Dance News

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the fourth edition of Dance News. 1991 has been an exciting and busy year so far for the Academy of the Arts Dance Program and there is more in store during the months ahead.

The Head of Program, Sue Street, recently returned from London following a year of post-graduate study at

London's Oty University in the Barbican.

Dance staff and students have been actively involved in providing expertise for and participating in a wide range of community, industry and educational dance projects.

The Program continues to engage national and

international visiting (dance) artists for seminars, workshops, technique classes and

choreographic commissions.

Dance students have received acclaim for the high standard and quality of their

performances, and the

Graduation season, 'Dance 91' promises to live up to these expectations.

One of the Dance Program's highlights is definitly the continued success rate of QUT Dance graduates gaining employment at both national .. :and international levels.

Details are in the Graduate News section.

GRADUATE UPDATE A high percentage of 1990 graduates have been offered employment in the competitive dance industry, whilst others have elected to embark on further study.

From the Associate Diploma course, Tracey Carrodus received a contract with Bris- bane's Expressions Dance Co.

Tuula Roppola joined the Meryl Tankard Co in Canberra and toured to China with them in April. Lisa Wilson received an 18-month contract with Dance North in Townsville, whilst Stephanie Down was engaged for the Queensland Ballet's primary schools touring show. Stephen Davison

worked at 'Dirty Dick's' theatre restaurant before joining the Australian touring production of 'The King and I' in Perth.

Elissa Gibbs and Fiona Malone ventured to Europe, and shortly after arriving Elissa was offered a contract with the International Folkloric Dan- stheatre of Amsterdam in Hol- land, and Fiona recieved a contract with Tanz Forum in Zu- rich, Switzerland. Miranda Lind received a 9-month French Government scholar- ship to undertake further dance studies and training in Paris. . Meg Fitzgerald and Louise Taube are continuing their ·~

studies in the BA Dance course.

BA Dance graduates include K ylie Bates who received a contract with the Australian Dance Theatre in Adelaide;

Helen Leeson and

J

o Pearce

have been actively involved in running community workshops, choreographing and teaching in both the private sector and tertiary institutions.

Annemarie Santorik, Nicole Murphy and Leisa Gill are currently enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Educa- tion whilst Rachel Mathews, after a period of employment on a combined QPAT I QUT community dance project, has been accepted into the Surrey University dance program in the UK to undertake her Mas- ter's degree.

News of past graduates include Debbie Saxon (ADA 1984) formerly with Expressions Dance Co, who has joined the Siobhan Davies Dance Co in London, and toured South America with them. Annie Burke (ADA 1987) formerly with the Tivoli Theatre restaurant and the West Australian Ballet ha.s joined Perth's 2 Dance Plus. Mark Reece, Wendy Kitzelmann (ADA 1987) and Bronwyn Claassen (BA 1988) have joined Mel- bourne's Ensemble Dance The- atre. Richard Woodley (ADA 1985), Tamara Smith (ADA 1987), Wendy Mollee and Kellie Bennett (ADA 1988) have signed on again for the new show at Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast.

Sonja Peedo and Ross Houn- slow (ADA 1989) currently dancing with Expressions Dance Co, have received assis- tance from the 'Premier's Arts Encouragement Award' to assist them in a study tour of major European Dance compa- nies.

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ACADEMY OF THE ARTS, DANCE PROGRAM NEWS

It has been a busy year with an exciting range of projects, classes and workshops involving both staff and students.

The Academy continues to em- ploy high quality specialist part-time staff and a diverse range of guest artists have visited the campus to work with dance students.

Orientation

Forty-three 1st year dance students began the year with an orientation camp at Orristmas Creek. The three days gave the new intake a chance to forge friendships, meet the staff and have an informal introduction to tertiary life. The emphasis was on relaxing and getting to know one another before the commencement of first semes- ter studies.

Orientaton Camp

National Dance Summit Dance lecturers Shaaron Boughen, Kristen Bell and Tony Geeves along with Lou- ise Taube a BA dance student attended the National Dance Summit Conference held in Canberra in April. Throughout the four days of concentrated meetings objectives were for- mulated and strategies planned in a range of areas to lead Dance into the 21st Century.

Academic Staff Development An interesting and innovative approachto dancetechnique teaching methodolgy was initiated early in 1991. Involving six technique teachers from both the classical and contemporary dance areas, the project, coordinated by Dr Gay

Crebert and Trisha Weeks from the QUT Academic Staff Development Unit (ASDU), is aiming to investigate how indi- vidual lecturers may improve class room procedures and

teaching methodology. Using clinical observation techniques and a process of self assessment it is believed to be the first of its type undertaken for dance in Australia. The six staff, Shaaron Boughen, Jean Tally and Janet Donald (contemporary dance) with Graeme Col- lins, Tony Geeves and Sue Leclercq (classical ballet), found the sessions spent with Gay and Trish to be enlighten- ing and so far rewarding. The findings to be published in early 1992 along with r~sults

from similar ASDU projects from other QUT faculties.

Staff Conference

In July all full-time staff from the four discipline areas of Drama, Music, Visual Arts and Dance gathered for a two day conference at the Cedar Lake resort in the Gold Coast hinter- land. Chaired by Academy of the Arts Acting-Head Peter Lavery, it was a time for discussion, exchanging ideas and taking a 'look' at the future di- rection of the Academy. The two days generated a healthy range of views and the chance for staff from the four disci- plines to interact across their diverse range of expertise. Staff also had the opportunity to meet the newly appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts at QUT, Professor Paul Wilson.

The Academy of the Arts looks set to take a leading position in Arts Education and Training within Australia and the Asia/ Pacific region, through quality of teaching and practice, re- search development and the employability of its graduates.

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Kristen Bell with second year students.

Community Dance Project Second year BA students undertaking 'Dance in the Community', Nicole Galea, Leah Doherty, Kim Bew, Ber- nadette Thomas, Miranda Luck, Robert Tannion and Guy Webster, and third year Meg Fitzgerald and Louise Taube, were involved in an 11- week project jointly set up by the Queensland Performing Arts Trust and QUT Dance.

Co ordinated by BA graduate Rachel Mathews, and involving members of the over-50s 'Prime of Life Arts group', the project aimed to explore and exchangeideasthroughthe social dances of yester-year.

Subject co ordinator Janet Donald believed the venture gave the students a better un- derstanding of the broader social contexts of dance.

Dance Therapy interest group In Febuary several dance prac- titioners met to discuss their interest and experience in ap- proaching dance as a therapeu- tic medium for a range of community groups. Workshops were held in 'G' block studio by Dance lecturers, Tony Geeves and Janet Donald.

Tony is a registered Dance I Movement Psychotherapist, whilst Janet has had experience working with a range of community groups including psy- chiatric residents.

Department of Education In-service Training.

In March, lecturers Kristen Bell, Shaaron Boughen, Jean Tally and Janet Donald led various lectures and workshops for Secondary school dance teachers to give support to the trial syllabus in place in Queensland schools. Sessions covered technique and com-

positional process, post-mod- em dance characteristics and process, and discussion on the dance appreciation model by Janet Adshead. In June, Kristen also went to Cairns to conduct an in-service program for teachers in the far north.

Distance Education

As part of a project involving Distance Education for Primary and Secondary teachers, Kris- ten Bell was involved in a tele- vised broadcast on the education network TSN 11 on 'Chance Methodology and Choreography'. Special guests with Kristen were the Premier's wife Roisin Goss and Expres- sions Dance Co's Artistic Direc- tor, Maggi Sietsma.

Consultancy

Initiated by the AADE and sup- ported by the Victorian Ar- thritic Foundation, Lecturer Tony Geeves gave a series of seminars, workshops and classes with an injury management component in Melbourne during June. This inclucied institutions such as the Austra- lian Ballet School, the Victorian College of the Arts, Box Hill TAFE, the Dance Factory and an open community session at the Melbourne Town Hall for over two hundred participants.

In February Tony presented a paper "Unchoreographing the Dancen at the AADE's National Biennial Dance Conference in Perth. Whilst in the Western Australian capital Tony also chaired a section on the "Psy- chology of Injuriesn at the Aus- tralian Council of Physical Health, Education and Recrea-

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tion' s International Conference.

Throughout the year Tony has conducted workshops in Injury Prevention and Management techniques for the Royal Acad- emy of Dancing and the Central Queensland Dance seminar in Rockhampton.

Lecturer, Graeme Collins was invited to New Zealand in January to teach and lecture at a Summer School for the Auck- land Ballet Academy prior to the Royal Academy of Dancing exams. He was also engaged to choreograph a short work for the Auckland Youth Ballet.

In June, Graeme was invited to be guest speaker at a Provis Oub luncheon in Brisbane.

In July Graeme returned to New Zealand to conduct another seminar and teaching program, and to oversee the final rehearsals of his work for the Youth Ballet. Featured on the same performance program was a short contemporary piece by 1st year BA dance student Stacie McGregor, formerly a student of the New Zealand School of Dance.

New Part-Time Staff Professional dancer Fiona Cullen recently returned from the UK where she performed with La Bouche and Ian Spink's Company. Fiona also taught Uoyd Newson's DV8 Physical Theatre and Second Stride contemporary dance company and is now teaching contemporary technique to the students here at QUT. Tiina Ali-Hap- pala a former dancer with the

Australian Dance Theatre, and lecturer at the Western Austra- lian Academy of the Perform- ing Arts, worked with the second year BA students on de- veloping a Dance in Education project which culminated in a performance for high school students at special showings in the Woodward Theatre at the end of August. All the students involved have enjoyed the challenge of working with Fiona and Tiina and the Dance Pro- gram is pleased to be able to attract specialist part-time staff of a high standard with much to offer.

Visiting Artists

The beginning of fhe year saw the Danish teacher Arlette Weinreich a former dancer and repititeur of the Royal Danish Ballet, spend a month working with performance students on excerpts from the 'Bournon- ville' ballet 'La Conservatoire'.

This charming historical ballet

was performed in the 'Dance Collections' season in June. In April, American James Reedy, a former dancer with the Erick Hawkins Company in New York gave a week of modern dance classes and conducted compositioh workshops. Stu- dents found his work challenging as he presented them with a different perspective about their art form and encouraged them to think beyond their own experiences. The same month another American Daryl Gray, took masterclasses in classical ballet. In Australia to choreograph the Queensland Ballet's popular "Pirates! The Ballet", Daryl is a freelance choreographer of both ballet and musi- cals and was a former dancer with Maurice Bejart in Belgium.

He had also worked with the late Bob Fosse. In May QUT Dance was once again pleased to welcome back Lloyd

Newson, Artistic Director of the highly acclaimed London

Nicole Galea, Grant Whitfield, Tammy Meeuwisson.

Choregraphy Auguste Bourn on ville.

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based 'DV8 Physical Theatre'. This was Lloyd's second visit and he is a most popular guest. The students are so invigorated by his modern dance classes and discussions that his influences, always posi- tive and provocative, are long lasting and often evident in students' choreographic work.

Dr Kathryn Kearns of the Penn State University in Philadelphia, visited the campus to discuss the possibility of an ex-

change with a performance group from Pen State. Hopefully the visit will take place in 1992, with the prospect that we will reciprocate in 1993.

Also in May, from Bula-

wayo in Zimbabwe, the troupe 'Black Umfolozi' gave an open workshop of traditional song and dance in our ' G' block studio. Many of the dance students attended along with interested members of the general community. A lively and enjoyable afternoon was had by all. Members of the African troupe were so im- pressed by the enthusiasm of the dance students that they requested an improptu display from the students of the styles of dance they learn, ending in a highly enjoyable cross cultural experience. In conjunction with the AADE, July saw the visit by the Russian Nelli Sam- so nova. A former dancer, repititeur and director of the famous Moiseyev Russian Dance Company, Nelli gave a

series of character dance and classical ballet classes. The classes were a challenge, and through her interpreter, she ex- pressed her pleasure at the high standard of the students and their ability to 'pick up' the complicated and intricate work.

PERFORMANCE NEWS Dance '91

The Graduation performance season for this year promises to display the wealth of talent in QUT Dance students through a diverse, challenging and entertaining program." The ADA first and second year along with the BA performance majors will give performances in Rockhampton and Mackay plus six shows at the Princess The-

atre in Brisbane in No- vember. Two commis- sioned works, one by the Queensland Ballet Artistic Director Harold Collins MBE, and the other by freelance choreographer Pamela Buck- man will be premiered.

Harold, recently returned from a three week choreographic course at the Julliard School in New York, has created a technically demanding, but beauti- ful and studied lyrical work for five couples.

Pamela, recently returned from an Austra- lia Council study tour to Paris and other major European centres, has created a contemporary dance piece for the graduating students.

The season will also feature Dianna Laska-Moore's colour- ful and energetic folk and character dance, comprising a Hungarian Suite of dances and a North American clog dance.

BA co ordinator Shaaron Boughen takes us back to the 'swing' era of the 40's and early 50's, with a juxtaposition of ballroom and contemporary dance styles, featuring for the first time, live accompaniment by the QUT Big Band under the baton of Brad Millard. For performance information and further details, see the back

page.Don't miss out on what is going to be a great finish to the year!!

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Mid-Year Performance Season The most ambitious and suc- cessful mid-year season to date was in June.'Dance Collections', with one performance at the Redcliffe Entertainment Centre and over six sell out nights at the Woodward Theatre on Kel- vin Grove campus, was enthu- siastically received. Sandra McLean of the Courier Mail said -¹¹There are times in 'Dance Collections' when the audience can easily forget this is a production by students".

For this season the Dance Pro- gram was pleased to welcome back 1985 graduate Natalie Weir, now making her name around Australia as a choreographer. Natalie created a pow- erful and energetic work utiliz- ing in particular the strength of the male students. Natalie is currently choreographer-in- residence with The Queensland Ballet.

Dance staff Shaaron Bougen and Jean Tally contributed to the programme with kinetically different displays of contemporary dance, whilst Dianna Laska-Moore again added a delightful folk dance for the first year students. An exciting and pleasing inclusion to the program, were two short works by BA choreographic majors Louise Taube, and Clare Dyson who worked a collabo- rative piece with Visual Arts student Nic Drummond. John Ritchie, star of the Tivoli The- atre restaurant and former musical theatre and nite-club dancer, choreographed and produced the second year ADA students and BA performance majors in the 'musical theatre' section of the programme.

New Moves

Choreographic Season New and innovative work by students from the second year ADA was shown over three nights in early September at the Woodward Theatre. The students were responsible for producing their own dance pieces from inception to the presenta- tion on stage. This is an impor- tantant part of their course which provides them with first- hand experience of choreographing and producing their own work.

Other Performance News Dance lecturer Graeme Collins appeared as a guest artist with the Queensland Ballet in April performing the character role of the ¹¹Major General" in their . production of 'Pirates! The Bal-

let'. In September Graeme embarked on a tour with the company to Adelaide and Can- berra. Also appearing as a guest with the Queensland Ballet in their July Brisbane season was first year ADA student Rumini Atma. Ru was partnered in the Ballet, ¹¹Sum- mer of Our Memories" by 1989 ADA graduate Victor Bramich.

Rumini, Victor and Tony Shep- erd (first year ADA student) danced in the Lyric Opera's production of ¹¹The Pearl Fish- ers" and ¹¹La Traviata" in Au- gust.

1989 ADA graduates Suzan Williams and Rachel Cromp- ton, with 1990 ADA graduates Miranda Lind and Lisa Wilson performed to a gathering of more than 200 media represen- tatives at the opening of the 'Oassic Rugby Season' at Bally

more in March. Lecturer, Shaaron Boughen choreographed a modern dance piece using excerpts from 'Camina Bur ana'. The dancers were very well received with their pas- sionate performance.

Second year ADA students Ni- cole Arthur, Tammy Meeuwis- sen, Peta Harden, Meagen Prior, Jason Sheehy, Grant Whitfield, Damien Hoyle and first year Robert Duckworth performed as guest artists for three performances in August at the 'Gold Coast Entertain- ment Centre' Southport for the Gold Coast Youth Ballet . Nicole, Tammy, Peta, and Meagen all former students of the Ransley Ballet Centre and the GCYB, were very well recieved by their home town audience. The dancers performed an entertaining collage of dances to music by Cole Porter choreographed by staff member Graeme Collins.

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QUT

+ 1991 Audition Information

BRISBANE

Associate Diploma Dance- 25 November Bachelor of Arts Dance- 26 & 27 November G block Kelvin Grove campus

ROCKHAMPTON

Associate Diploma & Bachelor of Arts Dance - 28November

Debbie Parker School of Ballet, Musical Union Hall TOWNSVILLE

Ann Roberts School of Dance (Pirani Hall) CANBERRA

National Ballet School SYDNEY

Bodenwieser Dance Centre

+ DANCE. 91 Performance Information

Featuring first year and graduating students of the Associate Diploma of Dance, with second year and graduating performance majors of the Bachelor of Arts Dance courses.

VENUE- Performing Arts Complex, Rockhampton.

DATES- Thursday 14th November.

TIME - 8.pm.

VENUE - Mackay Entertainment Centre DATES - Saturday 16th November.

TIME - 8pm.

VENUE- Princess Theatre Woolloongabba

DATES- from Tuesday 19th- Saturday 23rd November TIME - 8 pm all performances.