Dance in Australia

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Dance in Australia includes a very broad variety of styles, from Indigenous Australian to the traditional Australian bush dance and from classical ballet, and ballroom dancing to contemporary dance and multicultural dance traditions from the 200 national backgrounds represented in Australia.

Notable Australian dancers have included Edouard Borovansky, Robert Helpmann and Paul Mercurio

The Australian Dance Council (or Ausdance) is the peak body for dance in Australia with the Australian Dance Awards being offered since 1997.

Indigenous Australian dance

Australian Aboriginal dancers in 1981.

Traditional Indigenous Australian dance was closely associated with song and was understood and experienced as making present the reality of the Dreamtime. In some instances, they would imitate the actions of a particular animal in the process of telling a story. For the people in their own country it defined to roles, responsibilities and the place itself. These ritual performances gave them an understanding of themselves in the interplay of social, geographical and environmental forces. The performances were associated with specific places and dance grounds were often sacred places. Body decoration and specific gestures related to kin and other relationships (such as to Dreamtime beings with which individuals and groups). For a number of Indigenous Australian groups their dances were secret and or sacred, gender could also be an important factor in some ceremonies with men and women having separate ceremonial traditions.^[1]

The term Corroboree is commonly used in general Australian culture to refer to Australian Aboriginal dances, however this term has its origins among the people of the Sydney region. In a number of places Australian Aboriginal people will perform "corroborees" for tourists.

In the latter part of the 20th century the influence of Indigenous Australian dance traditions has been seen with the development of concert dance, particularly in contemporary dance with the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association providing training to Indigenous Australians in dance and the Bangarra Dance Theatre.

See also: Songlines

Other varieties of dance

Sir Robert Helpmann.

Bush dance has developed in Australia as a form of traditional dance, it draws on traditions from English, Irish, Scottish and other European dance. Favourite dances in the community include dances of European descent, such as the Irish Céilidh "Pride of Erin" and the quadrille "The Lancers". Locally originated dances include the "Waves of Bondi", the Melbourne Shuffle and New Vogue.

Many immigrant communities continue their own dance traditions on a professional or amateur basis. Traditional dances from a large number of ethnic backgrounds are danced in Australia, helped by the presence of enthusiastic immigrants and their Australian-born families. It is quite common to see dances from the Baltic region, as well as Scottish, Irish, Indian, Indonesian or African dance being taught at community centres and dance schools in Australia.

Still more dance groups in Australia employ dances from a variety of backgrounds, including reconstructed European Court dances and Medieval Dance, as well as fusions of traditional steps with modern music and style.

The Australian Ballet is the foremost classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by the English ballerina Dame Peggy van Praagh in 1962 and is today recognised as one of the world's major international ballet companies.^[2] It is based in Melbourne and performs works from the classical repertoire as well as contemporary works by major Australian and international choreographers. As of 2010, it was presenting approximately 200 performances in cities and regional areas around Australia each year as well as international tours. Regular venues include: the Melbourne Arts Centre, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre and Queensland Performing Arts Centre.^[3] Robert Helpmann is among Australia's best known ballerinos.

Baz Lurhmann's popular 1992 film Strictly Ballroom, starring Paul Mercurio contributed to an increased interest in dance competition in Australia, and a number of popular dance shows including So You Think You Can Dance have featured on television in recent years.

Major dance companies

Those dance companies funded by the Major Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council and from state arts agencies are:

• Ballet companies
  • The Australian Ballet
  • The Queensland Ballet
  • The West Australian Ballet
• Contemporary dance companies
  • Australian Dance Theatre (Garry Stewart
  • BalletLab (Phillip Adams)
  • Bangarra Dance Theatre (Stephen Page)
  • Chunky Move
  • Company In Space
  • Dancenorth
  • Descendance
  • Expressions Dance Company
  • Force Majeure (Kate Champion)
  • Lucy Guerin Inc
  • Mirramu Dance Company
  • Phunktional
  • Sydney Dance Company
  • TasDance
• Youth dance companies
  • QL2 Centre for Youth Dance
  • Extensions Youth Dance Company
  • Urban Ignition Youth Dance Company

Post secondary dance education

NSW:

• Macquarie University (North Ryde)
• National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA)
• University of NSW (Kensington Campus)
• The Australian College of Physical Education*
• Wesley Institute

Victoria

• Australian Ballet School (Senior School only)
• Box Hill Institute (Centre for Performing Arts)
• Deakin University (Melbourne Campus, Burwood)
• Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne)
• Victoria University of Technology (Footscray Institute
• The Space Dance and Arts Centre (Prahran Melbourne)

Queensland

• Queensland University of Technology (Kelvin Grove Campus)

South Australia

• TAFE SA's Adelaide Centre for the Arts a member of the Helpmann Academy

Western Australia

• Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Edith Cowan University)
• Youth Ballet Centre of Western Australia

List of operating dance companies

A-C

• Ambition School Of Dance
• Anything Is Valid Dance Theatre
• The Australian Ballet
• The Australian Choreographic Centre
• Australian Dance Theatre
• BalletLab (Contemporary dance company - Artistic Director, Phillip Adams)
• Bangarra Dance Theatre
• Buzz Dance Theatre
• Canberra Dance Theatre
• Chunky Move

D-M

• Dance Exchange
• Dancenorth
• Dance Works
• Dancehouse
• Descendance
• Expressions Dance Company
• Force Majeure (dance company) led by Kate Champion
• Igneous
• Kage Physical Theatre
• Leigh Warren & Dancers
• Mirramu Dance Company
• Move Through Life Dance Company

O-Z

• One Extra Dance
• The Queensland Ballet
• Raw Metal Dance Company
• Restless Dance Company
• Strange Fruit
• Sydney Dance Company
• TasDance
• Tracks Dance Theatre
• The Dance Collective
• Visible Dance
• West Australian Ballet
• Wu Lin Dance Theatre

Defunct companies

• Australian Choreographic Ensemble (ACE) (1992 - 1998) founded by Paul Mercurio

Notes

1. ^ Dance in Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia, Volume 1 pp. 255-7
2. ^ http://www.australianballet.com.au/about_us/history
3. ^ http://www.australianballet.com.au/about_us

References

• Dance in Australia - a profile (a 1MB PDF file) by David Throsby, Professor of Economics at Macquarie University.

External links

• The Dance Collection, Performing Arts Collection, the Arts Centre
• Ausdance : the Australian Dance Council
• Australia Dancing, a directory of dance resources in the National Library of Australia and National Film and Sound Archive
• Australian Performing and Media Arts magazine
• Artfilms: contemporary Australian dance on film