World Dance Alliance Global Summit 13 – 18 July 2008 Brisbane, Australia Australian Guidebook A4:Aust Guide book 3 5/6/08 17:00 Page 1 THE MARIINSKY BALLET AND HARLEQUIN DANCE FLOORS “From the Eighteenth century When we come to choosing a floor St. Petersburg and the Mariinsky for our dancers, we dare not Ballet have become synonymous compromise: we insist on with the highest standards in Harlequin Studio. Harlequin - classical ballet. Generations of our a dependable company which famous dancers have revealed the shares the high standards of the glory of Russian choreographic art Mariinsky.” to a delighted world. And this proud tradition continues into the Twenty-First century. Call us now for information & sample Harlequin Australasia Pty Ltd P.O.Box 1028, 36A Langston Place, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia Tel: +61 (02) 9869 4566 Fax: +61 (02) 9869 4547 Email: [email protected] THE WORLD DANCES ON HARLEQUIN FLOORS® SYDNEY LONDON LUXEMBOURG LOS ANGELES PHILADELPHIA FORT WORTH Ausdance Queensland and the World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific in partnership with QUT Creative Industries, QPAC and Ausdance National and in association with the Brisbane Festival 2008 present World Dance Alliance Global Summit Dance Dialogues: Conversations across cultures, artforms and practices Brisbane 13 – 18 July 2008 A Message from the Minister On behalf of our Government I extend a warm Queensland welcome to all our local, national and international participants and guests gathered in Brisbane for the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit. This is a seminal event on Queensland’s cultural calendar. Our Government acknowledges the value that dance, the most physical of the creative forms, plays in communicating humanity’s concerns. Through its language of movement, dance is the most fundamental form of human expression and communication. Dance speaks to us of the universal but at the same time celebrates and provides insights to the physical, cultural and aesthetic diversity of human experience. This is why our Government is pleased to support the World Dance Alliance Global Summit 2008 and assist in enabling these significant Dance Dialogues – featuring key artists and cultural thinkers from Australia and around the globe – to occur as a platform for discussion and cultural exchange. I encourage you to immerse yourself in these critical conversations. I commend the work of Ausdance Queensland, our peak body representing the interests of dance community sectors, in taking the initiative to assist the World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific in bringing this event to our state capital. I would also like to acknowledge major partners QUT Creative Industries, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Ausdance National and the Brisbane Festival. I also congratulate the members of the Summit Program Committee – Professor Cheryl Stock, Janelle Christofis, Julie Dyson AM and Marcus Hughes – who have compiled a rich and exciting schedule of performances, presentations, panels, forums, master-classes, laboratories and conversations. I am sure the legacy of their work will last well beyond the five days of the summit. Events like this invest new ideas, vision and perspective into the arts and I wish the very best to all participating in the World Dance Alliance Global Summit 2008. Rod Welford Minister for Education and Training Minister for the Arts 2 World Dance Alliance Global Summit 2008 Contents Welcome from Ausdance Queensland 4 Welcome from World Dance Alliance-Asia Pacific 5 Introduction 6 Summit Program 9 Opening & Closing Events 10 Dance Dialogues 11 Dance Dialogues Program 13 Performative Dialogues 21 Conference Introduction 23 Conference Program 24 Conference Abstracts 32 Physical Dialogues 83 International Master Classes 85 International Choreolab 94 Performances and Associated Events 95 World Dance Alliance Global Assembly 101 Network Sessions 103 WDA Executive & Chapter Heads 104 Conference Presenters’ Biographies 105 Acknowledgements 127 World Dance Alliance Global Summit Team 128 Maps and General Information 130 Information in this document is correct at the time of printing and is subject to change without notice. World Dance Alliance Global Summit 2008 3 Welcome from Ausdance Queensland Ausdance is a nation-wide network which provides a voice for dance in Australia, and leadership and representation which is inclusive of all areas of the dance profession. When WDA-Asia Pacific was formed in Hong Kong by Carl Wolz in 1990, Ausdance was there, sharing the aims and structure of this organisation in the debates about how WDA-AP would be structured. Since then Ausdance has contributed some of its best strategic thinkers to the growth of the organisation, and is now delighted to be presenting the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit in Brisbane. Ausdance also functions as the Australian chapter of the World Dance Alliance – Asia Pacific (WDA-AP), with three Executive Board members of the organisation based in this country: Cheryl Stock, Vice-President, Pacific Region; Nanette Hassall, Chair of the Creation and Presentation Network and Julie Dyson, Secretary. In 2006, to further strengthen our international links with dance and dance-related organisations, Ausdance Queensland successfully bid to host the 2008 WDA Global Summit, bringing this important international event to Brisbane. We are delighted to welcome World Dance Alliance members to this exciting Global Summit in Australia. Janelle Christofis Chair – Ausdance Queensland 4 World Dance Alliance Global Summit 2008 Welcome from World Dance Alliance – Asia Pacific The World Dance Alliance – Asia Pacific (WDA-AP) is most privileged to collaborate with Ausdance Queensland in co-hosting the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit in Brisbane. The theme, Dance Dialogues: conversations across cultures, art forms, practices, aptly represents the inter-regional and intra-regional dialogues in dance, being practices observed by WDA-AP since its early formation in 1990. Indeed through an ever growing conversant exchange amongst dancers, choreographers, dance scholars, writers, critics and lay persons whose interest in dance reaches beyond the ordinary in the Asia Pacific region, WDA-AP has been able to affirm its commitments in the five fields of interest represented by networks in Education and Training, Research and Documentation, Creation and Presentation, Welfare and Status, and Management and Promotion. The 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit is yet another example of a collaborative endeavor between WDA-AP and the Australian Chapter of WDA embodied by Ausdance, which benefits all members of WDA across the globe. With the support of Ausdance Queensland, WDA-AP is able to co-host an event privileging WDA members to the ‘dialogues’ (dance dialogues, performative dialogues, physical dialogues and networking dialogues) engaging participants from more than 20 countries. It is hoped that through these conversations, WDA will continue to provide windows of opportunities for anyone whose interest is to serve as a support group for dance in the world. Welcome to the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit Professor Dr Mohd Anis Md Nor President, World Dance Alliance – Asia Pacific World Dance Alliance Global Summit 2008 5 Introduction Welcome to the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit hosted and presented by Ausdance Queensland and World Dance Alliance – Asia Pacific (WDA-AP) in partnership with QUT Creative Industries, QPAC and Ausdance National, and in association with Brisbane Festival. Following the successful bid at the previous Global Assembly in Toronto in 2006 and ratified at the WDA-AP Annual General Meeting in Singapore in June 2007, the Executive Program Committee in consultation with key WDA members devised and organised Dance Dialogues: conversations across cultures, art forms, practices. Deliberately broad but with a clear focus, the theme of this Summit has been guided by an underlying philosophy which has taken it in a slightly different direction to previous WDA gatherings, in two ways. Firstly we wish to privilege both the voice and the practices of our emerging and experienced artists. Whilst we embrace the past history of WDA which has privileged the participation of undergraduate students in showcase events, we specifically recognise in this Summit the struggles that professional artists face once they have graduated. Through our performative panels and performance dialogues as part of the conference, along with the intensive international Choreolab and Masterclasses, we aim to provide a supportive platform for sharing creative work as well as professional development opportunities at the highest level. Some of these programs of course also provide for participation by undergraduate students. Secondly, in this age of increasing interdisciplinarity amongst the arts and between arts and the sciences, we wish to broaden the scope of our program beyond dance specific concerns in a mutual sharing of those issues affecting all of us in the creative arts; performers, creators, directors, educators, academics, producers, critics and scholars, as well as the administrative, health and leisure sectors. We have therefore framed all program components of our differing ‘dialogues’ around four key issues we believe we should tackle in order to survive and thrive in this 21st century environment: • transcultural conversations • sustainability • mind / body connections • re-thinking the way we make / teach dance and performance These four issues underpin all program components which