.vaganova.com.au Annette Roselli Dance Academy Tingalpa, Qld Course: Annette Roselli Dance Academy Fulltime Elite Training Program. Audition: Sunday 16 September or by private audition throughout the year. www.annetteroselliballet.com.au The Australian Ballet School Southbank, Melbourne, Vic Courses: After School Programme, Levels 1 to 3 (Unaccredited) Intrastate/Interstate/International Training Programme (ITP), Levels 1 to 3 (Unaccredited) Full Time Programme, Level 4 (Unaccredited). Diploma of Dance – Elite Performance, Levels 5 & 6 (2 year course - CUA50113) Advanced Diploma of Dance – Elite Performance, Level 7 (1 year…

SECURE balance is one of the hallmarks of a dancer. We have all experienced the sense of dread that grips us as we watch a dancer who is not completely in command of their centre when balancing. The lovely long lines of a “pulled-up” balance convey a sense of confidence and poised strength. Similarly with turns: we seek the assuredness that allows for a smooth, tranquil rotation or the dynamism of multiple, bravura spins. These feats are achieved through hours in the studio – holding balances (sometimes with our eyes closed), engaging our core, maintaining turnout and remembering to breathe. In contemporary practice we use these accumulated skills but also turn them on their side (often literally). Whilst in classical we rely on a catalogue of set shapes for our…