Innholdsfortegnelse for April-May-June 2021 i Dance Australia

FORMER Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s furious repudiation of Opposition Leader Tony Abbot in parliament has become famous, resonating around the world. Now, on the 10th anniversary of the so-called “misogyny speech”, contemporary dancer Natalie Allen will be presenting her own solo response. Called Julia, the work is created in partnership with theatre producer Sally Richardson, and draws on the parliamentary record, media reportage and public commentary around Australia’s first female Prime Minister. It is a portrait of female leadership, personality, power and the body politic. Julia will run May 20 to 26 at the State Theatre Centre, WA.…

LIKE many events lately, the Irish dance show Eireborne had to be postponed. However the show now has a new schedule and will tour Australia over two months starting in Melbourne on August 20 and finishing on the Gold Coast on October 30. Eireborne is described as a “rock show production showcasing 15 incredible Irish dancers rockin’ out to a soundtrack of the biggest hits from Irish sensations” including U2 and the Cranberries, performed by a live six-piece band with two lead vocalists. Eireborne is an Australian production co-produced and choreographed by tap dancer Peta Anderson who specialises in fusing Irish with tap dancing. “Eireborne allowed me to push the boundaries as the choreographer and revolutionise Irish dance,” she says. The show's rebirth is thanks to the Commonwealth Government’s Rise…

Ashley Wright’s choreographic highlights include: The Elephant has left, This Room, l’Opera de Lyon (2015). Because it’s not going to come to a Beginning, 2016 Festival Tanz Theatre International Hannover. May Contain Traces Of, a collaboration with dancer and composer Tadayoshi Kokeguchi, commissioned by Les Subsistances Laboratoire International de Création Artistique, Lyon (2017). In April 2018 she worked alongside French film director Christophe Honoré for the world premiere of Don Carlos for l’Opera de Lyon.…

USUALLY in January/February each year, a hundred or so aspiring young dancers come together in Switzerland to compete in the Prix de Lausanne, one of the oldest, prestigious and yet most dynamic ballet competitions in the world. But, like all the big international competitions, that was out of the question this year, due to the global pandemic. Not to be deterred, the Prix went virtual, with dancers competing via video submissions. The competition was as fierce as ever, with a record participation of 399 applicants from 43 countries. Only the nine judges, overseen by Richard Wherelock, Director and Head Choreographer of the Ballett Basel, were on site. They chose eighty-two for the first round. This group was then narrowed down to 20 finalists. For audiences, the video presentations were streamed…

IN response to concerns over varied and conflicting audition requirements requested of students auditioning upon graduation, the artistic directors of the 21 professional schools formed a committee to explore the possibility of creating standard pre-selection guidelines for auditions. This committee examined the wide range of practices in the dance community and, after careful deliberation, created and proposed specific guidelines to serve as a first step in pre-screening applicants for prospective company auditions. The committee was of the opinion that the adoption of these guidelines would enable schools and their students to channel their resources in an efficient manner without compromising the interests of dance companies. To date, 50 classical companies and schools have endorsed the protocols. This means that should you audition for the companies that have endorsed /signed up…

THE brilliant English choreographer Liam Scarlett has died at his home in Ipswich, England, on April 16. He was 35 years old. A cause of death has not been given at press time. Scarlett was one of this generation's most sought-after classical choreographers until he was accused of sexual misconduct early in 2020, after which he disappeared from public life. Scarlett was the Royal Ballet’s artist in residence. He was also appointed artistic associate of the Queensland Ballet in 2017, and that company performed a number of his works to great acclaim. The accusations involved students at the Royal Ballet School, though an independent investigation concluded there “were no matters to pursue”. Nonetheless, most companies withdrew their commissions and his works from their repertoire. The news was been met with…

WITH theatres in WA returning to 100% audience capacity, the West Australian Ballet will return to the Crown Theatre stage in Perth in the first time in over a decade with its acclaimed, award-winning masterpiece, Dracula. Premiering in 2018 to sell-out audiences, Dracula is the creation of Polish choreographer Krzysztof Pastor. The music is an arrangement of the soundtrack of Wojciech Kilar’s famous score from the 1992 feature film starring Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder, with sets and costumes by English designers Phil R. Daniels and Charles Cusick Smith complemented by Jon Buswell’s atmospheric lighting design. Artistic director Aurelien Scannella will return to the stage for the final time to perform the role of Old Dracula, mirroring principal dancer Matthew Lehmann’s Young Dracula. Following the 2018 opening, Scannella’s creative team…

Imogen Chapman Soloist, The Australian Ballet Hailing from the vast rugged plains of the West Australian outback, Imogen Chapman has had a curious trajectory to the bright lights of Melbourne. As a child, she was exposed to dance through a tiny rural ballet school called Eda Dance, one that lacked even a permanent studio space. An interstate move to continue her training at the Australian Ballet School soon led to an international upheaval for the whole family when Imogen was offered a full-scholarship to train at the Royal Ballet Upper School in London for three years. To hear about Imogen’s journey from the Australian bush to Covent Garden and then to The Australian Ballet one cannot help but imagine a life full of wonder. A feel-good movie montage comes to…

Andy Blankenbuehler’s Tony Award for Hamilton is his third – he also received one each for the Broadway productions of Bandstand and In the Heights. For Hamilton he has also received the 2018 Kennedy Center Honor and an Olivier Award. Other Broadway credits include Bring It On, 9 To 5, The People in the Picture, The Apple Tree, Annie and the recent revival of Cats. Upcoming theatre projects include the new musical Only Gold with British singer/songwriter Kate Nash and the musical Five Points. On TV, Blankenbuehler’s work has been seen on the FX series Fosse/Verdon. He choreographed the recent Universal Studio film of the musical Cats. Blankenbuehler recently premiered his first ballet, Remember Our Song for the Tulsa Ballet.…

The six Prix de Lausanne 2021 winners were: Antonio Casalinho (17) Portugal, Luca Abdel-Nour (17) Egypt, Andry Jesus Maciano (16) Brazil, Seojeong Yun (17) South Korea, Shunhei Fuchiyama (18) Japan and Ashley Coupal (18) Canada. Other prizes were: Best Young Talent: Andrey Jesus Maciano; Contemporary Dance Award: Antonio Casalinho and Rui Cesar Cruz (18) Brazil; Best Swiss Candidate: Luca Abdel-Nour; Web Audience Favourite Award: Luca Abdel-Nour. There were 399 applicants (318 girls and 81 boys). Forty-one competed in the video round, of whom three were Australian. As well as Charlotte, there was Morganne Speirs and Levi Miller, both from Tanya Pearson Academy in Sydney. One NZ applicant was selected: Keira Hall from Mount Eden Ballet Academy.…

Academy of Music and Performing Arts (AMPA) AMPA has two locations, one campus in Alexandria, Sydney and the other in Surry Hills, Sydney. Courses: Bachelor of Dance, Associate Degree of Dance and Bachelor of Music (Music Theatre). The admissions process is audition based and these are organised directly through our admissions board and will be one on one with our Head of Dance, Dr Maya Gavish. www.ampa.edu.au Alegria Dance Studios Woolloomooloo, Sydney NSW Courses: Full Time Classical Course. Prospective full time students will spend a day with present fulltimers participating in all the classes and various dance genres as well as one theory class, so they can be fully assessed. www.alegria.com.au Amanda Bollinger Dance Academy Southport (Gold Coast), Qld Courses: Junior/Intermediate Training Programs (5-12 yrs): In-class Auditions by arrangement; Part-Time/Full-Time…

McMicken’s first job was as a drama tutor at Arena Theatre, Melbourne. He danced with Jacqui Carrol's Dance Group Adelaide, was a founding member of Tasdance, Director of St Martins Youth Dance Company, and founded Storm in a Teacup Dance Theatre in the early 1980s. Tim Newth trained as a visual artist and moved into being a director who works in dance, theatre, and community arts. Based in Darwin since 1988, Tim is well known for creating spectacular outdoor performances in diverse spaces that connect people, place and culture. Both artists received AMs in 2014.…

THIS portrait is of the legendary ballerina Tamara Karsavina (1885-1978) and is by French painter Jacques Émile Blanche. One of a handful of portraits that exist of the Russian dancer, it has been gifted to the Royal Academy of Dance collection in the UK, through the generous support of a group of donors: The Linbury Trust, Lord and Lady Sainsbury of Preston Candover, Sir Simon and Lady Robertson, Mr Roger Harrison and Mr Kerry and Mrs Dimity Rubie. Born in St. Petersburg in 1885, Karsavina’s early career saw her dance with the Imperial Ballet alongside Anna Pavlova, before appearing with the Diaghilev ballet in 1909 as “perhaps the greatest of Russian dancers”. She came to London, joining the founding committee of The Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing of Great…

AN exciting new venture has started – the Sydney Choreographic Centre.Co-founded by internationally acclaimed dancer, choreographer and artistic director Francesco Ventriglia and managing director Neil Christopher, the centre opened in March and has already held a debut performance season, called Grimm, performed by the resident performing group, the Sydney Choreographic Ensemble, composed of Alex Borg, Ariella Casu, Holly Doyle, Brittany-Jayde Duwner and Victor Zarallo. The SCC is temporarily based in the inner-city suburb of Zetland. It will run a number of programs aimed at mentoring the next generation of choreographers. Italian-born Ventriglia was a dancer at La Scala in Milan, then artistic director of the Florence Opera House Ballet, then artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet from 2014-17. From 2018 until 2020 he was adjunct artistic director at…

DURING LOCKDOWN: I read Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. THIS YEAR I’M EXCITED FOR: the dynamic new energy that comes with a new director. The transition to new AD David Hallberg has been smooth, and the excitement is palpable! TO ME DANCE MEANS: experiencing life through movement and telling stories. TO BE MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS: I am minimal about my dance wear and put anything I don’t wear anymore into a pile of second-hand dancewear in the dressing rooms for recycling/rewearing!…

The lobby organisation www.yellowface.org was founded by Georgina Pazcoguin, New York City Ballet soloist, and Phil Chan, arts administrator and educator, with a pledge, “… to achieve a diversity among our artists, audiences, donors, students, volunteers, and staff” and eliminate “outdated and offensive stereotypes of Asians (Yellowface) on our stages”. Numerous artistic directors have signed its pledge, including Stanton Welch, Robert Curran (Louiseville Ballet), David McAllister, Li Cunxin (Queensland Ballet), Kevin O’Hare (Royal Ballet) and Kevin McKenzie (American Ballet Theatre). https://www.yellowface.org/…

EARLY in 2020 Sara Ouwendyk did what thousands of dancers before her have done – she set off on an overseas audition tour. She chose the wrong year. Two short months into her trip the pandemic was placing its ugly grip on the world and her plans were brought to an unexpected end. Ouwendyk hails from Perth and had spent a happy year at the West Australian Ballet before trying her luck overseas. “From as long as I can remember,” she says, “I always wanted to take it outside of Australia and see the world.” She took off for Europe on January 8 with about five auditions lined up. As she explains, most companies don’t confirm their auditions with applicants until two or three weeks before the date, so the…

How many dancers in ‘La Traviata’? We have 20 dancers in the cast – 10 male and 10 female. How many auditioned? We had an overwhelming amount of submissions and saw about 200 dancers on audition day. When were the auditions held? Auditions were held in November, 2019. We were completely oblivious as to what 2020 had in store for us. This is when the very first cases of Coronavirus were breaking out in China. What were you looking for? There are a number of different styles in the show so I needed strong and versatile dancers with solid technique and experience in partnering. Outdoor venues like ours require strength, power, projection, precision and the ability to fill space. There are no walls or ceiling to assist in bouncing energy…

There were more than 2000 audition submissions for the Moulin Rouge open call. 479 performers were auditioned to fill 34 roles. Due to Covid, the usual 50 per group to audition (in New York) was reduced to 15 in Australia. The auditionees could take off their masks when in small groups of three or four but not for partner work. The final auditions were held in front of a panel in Australia and live-streamed to the creative team in New York. The CEO of Global Creatures, the producer of Moulin Rouge, is Carmen Pavlovic. " If things were normal", Pavlovic told Dance Australia in August last year, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical would have been through the Tony Awards and would now be celebrating a year on Broadway”. Instead the Australian…

THE word “independent” seems so powerful. It suggests agency, self-sufficiency and freedom. We seek to achieve independence in so many ways — personally and financially. Yet the world of the independent dancer often strives toward these ideals without any of the securities attributed to being an independent agent in the world. Indeed, as any dancer or independent artist knows, stability, financial gain and even acclaim may not be readily forthcoming. According to government website joboutlook.gov.au, the average weekly salary of a full- time dancer or choreographer is $1,366 gross. However, only 42% are employed full-time. And presumably these are company or commercial dancers with permanent contracts, unionisation and award wages. None of this applies to independent dancers, who essentially work from project to project and trade stability for creative freedom.…

You were born in Japan but moved to France and Spain when you were still young. Why? I grew up in Kanazawa, a very small town in Japan. I had grown up watching the European method of ballet, and had my heart set on moving overseas to learn it. Although my ballet school in Nagoya had a team of talented teachers, my dream was to be a professional ballet dancer for an international company. I competed in a ballet competition in Japan, where Dominique Khalfouni was one of the judges. She invited me to come train with her at her ballet school in Paris, so at 15 years old I moved halfway across the world. After training with Dominique for a year, in 2010 I moved to Spain and studied…