Dance - May 2008 closing date

This report summarises the outcomes of the meeting of the Australia Council's dance board held on 21-22 July 2008.

Chair's report

We welcomed Elizabeth Walsh and Julie-Ann Long to their first assessment meeting as board members and were expertly supported as usual by participating peers.  For this meeting I would like to thank Jeff Khan and Daniel Daw who assisted the board in assessing applications.

During our policy meeting on July 22, and a previous stand-alone policy meeting on May 19, the board discussed and approved a number of strategies.  We signed off our cultural diversity dance action plan and our communications plan.  We approved a final commitment to the current consortia of Mobile states presenters and discussed future investment in this initiative.  We approved the ring-fencing of funds for the Roadwork regional touring project initiated by the directors of theatre and dance; and noted the success of Sydney Festival in our second major national initiative in audience development,  The board also spent some time discussing the acquittal reports from key organisations and program grant funded companies in preparation for its assessment meeting in September.

The board had noted concerns from the sector about the cessation of the skills development category and requested dance staff research opportunities across Australia for skills development funding.  This has proved a reassuring outcome and the results are presented here for sector use http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/the_arts/dance.  The issue of support for senior artists continues to be of concern to the dance board and we had a focused discussion on this topic.  I will pursue this conversation at the Council table.
 We benefited from presentations from:

• Frank Panucci, the director of community partnerships who updated us on the new opportunities for young & emerging funding; creative communities; and artists residencies in schools & universities
• Louise Walsh, director of ArtSupport Australia
• Tony Grybowski, executive director arts organisations who presented the Anticipating change research report
• Mark Stapleton from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander division- who presented the new Indigenous performing arts protocols which we strongly recommend to everyone within the sector; and
• Sandra Bender, director market development presented a draft of the three year strategy for her section which will shortly be available.

On July 14 Dance Plan 2012  was launched at the World Dance Alliance in Brisbane.  This plan is a truly cooperative effort by the Australia Council and Ausdance National and captures our shared ambitions for the dance sector by 2012.  It succeeds the dance board’s 2006-2008 action plan which is reported against  at http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/filters/dance.

We sadly farewelled Jeff Meiners following six years commitment to the dance board.  Jeff brought a particular rigour to his approach as board member and we also valued his huge knowledge around dance in education and communities.  His contribution will be missed by staff, board members and artists in the sector.

Dominique Fisher
Chair, dance board

New work

Closing date: 15 May 2008

There were 42 applications, with a total request for $1, 118, 089

There were 10 successful applications, totalling $348,536

 

Successful applicants

Narelle Benjamin NSW $29,600 
Narelle Benjamin will undertake a five week creative development of a new work In Glass with dancers Paul White and Kristina Chan and video artist Samuel James.  Julie-Anne Long will act as outside eye for this project which will be undertaken at the IO Myers studio, University of New South Wales.  The piece is inspired by the mirror and how it is viewed and positions in the worlds of myth, art, psychological theory and popular culture.
   
Gavin Clarke SA $48,930
Gavin Clarke will undertake the final development and presentation of a new dance/theatre work A Country Dance in Mount Gambier, South Australia working with dancers Alison Currie, Kelly Alexander, Alisdair Macindoe, Zac Jones and visual artists Josh Fartch.  The work examines and explores the senses and experiences of growing up in regional Australia.  

Esperance Community Arts Inc WA $20,000
Esperance community Arts will create and present a new work TranscenDANCE in Esperance, Western Australia. Under the guidance of artistic director Aimee Smith seven different dance styles will be represented in a choreographed performance including those of the Ngadju Dance Group, Premala Sangarananda, Lyndon Fernandez, Danielle Pender, Michelle Lock, Jen Cooksy, Jenny Muntz, Fiona Ryan, Marie Backburn and Jayne Lee.
 
Katrina Lazaroff SA $22,505 
Katrina Lazaroff will undertake the creative development and showing of a new work Pamona Road Part 3 which stems from personal experience of the Ash Wednesday bush fires in the Adelaide Hills.  Lazaroff will choreograph the piece working with dancers Tim Rodgers, Brook Leeder, Alisdair Macindoe, Laura Trevor and multi-media artist Nic Millison.
  
Lingalayam Dance Company Inc NSW $48,529 
Lingalayam Dance Company will undertake the final stage and presentation of a new work Rasa Unmasked premiering the work at the Casula Powerhouse with a follow-on season at the Studio at the Opera House. Choreographers Anandavalli Sivanathan and Ramli Ibrahim from Suthra Dance Theatre will work with dancers Jennifer White, Navamani Krishnamoorthy, Saipriya Balasubramaniam, Seran Sribalan, Guna Selvadurai, January Low, and musicians Alex Dea, Aruna Parthibhan and Bala Sankar.
   
Next Wave Festival Inc VIC $30,000 
Next Wave will develop and mentor new works by young dance makers for the 2010 Next Wave Festival Kickstart program in Melbourne.  Harriet Ritchie, Jo Lloyd, Bec Reid, Alisdair Macindoe and Antony Hamilton will make up the curatorial advisory panel and the artist selection process will be completed by early 2009 with work in progress outcomes to take place in the third quarter of 2009.
 
Sean O’Brien NSW $25,711
Sean O’Brien will create and produce a collaborative dance film Spirit/Cloud with dancer-choreographers Tony Yap and Agung Gunawan with composer/sound designers Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey.  The filming will take place in Malaysia and Yogjarkata at the end of 2008.  The film explores the idea of ‘melangkoli’ (melancholy) within the body and within memory.
   
STEPS Youth Dance Company Inc WA $22,460 
STEPS Youth Dance Company will present a double bill of new works Epic Battles and Tragic Romance at the Playhouse Theatre in Perth produced by artistic director Sam Fox and associate director Aimee smith in collaboration with Leanne Mason, Richard Cilli.
 
Susan Ridout (Peacock) WA $45,951
Sue Peacock will undertake the final production and presentation of a new work Questions Without Notice at the Playhouse Theatre in Perth.  Sue will engage artists Claudia Alessi, Olivia Millard, Michael Whaites, Stefan Karlsson, Aimee Smith, Aisling Donovan, Russell Leonard, Luke Hickmott and Elanor Webber.
  
Meryl Tankard NSW $54,850 
Meryl Tankard will undertake the creative development of a new work to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and the presentation of the resulting piece Oracle.  Tankard will lead a creative team comprised of Regis Lansac, Paul White and Trudy Dalgleish.  The work had been co-commissioned, and will be performed at, Viva La Long at Illawarra Performing Arts Centre in October 2008 and the Canberra Theatre Centre in May 2009. 

Initiatives and partnerships

Managing and producing services (MAPS)  
For the next three years the theatre and dance boards are together investing $150,000 per year of the $4.8m small-to-medium performing arts funds in the creation of ‘managing and producing services’ (MAPS) to create flexible structures to allow theatre and dance artists to develop and produce work without the need to create their own companies.  We are setting them up in Vic, Qld and WA in partnership with the relevant state funding agencies.  The application and assessment process for all three is now completed.  The successful applicants are Strut & Fret Production House in Victoria, Performing Lines in WA and a partnership between Metro Arts and Brisbane Powerhouse in Queensland. 

For further information contact

Antonietta Morgillo, program manager theatre
Ph: (02) 9215 9107 or
E: a.morgillo@australiacouncil.gov.au

Dance international market development strategy  
2007/08 sees the conclusion of our four year dance international market development strategy which most recently secured positive outcomes through bringing international presenters to Sydney Festival and APAM.  In May we approved an application from Chunky Move for a tour of Glow to the UK, Europe and the USA.  This grant of $40,000 fully expends the four year DIMDS budget of $789,107.  Total international spend over the four years is approx. $3 million.

Mobile States 
The Mobile States initiative provides touring opportunities for contemporary artists and small companies, taking cutting edge arts to audiences around Australia. Mobile States is an imitative of the theatre board and is funded through a partnership between the dance, theatre and interarts sections of Council and is managed by Performing Lines.  Presenting venues include Performance Space (Sydney), Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane Powerhouse, Salamanca Arts Centre (Hobart), Arts House (Melbourne).
Visit www.performinglines.org.au/mobilestates.php for more information.

The dance, theatre and interats sections are committed to this consortium until June 2009 but are currently evaluating this national touring initiative.   For more information contact
John Baylis, director, theatre
Ph: (02) 9215 9109
E: j.baylis@australiacouncil.gov.au

Roadwork 
Roadwork is a partnership between the theatre and dance boards to tour adventurous contemporary dance and theatre to regional Australia.  A consortium of 17 regional venues across Australia have committed to touring two productions a year for three years.  The project is managed by Performing Line.
Please contact Fenn Gordon, Producer at Performing Lines for more information.
T: +61 2 9319 0066
E: fenn@performinglines.org.au

Major national initiative mark 2 
The Board has approved a second major national initiative for dance audience development supported by a $200,000 investment from Council's strategic pool for industry development.  The successful applicant was Sydney Festival.  Following the success of our Movers & Shakers partnership in 2008, the Sydney Festival will focus their 2009 Festival First Night on Australian dance.  Festival First Night is a free event that aims to connect people, the city and the arts. It drew audiences of more than 250,000 in its first year. 

SCOPE 
Securing Career Opportunities and Professional Employment (SCOPE) provides career professional development and education support for dancers throughout their artistic careers and beyond. It is based on the highly successful National Coach and Athlete Career and Education (NCACE) program that helps elite athletes to develop their careers in sports and transition into other areas. It is a partnership between the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Sports Commission and Ausdance.  Funding for the SCOPE program ends in February 2009.
Visit www.performinglines.org.au/mobilestates.php  for more information.

Meeting participants

Dance board members
Dominique Fisher, chair (Vic)
Claudia Alessi (WA)
Frances Rings (NSW)
Julie-Anne Long (NSW)
Jeff Meiners (SA)
Elizabeth Walsh (TAS)

Peers
Jeff Khan (Vic)
Daniel Daw (SA)