Image credit: The Promised Land, Christina Simons for Jill Orr.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
www.dancehouse.com.au | www.dancehousediary.com.au
TABLE OF CONTENTS DANCEHOUSE IS DANCEHOUSE SEEN BY AN ARTIST ……………………….. 4 A SNAPSHOT OF DANCEHOUSE IN 2014 .....……...…………... 5 AUDIENCE AND PARTICIPATION ..……………………… 6 CHAIR’S REPORT ….........…………….. 7 ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S REPORT ….........…………….. 8 MANAGEMENT & STAFFING STRUCTURE ….........…………….. 9 2014 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ….........…………….. 10 DANCEHOUSE 2014 ARTISTIC PROGRAM ARTISTIC PROGRAM IN A SNAPSHOT ……………………….. 11 KEIR CHOREOGRAPHIC AWARD ..……………………... 13 DANCEHOUSE INVITES .………………………. 17 DANCE TERRITORIES ............................. 20 HOUSEMATE PERFORMANCE ....……………………. 22 DANCEHOUSE INTERNATIONAL ..……………………… 23 NON-CURATED SEASONS ..……………………… 24
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT LEARNING CURVE ……………………….. 25 WORKSHOPS ..……………………... 26 CAPACITY BUILDING ...…………………….. 27 HOUSEMATE RESEARCH ...…………………….. 28 SPACE GRANTS ..……………………… 29 YOU AND DANCEHOUSE AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT .………………………. 30 DANCEHOUSE DIARY ...…………………….. 31 COMMUNITY OUTREACH ...…………………….. 32 PUBLIC CLASSES ...…………………….. 33 MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT MARKETING REPORT ............................. 34 MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS ...…………………….. 35 CONNECT! ............................. 40 OUR SUPPORTERS ............................. 42 OUR PARTNERS ............................. 43
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“I love working at Dancehouse. Maybe it is because of the many times I have been privileged with returning. Or because of the way the building holds the might and richness of so many intelligent voices over so many years. Then again it could the way Angela Conquet’s insight as artistic director mark it, in my experience, as one of a few dance centers worldwide that has the uncanny vision and ability to support new, developing, and experienced artists with the same generosity and care. The staff too allows for a smooth delivery into and through production and events. It is a dance world treasure”. -- Deborah Hay
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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DANCEHOUSE AS SEEN BY AN ARTIST My name is James Batchelor and I am a young choreographer based in Melbourne and Canberra. In 2014 I had the pleasure of working with Dancehouse on a number of projects including the Housemate Residency Program, Keir Choreographic Award, Rotary Youth Arts Program and the first-stage development of a new work FACES. The way in which Dancehouse fosters the development and growth of artists in a supported and nurturing environment stands it apart from any other organisation in the dance sector. As a young artist, I was genuinely surprised to be selected as the 2014 Performance Housemate and extremely humbled that Dancehouse had the confidence and courage to support me at such an early stage in my career. From the very first meeting with Angela and the team, it was clear that Dancehouse was genuinely interested in supporting me not just in a single project but in the development of my ongoing practice. This knowledge gave me the confidence to tackle challenging and ambitious projects in 2014 that would push me to achieve well beyond my expectations. Dancehouse have played a major role in what has been a career-defining year. The work I made as Housemate ISLAND was recently nominated for 2 Green Room Awards, and won the Green Room Award for Concept Realisation. With a second season in Canberra, ISLAND won the ACT Arts Award (Dance) for 2014. The development of ISLAND has also led to further opportunities. After seeing ISLAND in Canberra, the director of the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Sciences has invited me to join an international research expedition to map remote islands in the Southern Ocean in 2016, a project for which I have now gained support from the Australia Council’s Creative Australia program. With my Keir Choreographic Award commission, I was able to continue my research using a radically different approach, which has now become a new major series of work called METASYSTEMS that I am developing with support from Arts ACT and City of Melbourne as well as across residencies in Asia and Europe. Dancehouse has been absolutely instrumental in this process of taking my work further within Australia and internationally. Dancehouse have also supported me in other ways such as through offering auspicing services and in-kind support for developing other works such as FACES, an Anzac Centenary Project supported by Arts Victoria. I was also given the opportunity to mentor fifteen young students from Collingwood College in the Rotary Youth Arts Program. I personally learned a lot from working with these students, many of whom had faced significant challenges and obstacles in their lives. It was extremely rewarding to be a positive role model for them and to find outlets for and confidence in their creativity. I can therefore confidently say that my involvement with Dancehouse in this past year has been absolutely career changing and I will always be proud to advocate for the continuation of its much needed programs. James Batchelor in ISLAND. Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
-- James Batchelor 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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A SNAPSHOT OF DANCEHOUSE IN 2014 Performances, Creative Developments & Lectures/Seminars 10 curated seasons (consisting of 39 performances) including: 2 Commissioned works 2 Co-production seasons 5 International Works 12 new Australian Works 3 existing Australian Works 6 Non-curated seasons (consisting of 19 performances) 1 art exhibition by Jill Orr 6 themed discussion cycles (Simone’s Boudoir) 2 Housemate Residencies 4 Summer Grants 2 Quick Response Grants
Classes, Workshops, Masterclasses, Mentoring & Professional Developments
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Seasons
Local Community Development
5 International performances: a continuity of discontinuity, Deborah Hay (USA) Long Sky Blue Woolen Coat, Delgado Fuchs (Switzerland) The Coffee Drinkers, Mossoux-Bonte (Belgium) Solides, Lisboa, Eleanore Didier (France) Court Dance & No Time to Fly, Ros Warby (AU/USA)
1 International Tour: Avignon Festival, Matthew Day and Natalie Abbott (Avignon, France)
87 people attended Shake the House - Dancehouse Open Day 15 young people involved in the Rotary Youth Arts Project 6 artists involved in An Artist in your Backyard program
58
Members and Social Media users
Performances
National & International Exchange
27 Dancehouse Curated Classes, Workshops, Masterclasses, Intensives 1 Dancehouse Professional Development Opportunity for 15 young artists 1 VCA Professional Pathways Scholarship with Chloe Chignell (15 months) 32 Independently run public classes spanning # sessions
175 new Dancehouse members 4046 Active email subscribers 3478 Social Media subscribers 1,625,908 Website hits
4046
Email Subscribers
New Initiatives
32
3478
Social Media Subscribers
Keir Choreographic Award Dancehouse Diary Online Economic Impact
2 full time employees Public Classes 5 part time employees 1 Professional Pathways intern 3 International Workshops: 1 Creative Advisor Embodied Context, Bojana Kunst (GE) 4 casual employees Tere O’Connor (USA) 30 Volunteers Body as Mind, Ros Warby (AU/USA) 215 artists and technicians (paid a fee by Dancehouse for performance, facilitating workshops etc) New 160 Participating artists (generated income through their own activity at Dancehouse or took part Dancehouse Members 2 Interstate Performances: in professional developments, or presentation activities that Dancehouse provided) SURGE triple bill, LINK Dance Company (WA) Tukre’, Raghav Handa (NSW)
175
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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AUDIENCE AND PARTICIPATION Attendance of Performances, Screenings, Exhibitions & Seminars Paid 2180 Complimentary 1043 Free event 380 Total 3603 Attendance at Classes, Workshops, Masterclasses & Professional Development Programs
Total 2014 Audience
Paid 5543 Scholarships 4 (Housemate, Learning Curve, Intern) Free event 87 Total 5634
2013
2014
Percentage +/-
8673
9237
+6.5%
2013
2014
Percentage +/-
Paid Artists
69
215
+211.6%
Unpaid Artists
54
160
+196.3%
Total Attendance
9237
Artists participating (paid & unpaid) in the program
215
Total Artists Employed
Venue Occupancy (Dancehouse Program, rehearsals, classes & workshops) 2013
2014
Percentage +/-
Total hours available
12024
12741
+6%
Total hours used
7307.5
8634
+18.1%
Average annual %
60.2%
67.7%
+7.5%
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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CHAIR’S REPORT
Dancehouse is the home of intellectual rigour and artistic risk. These themes are at the heart of our ethos – and 2014 once again asked our audiences to take a journey into the hearts, minds and souls of our artists.
Thank you for the enduring support of our Government partners: Australia Council, Creative Victoria and City of Yarra.
And our 23rd year, Dancehouse continues to be a constant source of energy, innovation and longevity for the independent dance community and our audiences.
A very special thank you to our philanthropic program partners: the Keir Foundation, the Besen Foundation and the Ian Potter Foundation.
Dancehouse is uniquely positioned as an organisation truly dedicated to independent dance. Few organisations provide such a platform for contemporary dance artists to collaborate in a supportive environment and take the critical creative risks that assist them in developing their art form and push the boundaries of the moving body.
The Dancehouse Board appointed two new members in 2014; Michaela Coventry and Dr Olivia Millard. Both Michaela & Olivia bring significant knowledge and experience in the dance sector.
In 2014, Dancehouse embarked on yet another daring and visionary initiative – The Keir Choreographic Awards. In partnership with The Keir Foundation & Carriageworks, KCA was a celebration of independent dance. It is also the largest private investment in the art form of this scale. The initiative proved to be an overwhelming tool in supporting our engagement with new audiences and raised the profile of contemporary dance, which rarely benefits from mainstream media attention. Presentation of the commissioned works in both Melbourne & Sydney brought much needed mobility to the dance works. The media interest was profound and this highly acclaimed event saw Dancehouse bursting at the seams with a sold out season. With KCA, Dancehouse achieved unprecedented attention in the public arena and proved once again that it is a leader in the development of new models, aware of the needs of our artists and a key player in pioneering new opportunities for the independent dance community.
On behalf of all my fellow board members – Shelley Lasica, Atlanta Eke, John Paolacci, Becky Hilton, Suzanne Sandford, Michaela Coventry, Dr. Olivia Millard – I would especially like to recognise the work of Helen Simondson who retired as Chair of Dancehouse in May 2014. Helen has been a remarkable contribution as Chair for 6 years. Her knowledge of the sector, wisdom, technical expertise and guidance has been one of Dancehouse’s most valuable assets. We are fortunate to continue to have Helen on our board. Overall Dancehouse entered into a new phase of exciting development and growth. The priority of the board over the next year will be to build a sustainable platform to enable Dancehouse to continue to play an even stronger role in the sector. I’d like to thank Angela Conquet – our energetic and visionary Artistic Director & CEO. Her passion and vigour continues to take Dancehouse from strength to strength. I’d also like to thank the staff and volunteers. Nothing would happen without you. Great things happen because of you. -- James Ostroburski, Chair of Dancehouse Board
Our philanthropic program – Connect! – continues to build momentum and connect with new supporters and advocates. Thank you to each and every one of our generous supporters. Philanthropy continues to play a pivotal role in funding our programs and capacity building initiatives. Another highlight of our philanthropic year was the very special Prelude event, a preview to our delightful Melbourne Festival program exclusively designed for Dancehouse & Melbourne Festival supporters. The evening was a huge success and allowed us to engage with many new dance enthusiasts. I would like to thank Creative Partnerships Australia who pledged to match funds raised thanks to the generous support of 50 new Dancehouse donors. This powerful program – made available through two Pozible campaigns – assisted Dancehouse to present James Batchelor’s Island and Matthew Day & Natalie Abbott’s Take Us To Avignon & Beyond as part of the Avignon Festival OFF.
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S REPORT WHAT IF NOW IS? What if it is not what we do as dancers but how we engage the billions of passing moments in the space where we are dancing? What if every cell in my body could notice the feeling of time passing? What if I were to dance as if every cell in my body invites being seen? What if Now is my past, present, and future, here, here and Here? --Deborah Hay
The 2014 program was an invitation to see how much we are our bodies and how everything starts and ends with our bodies. It was a provocation to filter dance through the minds not only the senses, to stress that the purpose of dance (and art in general) is not necessarily to entertain, but rather to make us reflect and expand the vision of what we are and how we are.
It is a certain idea of lost paradises that we explored with our HOUSEMATE James Batchelor’s ISLAND. When islands are fictional, they become parallel worlds we carry within us. They allow us to be all that we are and choose not to be when back on the more down to earth shores. Every man can be an island and this is what this ISLAND reminded us.
We started the year by hosting dance icon DEBORAH HAY as mentor of our development program LEARNING CURVE. Though not for the first time in Australia, her indefatigable quest to change the patterns of how dance is thought or perceived has remained vivid and inspiring for so many generations of choreographers and performers and particularly so for those Australian makers who closely worked with her, here or overseas.
The curated workshops program included international seminal pedagogues and dance thinkers Tere O’Connor (USA), Ros Warby (AU/USA) and Bojana Kunst (GE), as well as Australian teachers and choreographers who ran our Summer Intensive and Tertiary Dance Weekend. Their workshops focused on elemental aspects of the choreographic process with a view to build a set of highly individualised tools for each maker and to explore ways of locating meaning in the work.
The major highlight of the year was the launch of the KEIR CHOREOGRAPHIC AWARD – a first time partnership between Carriageworks, Sydney and the Keir Foundation. A competition of ideas, of originality and of audacity, the KCA was open to any professional artist, dance maker or not, with a choreographic project. Eight commissioned short works by some of the most interesting minds of the dance landscape were presented over two sold out seasons (with four finalist works later presented in Sydney). The KCA is not only the first major investment by a private foundation in the art form, but arguably one of the most inventive tools to build new audiences for dance as well as a much needed new fully-funded opportunity to make and present new work in both cities. The first edition raised new dialogue and debate about what the choreographic is today, as art of movement, but also as the art of incorporating or invoking, referring or recuperating, re-shaping and re-inventing trans-disciplinary thought for bodies in movement.
NEXT STAGES marked the last phase of a multi-year collaboration project initiated by Dance Sites Network. Spanning over one week, NEXT STAGES was a five-day laboratory for the participating artists as well as a capacity building and networking opportunity tailored for independent dance makers.
The second edition of our Melbourne Festival DANCE TERRITORIES, another highlight of the year, crafted a special temporal and spatial zone around contemporary rites and rituals which define our confines or illuminate our togetherness. Two resonating double-bill programs featured Belgium company MOUSSOUX BONTE and their Coffee Drinkers and TONY YAP/YUMI UMIUMARE/MATTHIEW GINGOLD’s Zero Zero as well as French Choreographer Eléonore Didier’s Solides, Lisboa and Linda Luke’s Still Point Turning. Paired with a thematic issue of our Dancehouse Diary, rituals were viewed here as one of the very few mechanisms to transcend the mundane and invent new ways to connect us with a certain lost idea of sacred-ness or paradise. 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
THE DANCEHOUSE DIARY went online in October with its dedicated website (dancehousediary.com.au), thus taking its 7 incarnations and its many articles wider and beyond borders. 2014 also marked the start of an inspiring collaboration with two fantastic women artists and thinkers Philipa Rothfield, as a Creative Advisor, outside eye and inside voice, the provocateur to keep our minds agile and alert; and Jill Orr, associated artist and guest editor for the RITUALS OF NOW Diary issue and season. By all means,2014 was a tremendously exalting and rich year, full of remarkable artists and inspiring works, workshops, writing and talking, many of which could not fit in this report. We thank those who have been on this ride with us, makers, doers, watchers, thinkers, dreamers. With you, relentlessly crafting these journeys, we can bring a little more attention to this art form which, quietly but firmly, organises our bodies in space and our minds in our bodies. -- Angela Conquet, Artistic Director and CEO www.dancehouse.com.au | www.dancehousediary.com.au
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MANAGEMENT & STAFFING STRUCTURE Office Bearers James Ostroburski
Chairperson
Executive, Investec Bank (Aust) Limited Governor, Arts Centre Melbourne Foundation Chair, Millenials Project, Melbourne Recital Project
6/6
Shelley Lasica
Vice Chairperson
Choreographer
5/6
Suzanne Sandford
Secretary
Principal Lawyer, Slater & Gordon
6/6
John Paolacci
Treasurer
Partner, Moore Stephens
6/6
Choreographer and Pedagogue
3/6
Ordinary Members Rebecca Hilton Michaela Coventry
5/6
Helen Simondson
ACMI Screen Events Manager
4/6
Dr Olivia Millard
Lecturer in Dance, Deakin University
5/6
Atlanta Eke
Choreographer
6/6
Beth Shelton
Resigned from board in June 2014
2/6
Staff Members
Office
EFT
Angela Conquet
Artistic Director/CEO
Full-time
Julia Mann
Admin & Communications
Full-time
Canada White
Production Manager
0.6EFT
Veronica Bolzon
Program Producer
0.5EFT
Luke Gleeson
Venue Manager
0.2EFT
Claire Hielscher
Marketing & Audience Developmt 0.6EFT
Chloe Chignell
Dancehouse Intern
VCA Professional Pathways
Bryce Eble
Venue Support Officer
0.2EFT
Leora Hester
Bookkeeper
Contract
Malcolm Hester
Bookkeeper
Contract
Additional technical, design, cleaning, front of house and other roles are outsourced contractors 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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2014 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DANCEHOUSE INC ABN 64 314 438 348
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2014
STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2014
Retained Earnings $
Total $
Opening balance - Retained Earnings at 1 January 2013
76,614
76,614
Deficit attributable to members
1,557
1,557
Balance at 31 December 2013
78,171
78,171
151,455.98
Deficit attributable to members
(13,950)
Grant - Arts Victoria
140,000.00
Balance at 31 December 2014
64,221
64,221
Grant - City of Yarra
25,265.00
Donations - Trusts & Foundations and Philanthropic
68,660.19
Core Income
99,413.61
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2014 $ Revenue Grant - Australia Council
Program & Other Income
(13,950)
142,035.54 626,830.32
Expenses Core Administration
121,528.24
Salaries
286,600.14
Promotion/Marketing
12,064.18
Program Artists
124,862.80
Program Technical
15,926.72
Program Production
24,379.87
Program Promotion
37,617.34
Program Fees
12,261.25
Program - Other
5,539.86 640,780.4
Surplus/(Deficit) for the year
(13,950.08)
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
2014 ARTISTIC PROGRAM IN A SNAPSHOT PERFORMANCE PROGRAMS CURATED SEASONS KEIR CHOREOGRAPHIC AWARD – July 3-13 Sarah Aiken – Three Short Dances James Batchelor – Escape to the Infinite Tim Darbyshire – Entitled TITLE (Working Title) Matthew Day – Rites Atlanta Eke – Body of Work Shaun Gladwell – Dead Flag Blues Jane McKernan – Mass Movement Brooke Stamp – Tearaway – Part One: The Crater of Motor Power DANCEHOUSE INVITES Deborah Hay - a continuity of discontinuity - March 7 Russell Dumas – Love is Blind – March 28-30 Delgado Fuchs (CH) – Long Sky Blue Woolen Coat with Such n Such – She stepped too far – April 11-13 Raghav Handa – Tukre – May 2-11 (Next Wave) TERTIARY DANCE WEEKEND LINK Dance Co – SURGE – Nov 14-15 Paul Simon Jackson – Three Body Problem – Nov 15-16 Ros Warby– Court Dance (2013) and No Time to Fly (2010) – Dec 11-12 DANCE TERRITORIES – Oct 14 – 18 (in partnership with Melbourne Festival) Tony Yap, Yumi Umiumare, Matthew Gingold – Zero Zero – Oct 14-15 Compagnie Mossoux Bonte (BE) – The Coffee Drinkers – Oct 14-15 Linda Luke – Still Point Turning – Oct 17-18 Eleonore Dider (FR) – Solides, Lisboa – Oct 17-18 HOUSEMATE PERFORMANCE SEASON James Batchelor – Island – June 11 –15 OPEN SEASONS / EXTERNAL HIRERS YOUR WAY! – Joel Fenton – Summer Solo Series – Feb 21-23 YOUR WAY! – Chloe Chignell/Timothy Walsh – Post Phase: The Summit is Blue & Lauren Simmonds/Bicky Lee – Flash/Girl – Sept 18-21 (Fringe Festival) YOUR WAY! – Mark Pedersen/Travis Cox – Infundibular – Sept 25-28 (Fringe Festival) YOUR WAY! – The Delta Project – Under My Skin - Oct 24-25 YOUR WAY! – Scarlet Haze Productions – Scarlet Haze – Dec 5 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT INTENSIVES Summer Intensive – 10 days of morning classes – Feb 10-21 – Fiona Cameron, Caroline Meaden, Paea Leach, James Welsby, Chimene Steele-Prior, Dianne Reid, Shelley Lasica, Fiona Bryant, Gregory Lorenzutti, Prue Lang LEARNING CURVE A mentoring program over 1 week with a key dance-maker – with Deborah Hay (in partnership with VCA) – March 10-14 CURATED WORKSHOPS/MASTERCLASSES International workshops Bojana Kunst (GE) – March 17-21 Tere O’Connor (USA) – July 28 – Aug 1 Ros Warby (AU/USA) – Dec 7 Local/Interstate Prue Lang and Matthieu Briand (VIC) – May 24-25 Arts Access Victoria/Deaf Arts Network (VIC) – May 31 – June 1 Next Stages Workshops (various speakers and facilitators) - Aug 9-10 Tertiary Dance Weekend (VIC, WA) - Michael Whaites, Helen Herbertson, Jo Lloyd, Lee Serle, Dianne Reid, Becky Hilton - Nov 15-16 RESIDENCIES/RESEARCH
HOUSEMATE PERFORMANCE RESIDENCY 10 weeks for making a new work presented over a 5-night season – James Batchelor HOUSEMATE RESEARCH RESIDENCY 6 weeks of research with collaborators presented in an informal showing – Martin Hansen
SPACE GRANTS SUMMER SPACE GRANTS - 30 hour space grants Sandra Parker, Tessa Broadby, Ilan Abrahams, Paea Leach QUICK RESPONSE SPACE GRANTS - 15 hour space grants Shannon Bott, Joel Fenton EXHIBITION Jill Orr - Between Somewhere and Nowhere www.dancehouse.com.au | www.dancehousediary.com.au
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2014 ARTISTIC PROGRAM IN A SNAPSHOT
YOU AND DANCEHOUSE SIMONE’S BOUDOIR – series of informal themed discussions with selected guests and limited audience – artists, researchers, critics, academics, key personalities #12 – LESS IS MORE – Jan 19 (as part of Melbourne Now at the NGV) #13 – CIRCULATIONS – Feb 9 (as part of Melbourne Now at the NGV) #14 – THE BODY.NOW – Mar 9 (as part of Melbourne Now at the NGV) #15 – In discussion with TERE O’CONNOR – July 5 #16 - In disussion with Housemate Martin Hansen - 4 December #17 - Practice Sharing with Housemate Martin Hansen - 13 December DANCEHOUSE DIARY – new publication, a site for developing critical discourse on dance and connecting dance to other art forms, to society issues and to a wider audience DD#6 – THE BODY IN THE RAW – April DD#7 – THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE/RITUALS OF NOW – October
ROTARY YOUTH ARTS PROGRAM – with the support of the Rotary Club of Richmond and the City of Yarra, in partnership with the Centre for Contemporary Photography - Two after-school programs of dance and photography – for disadvantaged young people, over 4 months with a public showing/exhibition – Sept 15
SHAKE THE HOUSE – Open Day – a free taste of all classes taught at Dancehouse – Feb 15
AN ARTIST IN YOUR BACKYARD Led by Becky Hilton Dancers: Alice Heyward, Megan Payne, Ella Meehan, Ellen Davies and Chloe Chignell
LAUNCH OF THE DANCEHOUSE DIARY WEBSITE
MOBILITY DANCEHOUSE INTERNATIONAL – a international touring program based on a presenter to presenter model. It aims at cultivating an international network of relationships which grows strategic and meaningful alliances, mutual exchange programs and circulation of new ideas. Being effective in an international context inspires artistic innovation and builds direct experience around the way different audiences perceive and receive dance. Dancehouse supports selected Australian choreographers through carefully targeted networking opportunities and showcase presentations for international dance producers and presenters. AVIGNON TOUR – Matthew Day/Natalie Abbott – July 5-14 CITE DES ARTS RESIDENCY - Hellen Sky - July to September DANCE SITES - a collaboration between three organisations, DANCE SITES is a unique initiative whose purpose is to generate the right conditions that foster creativity and longevity for dance works, development of their makers and connection with other peers and new audiences in Australia.
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
NEXT STAGES: A Dance Sites Network Project Fiona Bryant, Rhiannon Newton, Kay Armstrong – Showings – Aug 8-10 www.dancehouse.com.au | www.dancehousediary.com.au
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KEIR CHOREOGRAPHIC AWARD Carriageworks, Dancehouse and the Keir Foundation have partnered for the first time to present the Keir Choreographic Award, the first Australian prize dedicated to commissioning new choreographic works and to bringing significant support and increased profiling to the contemporary dance sector, both nationally and internationally. Among the many benefits, the Award includes a cash prize of $30,000 for first prize and $10,000 for an audience choice prize. Out of the 77 entries, the international and national judges - Mårten Spångberg (Sweden), Matthew Lyons(USA), Josephine Ridge (Australia), Becky Hilton (Australia) and Phillip Keir (Australia) - selected eight artists to make and present a short work. Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
Four of the eight commissioned artists were selected to continue to the Grand Finals at CARRIAGEWORKS in Sydney from July 17th to 19th. Sarah Aiken, Matthew Day, Atlanta Eke and Jane McKernan. The winner of KCA 2014 was ATLANTA EKE and people’s choice award went to Jane Mckernan, as selected by audience members at the Grand Final in Sydney.
PROGRAM ONE 3-6 July Entitled TITLE (Working Title) TIM DARBYSHIRE Performers: Deanne Butterworth, Sophia Cowen and Brian Fuata. Sound Design: Thembi Soddell Lighting and Projection design: Ben Shaw Entitled TITLE (Working Title) interrogates grey areas between what is thought, represented, felt, said & unsaid. The work dissects written, spoken & musical phrases, texts & dialogues from the poetic, academic, theatrical, cinematic & mundane. This work was made with a creative team experimenting with email reenactment, intuitive writing, scripting, subtitle composition, foley sound, voice recording & orchestral mood mapping. It is a choreographic montage of body language & power dynamics through physical exercise routines. TIM DARBYSHIRE studied Dance and Choreography at Queensland University of Technology and Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in France. Since then he has worked in varying capacities with a range of choreographers in Europe and Australia. His acclaimed work More or Less Concrete was presented at Arts House and Dance Massive and will be presented at Noorderzon festival in Holland. In 2014 he is undertaking an IETM residency program in Europe and an exchange project between Australia and Finland. His next work Stampede the Stampede will premier in Dance Massive 2015.
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
RITES MATTHEW DAY Performaner: Matthew Day Dramaturgy: Martin del Amo Sound: James Brown Light: Travis Hodgson We draw maps. We burn them. Redraw. We draw them walking in the dark. With fire we blaze trails. We scale black surfaces of the monument. Chaos searches. We mount side on the rhythm-machine. We pursue. And the range pursues us as we follow them. Circle. Dance. We open soil eat worms. And in the sun the worms shit us back the earth. RITES is a dance ritual. It is inspired by The Rite of Spring (1913) with orchestral score by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. MATTHEW DAY is interested in the potential of choreography to imagine unorthodox relationships and propose new ways of being human. Utilising a minimalist approach Day often works with duration and repetition approaching the body as a site of infinite potential and choreography as a field of energetic intensity and exchange. Day has been artist in residence, and presented his work extensively in Australia and Europe. In September 2014 he will commence his masters research at the Amsterdam Masters of Choreography. www.dancehouse.com.au | www.dancehousediary.com.au
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KEIR CHOREOGRAPHIC AWARD TEARAWAY BROOKE STAMP Performer: Brooke Stamp Visual Artist: Agatha Gothe-Snape Composer: Kevin Lo Costume: Geoffrey Watson Lighting: Matthew Adey Tearaway examines the legacy of modern dance in current live performance practice. It will act as a ‘conceptual re-embodiment’ of the important transition guided by prominent early modern dance pioneers such as Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. This work will dissect her innate instinct to move forward and ‘tear away’, as they did, from the burden of information embedded in her body and practice, which is paradoxically bound by these womens’ legacy.
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
MASS MOVEMENT JANE MCKERNAN Performers: Angela Goh, Leeke Griffin, Carlee Mellow and Lizzie Thomson Music: Toby Martin Voice: Elizabeth Ryan Costumes: Jen Kevin
BROOKE STAMP is a Melbourne based artist working in dance, sound and installation. Her work evolves through improvisational practices that conceptually draw on the hyperreal and imagined rhythms inherent to the movement of the universe, linking concepts of sound genesis to spatiality and the body. A longterm collaborator with Phillip Adams Balletlab, Brooke presented her first full length work And All Things Return to Nature with the company in 2013, she also works ongoingly with visual artist Agatha GotheSnape, creating the score for Inexhaustible Present, at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2013. Brooke’s numerous collaborations exist across the visual arts, fashion design and music, they include Orbit Score for Yoko, Restitution Éphémère, & Magnetic Flip for Damned Air.
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
Mass Movement is a work within a larger research process around the concept of unison. It has an emphasis on ‘liveness’, and the live transferal of choreographic information. It works with the notion of a ‘group body’, but still allows a sense of agency for the individual performers. It looks at choreography as a mode of empathy and sharing, as well as one of repetition and restraint. It takes as its reference points – movement choirs; mass gymnastic displays; physical culture and how the body was deeply linked to philosophies of nationalism and socialism in the early to mid twentieth century. It seeks to destabilise the uniformity of such movements, but works towards a sense of agreement between the four dancers, a determined unison. JANE McKERNAN is a choreographer and performer. She has been a member of the collaborative trio The Fondue Set (with Emma Saunders and Elizabeth Ryan) for the last 14 years, and has been making her own work since 2009. Mass Movement follows her solo, Opening and Closing Ceremony, which looked at individual belonging within family, community and nation; and how these belongings shape the individual body. 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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KEIR CHOREOGRAPHIC AWARD PROGRAM 2 10-13 July
ESCAPES TO THE INFINITE JAMES BATCHELOR Performers: James Batchelor, Amber McCartney and Madeline Beckett Visual Artist: Madeline Beckett Sound Artist: Morgan Hickinbotham
Three Short Dances deals with representation, exploring metaphor at its most obvious, and often at its most absurd. Her piece will be a development of this ongoing research, navigating the body and objects in relation to the myriad of actual and socially constructed meanings that exist. The Body interacts with objects, costume and abstract and representational movement. By considering how we value and revalue the inanimate, the work brings attention to how we read the animate body.
JAMES BATCHELOR is a performer, choreographer and installation artist from Canberra. His choreographic practice hybridises performance and visual arts to create dynamic and multisensory environments. His work has been developed and presented in Australia, France, Thailand and the United Kingdom. He is the 2014 Dancehouse Housemate and recently presented his new performance installation work ISLAND in Canberra and Melbourne. As a performer he has worked with choreographers such as Stephanie Lake (Aorta, Chunky Move), Antony Hamilton (Black Project 2) and Sue Healey (Inevitable Scenarios).
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
SARAH AIKEN is a Melbourne based dancer, choreographer and teacher. Sarah pursues an ongoing interest in how and what we value, creating dichotomies and clashes from wide-ranging references, aiming to create poignancy through absurdity. With Rebecca Jensen, Sarah created OVERWORLD (Next Wave Festival 2014) and is a co-founder of participatory, yogic disco, Deep Soulful Sweats. Other work includes; Set (Lucy Guerin Inc. Piece’s for Small Spaces, 2013, EDC Solo Festival of Dance 2014) Now Something Really Final (K77, Berlin 2012), Jurassic Arc (Dancehouse, Melbourne Fringe 2012) and a range of collaborative and interdisciplinary projects across music, live art, film, photography and visual arts.
Escapes to the Infinite examines the process of construction via an assemblage of raw materials with the human body. Sourced from Batchelor’s film studies of construction-sites in Melbourne, Sydney and Bangkok, he has developed a choreography that manipulates and abstracts the movements of construction workers. In tandem with this movement study, is a live and methodical construction process of a morphing sculpture using sixty-four cinder blocks. The two live processes form a rhythmic dialogue and a dynamic interplay of body and structure, a momentary unity in the eternal flux. The work references Thomas Ernest Hulme’s idea that the world is a plurality and that the idea of ‘unity’ is manufactured. This work explores that idea in reference to the construction worker, investigating the unity he strives to create and the pure physicality inherent in that task.
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
THREE SHORT DANCES SARAH AIKEN Performer: Sarah Aiken Sound design and Performance: Daniel Arnott Dramaturgy: Rebecca Jensen Lighting and Set Design: Matthew Adey
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KEIR CHOREOGRAPHIC AWARD BODY OF WORK ATLANTA EKE Performance: Atlanta Eke Video: Ready Steady Studio Sound Composition: Daniel Jenatsch Light Design: Ben Shaw Body of Work questions its right to contemporaneity by producing a new relationship between performance and the function of its video documentation. Through analyzing the ‘present’ as a loop, constituted by the rewriting of the past and strategies aiming at success in the future, the performance makes no separation between the dancers body and video technology. Body of Work operates as a hybrid, a synthesis of biological organism and technical machine, a cyborg blurring the lines between who choreographs and who is choreographed. ATLANTA EKE is an Australian dancer and choreographer. Since 2006, Eke has presented her experimental work throughout Australia and Europe in a variety of formats. She has worked with artists such as Xavier Le Roy, Ros Warby, Lucy Guerin, and Deborah Hay among others. In 2012, the artist was the 2012 Dancehouse Research Housemate resident with Swedish artist Emma Kim Hagdalh and was an Australia Council for the Arts 2012 ArtStart Grant recipient. Atlanta Eke has recently been nominated for a Green Room Award for her performance in her work MONSTER BODY. DEAD FLAG BLUES SHAUN GLADWELL Dancers: Kathryn Puie, Dean Cross, Matt Cornell Production Design: Mark Haslam
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
Dead Flag Blues is developed through researching the calibration of bodies within military culture–drawing an analogy between soldiers and dancers. Specifically, the piece is set in Southern Afghanistan during Australia’s military occupation. Dead Flag Blues attempts to articulate the complexity of representing conflict via video, photography and live movement. SHAUN GLADWELL is a contemporary artist working within a wide range of mediums. Key concerns of all Gladwell’s activity is the way human beings critically and creatively respond to their immediate environments. Gladwell’s artwork critically engages emerging languages of movement such as skateboarding, BMX riding, break dancing and parkour. An ongoing concern of Shaun’s practice is to consider these activities and others (soldiering) as forms of dance. Shaun Gladwell critically analyses and celebrates the body in a wide range of media such as performance, video installation, film (for cinema), painting, sculpture, printmaking and photography. Most of his artworks are generated from a direct involvement and ongoing personal relationship to urban movement and he often performs in his own work. 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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DANCEHOUSE INVITES A CONTINUITY OF DISCONTINUITY DEBORAH HAY 7 March For 43 years, Deborah Hay’s research has been based on the observation and realisation that all of us are both consciously and unconsciously choreographed, by culture, gender, politics, job, history, art, etc. Her interest as a choreographer is not to maintain or refine a choreography but rather to destabilise learned movement that keeps us on a treadmill of replication. The material for her research is the cellular body that she is the first to admit it impossible to grasp. Yet the translation of this material is the basis of her teaching, her practice, performance, and the subject matter of a continuity of discontinuity. DEBORAH HAY was trained as a dancer by and Mia Slavenska and Merce Cunningham and later joined his company. She was also a member of the Judson Dance Theater Company. She focused on large-scale dance projects involving untrained dancers, fragmented and choreographed music accompaniment, and the execution of ordinary movement patterns performed under stressful conditions. In 2002, Hay made a decision to apply what she had learned from 30 years of working with mostly untrained dancers to choreographing dances for experienced dancer/choreographers. In April 2012, Deborah Hay became one of the 21 American performing artists to receive the inaugural and groundbreaking 2012 Doris Duke Artist Award.
LOVE IS BLIND RUSSELL DUMAS 28-30 March Performed by Jonathan Sinatra, David Huggins, Molly McMenamin, Eric Fon, Nicole Jenvey, Beth Lane, Esperanza Quindara Love is Blind is the first of a series of works by Russell Dumas that seek to renegotiate the terms of engagement of dance and music. Music directly impacts on human emotions and this affects how we feel, how we breathe and consequently, how we see. The work investigates the intricate relationship between sight and sound and the somewhat surprising way that hearing trumps seeing. Through Love is Blind, Russell Dumas’ choreography will explore sensory relationships within Schubert’s melodies and seek to articulate how these emotionally invested fields affect the phrasing of the dancers and the perceptions of the audience. RUSSELL DUMAS After performing in companies including The Royal Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theatre, The Gulbenkian Ballet and others in Europe, and with Trisha Brown and Twyla Tharp in New York, Russell Dumas founded Dance Exchange in 1976. His choreography, presented under the company’s name ever since, constitutes one of the most distinctive and original bodies of Australian dance work. With its deceptive simplicity, this aesthetic, present in all Dumas’s choreographies, requires a prolonged and rigorous work with dancers.
PLUS+ film screening: TURN YOUR F**KING HEAD A film on Deborah Hay by Becky Edmunds, followed by a Q&A with Deborah Hay 8 March _Turn Your Fucking Head_ is an hour documentary made in 2012, by British filmmaker Becky Edmunds, about Deborah Hay’s last Solo Performance Commissioning Project at the Findhorn Community Foundation, near Inverness, Scotland. With a poetic certainty, Edmunds follows the process by which Hay transmits and coaches the same solo dance to 20 individuals dancer/choreographers, from 11 different countries, during 10 consecutive days. BECKY EDMUNDS is a video artist and documentary film maker. Originally trained as a dancer and choreographer, she worked in live performance until 2000, when she moved into a screen-based practice. She has collaborated with a wide range of artists and organizations to create video works, including Rosemary Lee, Station House Opera, Blast Theory, Rajni Shah, Fiona Wright, Gill Clarke, Independent Dance, Siobhan Davies Studios, Arts Council England and various dance agencies. Becky also has a choreographic moving image practice, which seeks to deepen the screen application of dance practice. Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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DANCEHOUSE INVITES BODY TALK DOUBLE BILL 11-13 April
Long Sky Blue Woollen Coast Worth with a Large Roll-Neck Jumper, Peach Leather Trousers and Red Nubuck Pointed HighHeel Shoes. DELGADO FUCHS Cavorting on stage in tiny shorts, underpants, swimsuits or nothing at all, Delgado Fuchs presents a spicy reflection of the appeal of the entrancing body, giving freedom to eroticism and humour in equal measure. Thriving on their love for ambiguity, Delgado Fuchs promises to give an audience an hour of power, pants or no pants. The duo gives a cheeky wink to the slightly indecent, while still giving their audience a show focused on the dancer’s prowess and skill with the legs, hips and everything in between. MARCO DELGADO and NADINE FUCHS careers as performers led them to each other and their consequent decision to found the Collective DELGADO FUCHS in 2002. Thus began a series of personal creations. The remit is broad, diverse in its choice of tools (photography, video, dance) and influences (fashion, visual arts). They produce performances and installations which consequently push the audience to rethink body and movement outside of a strictly dance context. On the fringe of the usual half serious - half trivial labels, their work thrives on ambiguity. By constantly reformulating its theme, by varying the perspectives, Delgado Fuchs reveals through action the versatile nature of identity and how it is subject to multiple ways of being. They form the pivot of the collective, on which diverse collaborations are added, depending on each project. Presented with the generous support of the Swiss Consulate and Corodis.
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
SHE STEPPED TOO FAR SUCH N SUCH Through movement, speech and interaction, She Stepped too Far will explore the personal, the public, the overexposed, the impulsive, the mundane, the explosive, the political, the body and the uncomfortable. Working with what is presented in the initial moment of direct communication, this dynamic collaboration between both performers and audience reminds the viewer that the encounter - however it unfolds - is an active situation where both sides are agents. DEBRA BATTON’S arts practice includes improvisation as performance, authentic movement, clown and acrobatics. She creates and performs with Such n Such, Batton & Broadway, Full Cream Circus, Born in a Taxi and What’s Coming. She is a director, choreographer, performer and teacher of Circus, Physical Theatre and Dance, best known for her work with Legs on the Wall (Sydney 1996 – 2009). During this time she created, directed or performed in over thirty productions including On the Case which was awarded two Helpmann Awards. As a performer, CATHERINE MAGILL’s interest lies in the exploration and development of instant composition and the embodied moment. Catherine has performed as a solo artist in the short film Habitual Passengers (Alexandra Harrison - Dancehouse 2012) and curated and performed in Middle Stages/Maximum Flavour (2012) and Triplet (2013) at Studio 202. She has studied overseas with Julyen Hamilton, Nancy Stark Smith, Kirstie Simpson, Katie Duck and locally with Tony Osborne and Peter Trotman.
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DANCEHOUSE INVITES Presented as part of the 2014 NEXT WAVE Festival 2-11 May
ROS WARBY: DOUBLE BILL 11-12 December
TUKRE’ RAGHAV HANDA Concept, Choreography and Performance : Raghav Handa Cultural Consultant and Performer: Shashi Handa Creative Consultant: Narelle Benjamin Sound Design: Lachlan Bostock Lighting Design: Daniel Anderson Kickstart development partner: Henrietta Baird
COURT DANCE Choreography and Performance: Ros Warby Court Dance is Warby’s new solo currently in development. Underlying this work is a consideration of our relationship to hierarchy and its impact on our systems through its constant presence, however subtle. Within the work Warby attempts to eliminate hierarchy within individual movement and performance vocabularies in order to expand these vocabularies to include what has not yet been imagined.
In Tukre’ (Pieces in Hindi), Australian choreographer and dancer Raghav Handa explores how cultural lineage and rites of passage transcend borders and oceans. Inspired by the contents of Handa’s own luggage when he arrived in Australian from India to attend boarding school, this dance work explores the shifting connections between our past, present and future and the importance of family – even when they are thousands of kilometres away. RAGHAV HANDA is a contemporary dance artist with a background in modern and Australian indigenous contemporary dance. As a performer and collaborator, he has worked in Australia and overseas with many leading Australian choreographers. As a choreographer, Raghav is developing his dance vocabulary and movement style, which combines his Indian heritage with delicate linear masculinity, speed and precision. TERTIARY DANCE WEEKEND LINK DANCE COMPANY (WAPPA) 14-15 November EPIC” THE MIRANDA WARNING MATT CORNELL LIESEL ZINK
NO TIME TO FLY Adaptation and Performance: Ros Warby Choreography: Deborah Hay No Time to Fly is choreographed to provide clear and comprehensive instances of non-linear reality for the performer and audience alike. The dancer is practicing a continuity of discontinuity within her unique experience of the choreography – thus engaging the depth of her dancing. The dancers choice to perform much of the choreographed material that determines No time to fly requires catastrophic acts of perception as she dis-attaches from a multitude of former behavior. (D.Hay) ROS WARBY is one of Australia’s leading dancer/choreographers. She has been creating and performing solo dance since 1990 and her award winning work has been presented in Australia, Europe and the USA. Warby has also performed with numerous companies and artists including Dance Works, Dance Exchange, Lucy Guerin Inc. and the Deborah Hay Dance Company, bringing her heightened and unique approach to performance to each of these contexts.
LIFE CYCLE MICHAEL WHAITES Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
Performers: Madeleine Bird, Aimee Brown, Sarah Chaffey, Rachel Forster-Jones, Kate Jenkins, Emily Malone, Amy Thieme and Zoe Wozniak. THREE BODY PROBLEM PAUL SIMON JACKSON (developed as part of the Dancehouse-Deakin University partnership) 15-16 November Choreographer: Paul Simon Jackson Performers: Fiona Brannigan, Rechelle Gayler and Esperanza Quindara 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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DANCE TERRITORIES MELBOURNE FESTIVAL
PROGRAM ONE: THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE 14-15 October ZERO, ZERO TONY YAP AND YUMI UMIMARE (Australia) Choreographers and Performers: Tony Yap and Yumi Umiumare Director and Composer: Matt Gingold Lighting design: Paula van Beek Zero Zero explores the liminal spaces between the visible and the invisible. The work charts the choreographic landscape formed at the intersection of physical, cultural, spiritual and technological boundaries. From the immediacy and simplicity of the human body lit by candles and incense, to the use of the latest technology, Zero Zero transports the viewer with its immersive environment and evocative, trance-like physical explorations.
Two elegant figures with a furious obsession for symmetry take their coffee amid whispers of agreeable truths in a living room of velveteen comfort. Except… certain anomalies begin to slip into their comportment and the place itself is revealed to be something other than what it first seemed. As cracks appear in their insouciance, their world divides in two, giving birth to a fashionable Venus who makes their coffee. Is it their imagination that leads them to the most insidious of confusions? Since joining forces in 1985, NICOLE MOSSOUX and PATRICK BONTE have been creating performances that straddle the border between dance and theatre. Their work seeks to melt dance and theatre and to create an atmosphere that affects the spectator deeply yet allows to be the sole interpreter of the emotions the performance provokes. Over and above the unmistakable “style” of the company, each performance, be it intimate or one that involves a large cast, deals with very separate and particular subjects. Nicole Mossoux and Patrick Bonté’s performances have been presented in approximately forty different countries.
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
TONY YAP and YUMI UMIUMARE are reconnecting their duo practice after making major solo works apart. Their fifteen-year series How could you even begin to understand?, was acclaimed in Australia and internationally. MATHEW GINGOLD is a media and sound artist and programmer at the cutting edge of new technologies in performance, recently recognised by a prestigious Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction for Interactive Art.
THE COFFEE DRINKERS COMPAGNIE MOSSOUX-BONTE (Belgium) Concept and Direction: Patrick Bonté Choreography: Nicole Mossoux, Patrick Bonté Performers: Leslie Mannès, Maxence Rey, Frauke Mariën Set and Costumes: Frédérique De Montblanc Light design: Patrick Bonté Light and set construction: Aurélie Perret Technical Direction: David Jans
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
A Dancehouse program presented in the Melbourne Festival, Dance Territories presents two themed double bills over four evenings, pairing together each time an Australian piece with an international one.
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DANCE TERRITORIES MELBOURNE FESTIVAL
Images: Sarah Walker for Dancehouse
PROGRAM TWO: RITUALS OF NOW 17-18 October SOLIDES, LISBOA ELEONORE DIDER (France) Concept and interpretation: Eléonore Didier Music: Nanu – Mola Dudle Production: Dépose Incorp. Solides, Lisboa is contemplative work about time and its passage. It is a reflection on how a dull ordinary routine (and life) can become extra-ordinary. Also a work on time and the weight of time flying by while waiting for something extraordinary to happen. As a dancer, ELEONORE DIDER worked with Bob Wilson, Carlota Ikeda and Pierre Droulers. Created in 2005, in Lisbon, her solo piece Solides, Lisboa marks a step in the process of elaborating her singular choreographic language. She continued with solo pieces such as Paris,Possible, !Kung solo and laiSSeRVenIR until 2011, when she choreographed ensemble pieces. Her work currently focuses on images of the body rooted in the collective unconscious that shape our representations. STILL POINT TURNING LINDA LUKE (Australia) Choreographer/Performer: Linda Luke Composer: Vic McEwan Video Artist: Martin Fox Lighting Designer: Clytie Smith Designer: Justine Shih-Pearson Choreographic Consultant: Tess de Quincey A synthesis of dance, video, sound and installation, initially inspired by TS Eliot’s poem Burnt Norton, Still Point Turning explores perceptions of time, stillness, and turbulence. It reflects upon the fragmented and transient nature of contemporary culture, alluding to euro centric history and our obsession with ‘clock’ time. Juxtaposing this, Linda reflects on the nature of cosmic time, the eternal cycle of living and dying, and that deep – yet elusive – silence that resides in every one of us. LINDA LUKE’s dance and choreographic practice aims to reveal hidden nuances of poetry, to deepen sensitivity and excavate the subtle undercurrents we experience in relation to self, each other, and our external environment. 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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HOUSEMATE XIII PERFORMANCE ISLAND JAMES BATCHELOR and COLLABORATORS 11-15 June Design: Ella Leoncio Performer: James Batchelor, Amber McCartney, Bicky Lee Sound Designer: Morgan Hickinbotham Island is a three-part study in space, investigating the role of structure in how we perceive and respond to our environment. Movement, sound and design aim to deconstruct the symbols that veil our perception of space and offer an alternative reading of what defines the body from its external environment. The work sources inspiration from three remote islands in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, as sites for utopian experimentation and concentrated analysis of space. The work also responds to the literature Island and The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, Cinders by TE Hulme and Black Mass and The Silence of Animals by John Gray. JAMES BATCHELOR is a performer, choreographer and installation artist from Canberra now based in Melbourne. His choreographic practice hybridises performance and visual arts to create dynamic and multisensory environments. As a performer he has worked with choreographers such as Sue Healey (Inevitable Scenarios, Sydney Opera House and Artshouse), Antony Hamilton (Black Project 2, Dance Massive) and Stephanie Lake (Aorta, Chunky Move).
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
Supported by the Besen Foundation. In 2008, Dancehouse created a fully funded creative development and presentation residency for dance practitioners across Australia - the Housemate Residency. The Housemate Residency, unparalled in Australia, is an opportunity to do much more than research choreographically or make a single work, it is an opportunity to be fully supported in a way that can be tailored for each individual artist. The HOUSEMATE PERFORMANCE PROGRAM, in the first half of each year, focuses solely on creative development leading to a new work and formal performance season, which Dancehouse presents. This program provides the artist/s with extensive time, generous financial support and a thoroughly mentored environment. Dancehouse is interested in an artist’s global pathway, and acts as an available tool with which to invent new connections between artistic work, professional networks and wider audiences. Our Housemate XIII was James Batchelor.
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DANCEHOUSE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL d’AVIGNON OFF 5-14 July In partnership with Micadanses, Paris and with the support of the Australia Council IETM Collaboration Project and the Keir Foundation, Dancehouse International presented an Australian Dance Focus at Festival d’Avignon Off. MAXIMUM Choreographer/Performer Natalie Abbott Performer/Collaborator Donny Henderson-Smith Lighting Design Matthew Adey Dramaturge Matthew Day A dancer. A bodybuilder. Endurance. Durability. MAXIMUM tests the boundaries between of the body through extreme physical endurance and exertion. Two highly trained performers sweat it out on stage, pushing themselves beyond exhaustion to reveal the full potential of the human body. With every tiny action repeated, intensified, the energy of the performance space is lifted, it is palpable, it is visceral. MAXIMUM takes a sharp look at these disparate forms of physicality, highlighting the ability of two diverse bodies to achieve unity through performance.
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
INTERMISSION Concept/choreography/performance: Matthew Day Dramaturgy: Martin del Amo Sound: James Brown Light: Travis Hodgson Intermission, the final work in a series, immerses itself completely in the deep unconscious waves and rhythms that began to emerge in Cannibal. The audience enter a soft blue-black chamber and encounter a lone figure circling at its centre, almost imperceptibly. Starting small and quietly, the repetitive circular movement produces a multiplicity of unconscious rhythms and subterranean waves as the work unfolds. A minimal and unrelenting live sound score pushes up against the choreography that creates tension and relief from the hypnotic insistence of the work and the suspended moments of energy and stillness.
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NON-CURATED PERFORMANCE SEASONS YOUR WAY! Our Your Way! program is a way of offering support to productions outside our curatorial program. In offering the Your Way! program, we aim to contribute to advancing dance practice and performance by giving artists access to professional presenting opportunities. YOUR WAY! – Joel Fenton – Summer Solo Series – Feb 21-23 YOUR WAY! – Chloe Chignell/Timothy Walsh – Post Phase: The Summit is Blue & Lauren Simmonds/Bicky Lee – Flash/Girl – Sept 18-21 (Fringe Festival) YOUR WAY! – Mark Pedersen/Travis Cox – Infundibular – Sept 25-28 (Fringe Festival) YOUR WAY! – The Delta Project – Under My Skin - Oct 24-25 YOUR WAY! – Scarlet Haze Productions – Scarlet Haze – Dec 5
Image: Pippa Dodds for The Delta Project
Image: Theresa Harrison for Flashlight
Image: Post Phase: The Summit is Blue
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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ARTIST DEVELOPMENT This program reflects Dancehouse’s commitment to provide independent Australian dance artists a rare opportunity for training and skills development outside of their own creative practices. Dancehouse provides these vital opportunities for continued physical examinations across a variety of dance forms, techniques and practices. The scope of training opportunies provided by Dancehouse is unique in Australia and places it on par with renowned international institutions such as Movement Research, New York, Tanz Quartier, Vienna and The Place, London. In many instances Dancehouse is the only Australian organisation offering dance practitioners access to new and unusual developments in dance practice and training.
SUMMER TRAINING INTENSIVE: 10 DAYS, 10 TEACHERS 10 - 21 February 2014 Professional training intensives consisting of technique and improvisation with leading dance professionals. Teachers included in the series were: Fiona Cameron, Caroline Meaden, Paea Leach, James Welsby, Chimene Steele-Prior, Dianne Reid, Shelley Lasica, Fionay Bryant, Gregory Lorenzutti, Prue Lang.
LEARNING CURVE
CURATED WORKSHOPS/MASTERCLASSES
Learning Curve is a Dancehouse mentoring program open to participants from across Australia. It matches dancers with established artists in a concentrated and intimate studio experience. Learning Curve recognises the relationship between experience and development and encourages graduates to consider the essential nature of a career in dance as a life-long learning process.
Dancehouse is committed to providing key opportunities for local and interstate dance makers to up their skills and to enrich their practice and vision or current practices by exposing them to a selected choice of practitioners. The curated workshops program includes several 1-week or 1-weekend workshops with local, interstate or international practitioners.
DEBORAH HAY conducted Learning Curve in 2014. For 43 years Deborah Hay’s research has been based on the observation and realisation that all of us are, both consciously and unconsciously, choreographed by culture, gender, politics, job, history, art, etc. Her interest as a choreographer is not to maintain or refine a choreography, but rather to destabilise learned movement that keeps us on a treadmill of replication. The material for her research is the cellular body that she is the first to admit is impossible to grasp. Yet the translation of this material is the basis of her teaching, her practice and the subject matter of her performance. What if our attention is not on what we do onstage but how we can be continuously enlarging our experience of dance as we dance?
In 2014 Dancehouse presented workshops to a total of 126 participants.
The 2014 successful participants were:
2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse
Deb Batton, Kelly Beneforti, Fiona Bryant, Chloe Chignell, Fleur Conlon, Alice Cummins, Ellen Davies, Michelle Ferris, Anna Healey, Alice Heyward, Helen Herbertson, Nikki Heywood, Zac Jones, Leah Landau, Paula Lay, Maud Leger, Amanda Lever, Catherine Magill, Megan Payne, Paul Roberts, Phoebe Robinson, Jane Refshauge, Suze Smith, Ade Suharto, Hellen Sky, Soo Yuen You, Elanor Webber.
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ARTIST DEVELOPMENT - WORKSHOPS Embodied Context: On Dramaturgy in Contemporary Dance and Performance BOJANA KUNST 17-21 March Attendance: 15
Body as Mind and The Practice of Performance ROS WARBY 7 December Attendance:16
The workshop worked practically with inventive approach to dramaturgy and gives insight into the embodied and experiential aspects of dramaturgical work and their role in the process of performance making. Focusing especially on the problem of the context, research and experimentation. The workshop deals with collaborative approaches that understand working processes also as a way to produce knowledge about artistic processes.
What physical and perceptual state best supports us in being available to experience an expanded sense of our own dance and performance by engaging the imagination through the dancing body. How can we look at eliminating hierarchy within our movement vocabularies and patterns? By engaging with approaches that serve us in refining our awareness and understanding of the practice of dance and performance we will begin to address some of these questions.
PROF. DR. BOJANA KUNST is a full professor at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies / ATW – Institut für Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany. She graduated in 1994 from Philosophy and Comparative Literature at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts. With the young researcher grant from the The Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia she completed in the year 1998 her Master Degree from Philosophy with the thesis The Problem of the Body in Theatre, Impossible Body.
The Studio PRUE LANG AND MATHIEU BRIAND 24-25 May Attendance: 11
TERE O’CONNOR 28 July-1 August Attendance: 23 Each artist will create a process methodology based on the structure of his /her own thought process and burning questions. We will pursue the application of these in the work and share our findings with each other. Through daily physical investigation and comprehensive discussion, we will question assumptions and choreographic “default settings” from dance history re-contextualizing these through the dual lenses of personal research and contemporary culture. We will work to find a functionally poetic approach to choreographic work of diverse sorts and try to sharpen the creative acuity required to realize our work in the most integrated ways possible. Not incidentally, we will create a space, even for a short time, where we can ruminate together in-depth about our decisions to make art while we are here.
The workshop looks at existing works in which the body is at the core of the work and the studio the place of action. Together participants examine the way in which each artist dialogues between different forms in their particular way, re-defining existing models of performance and consequently influencing practices to come. PRUE LANG is a choreographer. In 1996 she moved to France working for the Choreographic National Centre in Angers, Compagnie Cre-Ange in Paris. In 1999 she began an important collaboration with William Forsythe as a leading soloist and choreographer of the Frankfurt Ballett and The Forsythe Company. Since 2005 she has been working as an independent choreographer presenting her work in international festivals, theatres and museums throughout the world. RIPPLE EFFECT DEAF ARTS NETWORK WITH ARTS ACCESS VICTORIA 31 May-1 June Attendance: 6
TERE O’CONNOR has been making dances for 30 years, creating more than 40 works for his company; touring nationally and internationally. He has created numerous commissioned works for other dance companies including the Lyon Opera Ballet, White Oak Dance Project, and a solo for Mikhail Baryshnikov entitled Indoor Man. O’Connor received a 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, is a 2009 United States Artist Rockefeller Fellow, and a 1999 Guggenheim Fellow. He has been honored with three New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Awards. In 2014 he was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Deaf Arts Network, AAV and Dancehouse hosted this free event focused on facilitating and promoting inclusive practice. Teachers, artists, and anyone working within dance and/or drama were invited to attend to explore inclusive approaches to dance and drama workshop facilitation. The training focused on giving participants the skills and information to deliver dance and drama workshops and classes to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The teacher training workshops focused on learning to create an accessible learning environment through exploration and discussion of practical learning methods, as well as Deaf Awareness Training. Delivered by Jo Dunbar (dancer/choreographer), Medina Sumovia (AD of the Australian Theatre of the Deaf) and Anna Seymour (independent dancer).
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ARTIST DEVELOPMENT - CAPACITY BUILDING NEXT STAGES: A DANCE SITES NETWORK PROJECT 7 -10 August NEXT STAGES was a 5 day-laboratory focused on creative development for the three participating choreographers followed by a three-day open program combining work in progress showings, networking sessions and skills development workshops with a view to build capacity for independent makers. DISCUSSIONS & TALKS ON MAKING NEW WORK IN DANCE: Challenges and Joys 7 August On processes and methodologies when starting a new creative development. On the role of of outside eyes (dramaturges, peers, audience). On the importance of the right ‘ingredients’ in making new work – time, space, money and … critical feedback. With Fiona Bryant, Kay Armstrong, Rhiannon Newton, Becky Hilton, Brooke Stamp, James Batchelor. Facilitated by Matthew Day. A BEGINNER’S MANUAL TO UNDERSTANDING DANCE 10 August There is no greater fear for the audience than that of ‘not getting it’. This lively session will answer all your questions and tell you exactly what you are expected to see, feel and understand when you see a dance show. With choreographer Becky Hilton and Philosophy professor Philipa Rothfield.
DEVELOPING AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK 9 August Attendance: 11 Many artists dream of presenting their works in international contexts and build long-lasting relationships with overseas presenters and organisations. A manual on where to start and what to (reasonably) dream. With Sophie Travers and Angela Conquet. WORKING IN REGIONAL AUSTRALIA, THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM? 10 August Attendance: 9 Dance and often, theatre pieces rarely have a life after the premiere season, let alone travel regionally. Regional touring schemes exist but seem open to more mainstream works. This workshop looks into the realities of touring in remote areas and gives a few key avenues for the artists to explore. With Kate Denborough (KAGE) and Gavin Webber (Queensland based dancer and choreographer). DREAMING UP YOUR OWN CONTEXT 10 August Attendance: 12 In the arts, it is always about the context. The context the artist chooses to be part of (or not), the context in which the artist produces the work, the context in which the work of the artist is received. To what extent can an artist dream up their own context and live it up. With Margie Medlin (director, Critical Path).
CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOPS WORKING WITH A PRODUCER: A user’s Manual 9 August Attendance: 9 Every artist dreams of having a great producer able to work some miracles. But what is precisely the role of a producer and what should the artists’ expectations be? A practical and pragmatic insight into the many powers and some limits producers have in performing arts. With producers Kara Ward (independent producer) and Josh Wright ( Associate Producer, Malthouse), facilitated by Veronica Bolzon (Dancehouse).
TERTIARY DANCE WEEKEND 15-16 November Attendance: 28
BUILDING AND UNDERSTANDING A PRODUCTION/TOURING BUDGET 9 August Attendance: 7 All you need to know as an artist when you set out to make a new work or tour an existing one. Tricks and traps, and more. With Sam Fox (Perth-based independent producer and artist) and Amelia Bartak (Experimenta Director and former Ballet Lab General Manager).
Teachers: Michael Whaites, Helen Herbertson, Lee Serle, Dianne Reid.
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In 2014, Dancehouse offered weekend of training opportunities as part of Tertiary Dance Weekend. CLASSES
WORKSHOPS Jo Lloyd and Becky Hilton. www.dancehouse.com.au | www.dancehousediary.com.au
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HOUSEMATE XIV RESEARCH PROGRAM HOUSEMATE XIV RESEARCH: Martin Hansen with collaborator, Ania Nowak The Dancehouse research program supports and values unearthed investigation into new ways of working, the exchange of ideas, the creation of new networks and engagement in debate and critical discourse. In 2008, Dancehouse created a fully funded creative development and presentation residency for dance practitioners across Australia - the Housemate Residency. The Housemate Residency, unparalled in Australia and perhaps the world, is an opportunity to do much more than research choreographically or make a single work, it is an opportunity to be fully supported in a way that can be tailored for each individual artist. The HOUSMATE RESEARCH PROGRAM, offered in the second half of each year, concentrates on research and experimentation, with no imperative to present an outcome. It gives space to experimental, cutting edge and sometimes insular research, thus supporting the discovery of new ground in choreographic exploration. With this program, Dancehouse wishes to instigate and nurture rigorous discourse and wide ranging experimentation in all movement-based forms and to encourage new choreographic work.
During his residency at Dancehouse, Martin and Ania Nowak undertook a period of research that actively utilises ideas about associative, queer temporalities in relation to notions of choreography and the theatre apparatus. Within the appointment oriented, straight time of the theatre spectacle lies possibilities for the co-emergence of ‘other’ kinds and spaces of time and it is these other and queer temporal constructs that designate the theatre as a space for critique for Martin. Using parables and fables as forms that have been historically construed as vessels of truth, Martin and Ania test methods to exhaust and transform them in relation to J.L Austins theories and what they think they already know about the theatre apparatus. They invited a wide range of experiences and knowledge to coexist within the research period including physical practice, lectures with invited guests and showings of the work so that the residency period too becomes a frame of associative linkage and community engendering. MARTIN HANSEN is an Australian dance artist working between Melbourne and Germany. Martin undertook his initial study at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary and Tertiary Institutions, after which he worked independently in Melbourne with Chunky Move, Not Yet Its Difficult and Hydra Poesis. In Europe, Martin collaborated with Tino Sehgal on T’ between 2011 and 2014, working from the developmental stages to presentation at Documenta13 and most recently in Athens. Martin has collaborated with Christoph Winkler, Sebastian Matthias, Jeremy Wade, Ehud Darash, Ibrahim Qurashi and others as a performer, touring throughout the world. For ‘Baader - Choreografie Einer Radikalisierung’, Martin was named Dancer of the Year 2012 by Tanz Magazin and the highlight of the 2012 Tanzplattform by the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Martin is a 2014 graduate from the HZT Berlin. ANIA NOWAK is a choreographer, performer, collaborator and facilitator. She recently graduated from HZT Berlin where she got to know choreographic approaches of the likes of: Jonathan Burrows, Martin Nachbar, Xavier le Roy, deufert&plischke and has been mentored in her artistic practice by Siegmar Zacharias, Lito Walkey and Alice Chauchat. Since moving to Germany in 2011, her own and collaborative work has been presented in different venues in Berlin (Akademie der Künste, Uferstudios, Neuköllner Oper), Amsterdam, Barcelona and Stockholm.
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SPACE GRANTS SUMMER SPACE GRANTS Through the Summer Grants program, Dancehouse supports artists whose emergent ideas and developing work have the potential to contribute strongly to the development of contemporary dance. Dancehouse offers fullysubsidised studio space in the form of four 30-hour Summer Space Grants. These grants are available nationally and participants are selected by Dancehouse assisted by industry peers. ILAN ABRAHAMS Utilised the space grant to develop a movement performance, IF THIS IS HOME, with text and live music TESSA BROADBY AND ASHLEA ENGLISH Undertook the first stage of a creative development, trailing ideas through improvisation, making and breaking the rules, and using experimentation and play. PAEA LEACH Used the space grant to build on a solo titled, Things We Hold, created in 2013, using it as a beginning point for further exploration through movement discussion and reading. SANDRA PARKER Through the space grant she began the creation of a new ensemble work entitled Small Details which will examine how and what can be perceived and determined from detailed fragments of information. QUICK RESPONSE GRANTS 15-hour space grants were additionally awarded to JOEL FENTON and SHANNON BOTT DEAKIN DANCE GRADUATE RESIDENCY As part of his residency, PAUL JACKSON wasa loocated 30-hours of rehearsal time and presented his work in a showing at Dancehouse during Tertiary Dance Week. 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
Image: Three Body Problem, Paul Jackson
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YOU + DANCEHOUSE AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
SIMONES BOUDOIR AT NGV #4 – THE BODY. NOW 9 March Attendance: 35
SIMONE’S BOUDOIR Simone’s Boudoir is a series of informal themed discussions with selected guests and limited audience – artists, researchers, critics, academics and key personalities. In the spirit of the salon Dancehouse invites dance makers and dance lovers alike to engage in discussion (and discourse) by provoking monthly informal topic-centered talks with selected guests. In 2014, NGV’s Melbourne Now partnered with Dancehouse to present the Simone’s Boudoir Series. SIMONES BOUDOR AT NGV #2 – LESS IS MORE 19 January Attendance: 35
The last conversation of the Simone’s Boudoir series at the NGV exploring the ways in which prevailing geopolitical and economic contexts affect our physical selves (bodily senses, energies, desires and behaviours). We are also investigating the extent to which the moving body mirrors the current societal challenges of our world. With Philipa Rothfileld (Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Latrobe University, dance reviewer), Audrey Schmidt (artist, writer), Andrew Furhman (Performing Arts editor Time Out). Facilitated by Jana Percovic SIMONES BOUDOIR #5 - ON CHOREOGRAPHIC MATTERS 1 August Attendance: 40
With this precept, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe invented a wave of minimalism design at a time when the trend was in the opposite. Such is the case today. on minimalism today – in other words, how to be less in a world that wants us to be so much more. With: Matthew Day (choreographer, performer), Fiona Bryant (choreopgrapher, performer), Ross Coulter (Visual artist), Zoe Croggon (visual artist) and Jodi (creative producer, Carbonarts). Facilitated by Sally Gardner, Senior Lecturer in Dance, Deakin University.
Dancehouse invited New York choreographer Tere O’Connor to join Becky Hilton in a conversation around his choreographic thinking and making.
SIMONES BOUDOIR AT NGV #3 – CIRCULATIONS 9 February Attendance: 35
Martin Hansen and Ania Nowak are the current Research Housemates at Dancehouse. Through theSimone’s Boudoir Series they will share the research field and working dynamics of their residency. Here’s a word from them:
Dance is a universal art form and its makers not only tour the world with their work but also settle down in different countries to their own. What becomes different then in the every day work? Are bodies different from one culture to another? Does the political/economic system of a country impact on the way dance works are produced or presented? Are there clearly different aesthetic investigations from one country to the other?
SIMONES BOUDOIR #6 - MARTIN HANSEN 4 and 13 December Attendance: 10
“We are researching the notion of ‘Queer Temporalities’ as a frame for possible modes of thinking time differently when applied to the logic of the theatre apparatus. A Queer Temporality is possibly: a dissident time, a site of pluralism, the “slow time” vs the progressive time of capitalism, a time outside of time, a constant iteration, the perverted… We wish to invite you to a conversation, which may assume many forms, to delve into the fantasy of what a queer temporality could be. We imagine that the way we are together in this frame is an extension of our encounters with each other in and outside of the studio; we want to re-imagine how we can be together when we share and produce knowledge.”
With: Rosalind Crisp (choreographer), Prue Lang (choreographer), Anouk van Dijk (choreographer, Chunky Move) and Nebahat Erpolat (choreographer). Facilitated by Sophie Travers, an experienced arts producer with an international perspective. 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
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YOU + DANCEHOUSE DANCEHOUSE DIARY
The Sacred and The Profane- Rituals of Now Issue 7
Dancehouse Diary is a free publication, a site for developing critical discourse on dance and connecting dance to other art forms, to societal issues and to a wider audience. Each Dancehouse Diary features independent dance news and professional callouts, as well as upcoming events at Dancehouse which included workshops and classes, performances and discussions. In 2014 we launched the Dancehouse diary website where previous issues of the diary are archived along with recommended reading and links to artists and topics.
Ritual is an inevitable component of our culture and it deeply pervades our social interactions, extending from the largest-scale social and political processes to the most intimate aspects of our self-experience. Rituals structure our lives, shape public expressions of powerful emotions, while building a sense of communal belonging. This issue provides speculation and assertion which look at the functions ritual plays within everyday life. Feature Article: Deborah Jowitt, Betty Lefevre Features: Alice Heyward, Shruti Ghosh, Ben Eltham Diary Entries: Linda Luke, Yumi Umiumare, Soo Yeun You and Sarah-Jane Norman Food for Thought: John Rundell Conversations: Ann Marsh with Philipa Rothfield, Tere O’Connor with Becky Hilton
The Body in The Raw. Nudity Today. Issue 6 This Issue scrutinises what a naked body can say today that a clothed body cannot. Let it be said from the outset, this theme was triggered by recent cases of artistic censorship, largely in Australia. So what is it about nudity that provokes such moral panic, especially given the prevalence of (porno)graphic imagery within music and popular culture? Have our social and sexual mores shifted? Feature Article: Roland Huesca Features: Nebahat Erpolat, Alice Heyward, Gulsen Ozer, Audrey Schmidt Diary Entries: Maud Davey, Jill Orr, Atlanta Eke, Daniel Leveille and Deborah Hay Food for Thought: Jo Faulkner, Bojana Kunst Conversations: Phillip Adams with Jill Orr
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YOU + DANCEHOUSE COMMUNITY OUTREACH
ROTARY YOUTH ARTS PROJECT June - September 2014 Attendance: 100
SHAKE THE HOUSE OPEN DAY 15 February Attendance: 87 Participants Dancehouse opened its doors for a full-day event, inviting the community and surrounding neighbourhoods to come and see Dancehouse. To experience what we do and take part in free classes provided by our various weekly teachers. Classes included Pilates, Body Mind Centering, Yoga, Fine Lines, Action Theatre, Bharatanatyam, Contact Improvisation, Contemporary technique, Kathak, West African, Odissi Classical Indian and No Lights No Lycra. AN ARTIST IN YOUR BACK YARD November – December 2014 Attendance: 30 An Artist in Your Backyard is a community-driven project that brings dance closer to where people live. In 2014, the project sends dance artists to communal areas of the Princess Hill Estate and offers an inventive, non-intrusive way to access dance by inserting professional artists into a familiar place over a month and by creating a relaxed environment for shared dialogue about the art experience between community members and artists. A pilot collaboration between Dancehouse, City of Yarra, Atherton Gardens, North Carlton Railway Neighbourhood House, the Office of Housing and the Princess Hill Community Centre. Led by: Becky Hilton. Dancers: Alice Heyward, Megan Payne, Ella Meehan, Ellen Davies and Chloe Chignell
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The program offers free, empowering, hands-on arts experiences for young people, teaching life skills such as teamwork, creativity and confidence. This year, Dancehouse Housemate and Keir Award finalist, James Batchelor, mentored 15 young people from Collingwood College towards a choreographed installation presented for family and friends. The 2014 RYAP culminated in a dance and photo installation at Fitzroy Town Hall on 15 September. The SnapHop Rotary Youth Arts Project (RYAP) is a collaborative project between public, private, education and arts organisations. Its mission is to assist socio-economically and culturally disadvantaged young people to gain life skills such as teamwork, creativity and the confidence to help develop a sense of purpose, connection to local community and a need for a future pathway. The project offers free, empowering, hands-on quality arts experiences in dance, video and photography workshops, aiming towards a quality exhibition, screening and performance. 2014 SnapHop RYAP managing arts organisations were Dancehouse and the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP). The Rotary Club of Richmond and the City of Yarra (Cultural Arts & Culture services and Youth Services) currently support RYAP.
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YOU + DANCEHOUSE - PUBLIC CLASSES
Weekly independent dance classes are held through the day, evening and during weekends. This opens up Dancehouse to a wide range of profiles from enthusiasts to professionals, run by entrepreneurial teachers with the support of Dancehouse. In 2014, classes included:
Image: Action Theater, courtesy of Dani Cresp
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Action Theater Dani Cresp Afro Latin Groove Irina De Loche Alchemy Improvisation Anne O’Keeffe Beginners Contemporary Sarah Fiddaman Beginner Pilates Imogene Turner Bey Party Keely Windred Bharatanatyam Govind Pillai Biodanza Kath Creagh Bodymind Centreing Alice Cummins Bollywood Pushpa Velyavettil BoN Rhythm Nithya Iyer Contact Improvisation Keira Mason Hill Contemporary Dance Simone Litchfield Contemporary Physical Actor Training Kat Henry Creative Movement Meah Velik Lord Dance from the Inside Out Irina De Loche
Feldenkrais Germarja Lomas Fine Lines Katrina Rank Folly Frolic Stevie Hall Inside Motion - Ideokinesis Shona Innes Kathak Tapasi Mukherjee Movement of the Soul Rachel Findeis No Lights No Lycra Alice Glenn Odissi, Indian Classical Monica Singh Reading Group: Phenomenology of Perception Mammad Aidani Somatic Movement Suze Smith The Musical Body Charlotte Roberts Vinyasa Yoga Niharika Senapati West African Dance & Drum Tamsen Franklin Wushu Tai Chi Lily Sun Yoga Katrien Van Huyck Yogalates Irina de Loche
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MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT MARKETING REPORT
REALTIME ADVERTISEMENT
MEMBERSHIP PHILOSOPHY The Dancehouse members are a vital part of the organisation’s vibrancy. They are dance makers and dance lovers alike and they are the first users of our services. We aim at developing a privileged relationship with all of them and to increase their numbers as they represent the best advocates for dance in general and for our programs in particular. We strive to cultivate understanding and appreciation of this art form and for those who join our membership programs, we each time aim to create a unique encounter with the artists and their work.
DANCEHOUSE & MELBOURNE FESTIVAL PRESENT
DANCE TERRITORIES
In 2014 Dancehouse signed up 175 new members. Specific budgets have been allocated to developing a consistent visual identity for printed and web-based materials which has contributed to an enhanced and recognisable exposure of Dancehouse (window posters, print adverts, flyers, Dancehouse Diary).
PROGRAM TWO RITUALS OF NOW ÉLÉONORE DIDIER (FR) LINDA LUKE (AUS) 17 - 18 OCTOBER
PROGRAMS/FLYERS E-NEWS, SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEB All performance and event programs were created in-house, as well as postcard flyers, various A3 posters and promotional materials. 33 newsletters/announcements, 21 special invitations and 11 media releases were designed and sent to a comprehensive database of contacts which currently contains approx 4000 subscribers. 100 tote bags and 100 USBs with artists’ work were distributed to stakeholders, visting and international guests. Approximately 3500 people followed us on both FACEBOOK and TWITTER.
Image credit: Laurent Philippe
In 2014, our website was visited by: First visit: 01 Jan 2014, 00:02 Last visit: 31 Dec 2014, 23:51
Viewed traffic Not viewed traffic
Unique visitors Number of visits Pages
Hits
Bandwith
54,009
308,075
1,107,438
54.60GB
1,491,439
1,625,908
23.06GB
94,250
PROGRAM ONE THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE MOSSOUX-BONTÉ (BE) YAP, UMIUMARE, GINGOLD (AUS) 14 - 15 OCTOBER
* Not viewed traffic includes traffic generated by robots, worms, or replies with special HTTP status codes.
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DANCEHOUSE IN THE MEDIA - SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS
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DANCEHOUSE IN THE MEDIA - SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS
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DANCEHOUSE IN THE MEDIA - SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS
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DANCEHOUSE IN THE MEDIA - SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS
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DANCEHOUSE IN THE MEDIA - SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS
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CONNECT! A DANCEHOUSE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM RITUALS OF NOW PRELUDE‌ 13 October Attendance: 60
Dancehouse hosted a very special prelude to the 2014 DANCE TERRITORIES program, presented within Melbourne Festival. This event was crafted as a taste of the flavour Program One had to offer. It was imagined as a special journey and intimate encounter for supporters, friends and guests of Dancehouse and Melbourne Festival. The evening also included a silent auction of two works from dance artist and photographer, Jill Orr.
PROGRAM
THE COFFEE DRINKERS (20 min) Intermission ZERO ZERO (20min) A drink with the artists
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CONNECT! A DANCEHOUSE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM At Dancehouse, we believe in the power of art to bring meaning, to inspire us to think, act and live creatively. We believe that dance artists are uniquely able to trigger with their works transformative art experiences that can nurture and move us. We believe that they have the power to shape and sculpt the spaces, the outer and the inner ones. We also believe in this idea very dear to the amazing artist Joseph Beuys, that artists are social sculptors –that they can enable social and cultural transformation through creativity, critical discourse and active reflection. And we also believe that dance is for everyone, not just a few. Key Areas of Expenditure • Commissioning, producing and presenting new or existing Australian dance works • Professional development via our Training program (research, classes, workshops,) • Artists’ mobility - national and international tours, overseas residencies • Engaging national and international high profile guest artists to work with local practitioners • Developing meaningful tools for connecting the art form to wider audiences – Dancehouse Diary, Digital Quilt, discussions, forum, community outreach programs etc.
CATEGORIES OF SUPPORT The Enthusiast ($100+) You are enthusiastic about what we are doing here at Dancehouse. You have come to a show, hired our spaces or attended a workshop, perhaps even produced something with us. We appreciate your support and we are as enthusiastic as you are to grow our connection with you. There is so much more to see and be part of! Take a deeper dive into our programs and enhance your experience! For a contribution of anything from $100 to $499, your mind and senses will be stirred! As an Enthusiast, you will enjoy a dedicated newsletter to outline a range of tailored benefits, opportunities for engagement, complimentary tickets to shows, third party special offers and acknowledgement. The Explorer ($500+) Take the next step. You have had a taste and want to adventure more deeply into who we are and how you can connect and get involved. We want to share our ambition and passion with you and invite you backstage to explore together how dance is made, how artists create and how Dancehouse supports our community and delivers its mission. For a contribution of anything from $500 to $999, you will meet the artists and enjoy Dancehouse as an ‘insider’. As an Explorer, you will enjoy receiving VIP invitations to events, a dedicated newsletter, complimentary tickets, increased opportunities for engagement, third part special offers such as discounts to local shops and acknowledgement on our website and to our networks. 2014 DANCEHOUSE ANNUAL REPORT
The Shaker ($1000+) Take action and shake things up, helping us kick start projects and initiatives, develop the careers of artists and opportunities for their work. There is no greater pleasure than seeing an idea begin as a seed, sprout and grow to its full potential. We would love to involve you in supporting projects which will make a difference and it all starts here. For a contribution of anything from $1,000 to $2,499, you will be offered direct opportunities to progress an artist and their work, be invited to VIP events, receive a dedicated newsletter offering you increased opportunities for engagement, complimentary tickets, third party special offers such as discounts and tickets to shows by partner companies and acknowledgement to our networks. Be a Shaker today and help see an artist’s dreams come true tomorrow. The Mover ($2500+) As a Mover you appreciate who we are, where we have been and where we are headed. You believe in our ambitious future, want to help us shape it by creating opportunities for dancers and artists, build exciting creative partnerships and assist Dancehouse to move in exciting new territory. For a contribution of anything from $2,500 to $4,999, you can attach your name to the development of an artist and join us on an adventure towards a bright future. As a Mover, you will receive an all access pass to events and activities at Dancehouse, invitations to VIP events, a dedicated newsletter and opportunities to get creatively involved with us. The Ambassador Circle ($5000+) To you, Dancehouse, its purpose and values mean more to you than a performance space. It is a place of passion, ambition, freedom, inspiration, education, excellence, innovation and community. Be inspired by inspiring others and connect with the spirit of creation. For a contribution of anything above $5,000, you will be a member of our Ambassador Circle and deliver a new reality for dancers and Dancehouse which otherwise would have not been possible. Your contribution may go to commissioning new works, international tours, and prestigious programs like Dance Massive or Dance Territories. You will be acknowledged as an advocate of independent dance and your name associated with cutting-edge programs and projects. As a member of the Ambassador Circle, you will be invited to exclusive dinners and Dancehouse occasions with our artists, dancers and partners, be given three year recognition as an Ambassador, an all access pass to events and activities and more. And we will not know how to thank you enough.
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OUR SUPPORTERS
Thank you for helping us create and connect! The Movers $2,500 - $4,999
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF DANCEHOUSE JAMES & LEO OSTROBURSKI MICHAEL ADENA & JOANNE DALY The Shakers $1,000 - $2,499
JANE REFSHAUGE The Explorers $500 - $999
MURRAY BATCHELOR ROSEMARY FORBERS & IAN HOCKING SHELLEY LASICA
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The Enthusiasts $100 - $499 THE OSTROBURSKI FAMILY FUND PHILLIP ADAMS / AMELIA BARTAK / EMMA BATCHELOR / WENDY BATCHELOR SARAH BRASCH / KARA BURDACK / SAMANTHA CHESTER / ROBERT FRANCIS COLEMAN / MAXIME CONQUET / MICHAELA COVENTRY ELIZABETH DAY / LUKE GEORGE / LUCY GUERIN / SUE HEALEY / CLAIRE HIELSCHER / BECKY HILTON DENISE HILTON / LAUREN HONCOPE / GILLIAN MCDOUGALL / FRAN OSTROBURSKI / JOHN PAOLACCI / JERRY REMKES / PHILIPA ROTHFIELD CLIVE RUMBLE / SUZANNE SANDFORD JACK WILLIAM SILLORAY / HELEN SIMONDSON / ANOUK VAN DIJK / YVETTE WROBY
The Starters ANNETTE ABBOTT / NIELS BIENAS / BEC DEAN / KATHARINA DILENA / CLAIRE GILBERT / TOM GOULD / RICHARD GURNEY / ANTONY HAMILTON ELIZABETH HARVEY / SHANE MARBLE / ROBERT MCCREDIE / BRONWYN O’BRIEN / CARL NILSSON-POLIAS / LUCY PARAKHINA / STEVE ROTHFIELD / LORNA SIM YANA TAYLOR / CANADA WHITE / JAMIMA WU
Our sincere thanks to all our Pozible supporters through 2014
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OUR PARTNERS Dancehouse is assisted by the Commonwealth Government though the Australia Council, its arts funding advisory body, and is supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria, Department of Premier and Cabinet and by the City of Yarra through the use of the Dancehouse facility. Dancehouse is situated on Wurunjeri land. We acknowledge the Wurunjeri people who are the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which Dancehouse sits and pays respect to the Elders both past and present of the Kulin Nation.
PROGRAM PARTNERS
Dancehouse wishes to gratefully acknowledge the generous support of our partners for 2014.
OUR GOVERNMENT FUNDING PARTNERS
PROJECT FUNDING PARTNERS
MEDIA PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS
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