Contemporary dance in Australia is diverse with dance companies performing a broad range of what elsewhere may be termed contemporary and modern dance styles.
The two largest companies are Sydney Dance Company and Bangarra Dance Theatre, both based in Sydney and touring nationally. Other notable contemporary dance companies based in different parts of Australia include Australian Dance Theatre, Chunky Move and Dancenorth.
Contemporary arts centres like Arts House in Melbourne and Carriageworks in Sydney regularly feature contemporary dance in their programs. Major performing arts festivals, like the Adelaide Festival, Sydney Festival and Perth Festival, often commission and present contemporary dance. Contemporary dance-specific festivals include Dance Massive in Melbourne.
Most companies work on a project basis with artists contracted for a set period of time, ranging from days to months, with no guarantee of further employment. Other funding sources include project specific funding for a dance work by example by a festival or performance venue to raise the expenses required to bring it to fruition.
Dance film provides one mode of contemporary dance in Australia with the ReelDance Festival, [1] being the main avenue, with other opportunities being through installations at venues such as night clubs, back alley's to art galleries, shown as part of a live performance, or sometimes purchased for home viewing.
So You Think You Can Dance Australia has drawn criticism for poorly representing dance as an art form. [2]
ABC1 broadcasts contemporary dance as part of its Sunday Arts programming.
Australian contemporary dance companies include:
Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Indigenous Australian contemporary dance company founded in 1989. Stephen Page was artistic director from 1991 to 2021, with Frances Rings taking over in 2022.
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank precinct. Opened in 1985, it includes the Lyric Theatre, Concert Hall, Playhouse and Cremorne Theatre.
Stephen George Page is an Australian choreographer, film director and former dancer. He is the current artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Indigenous Australian dance company. Page is descended from the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali of the Yugambeh people from southeast Queensland, Australia.
Dance Hub SA, formerly Leigh Warren & Dancers or Leigh Warren + Dancers (LWD) and then LWDance Hub, is a contemporary dance company based in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Formed in 1993 by Leigh Warren, the company toured internationally and won several awards.
Ceremonial dancing has a very important place in the Indigenous cultures of Australia. They vary from place to place, but most ceremonies combine dance, song, rituals and often elaborate body decorations and costumes. The different body paintings indicate the type of ceremony being performed. They play an important role in marriage ceremonies, in the education of Indigenous children, as well as story telling and oral history. The term corroboree is commonly used to refer to Australian Aboriginal dances, although this term has its origins among the people of the Sydney region. In some places, Aboriginal people perform corroborees for tourists. In the latter part of the 20th century the influence of Indigenous Australian dance traditions has been seen with the development of concert dance, with the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) providing training in contemporary dance.
Melbourne International Arts Festival was a major international arts festival and celebration of dance, theatre, music, circus, visual arts, multimedia, outdoor and free events held each October in a number of venues across Melbourne, Australia. The festival ran from 1986 to 2019, when it was announced a new festival, later named Rising, would take its place.
Western Australian Mark Howett is a director for theatre, dance, opera and film, having started his career initially as a lighting designer. He studied Theatre Design, specialising in Lighting Design at the School of Drama 1981, Yale University. Since 1979, Mark Howett has worked with many international theatre, film, dance, and opera companies. He was a senior creative on productions such as: Sweeney Todd, Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Cabaret at Savoy Theatre West End, Evita at Dominion Theatre West End, A Country Girl at Apollo Theatre West End, Rites Bangarra and Australian Ballet at Paris Opera House, Cloudstreet Co B Belvoir at Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Secret River Sydney Theatre Co to name a few.
Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the performing arts in Australia, or produced by Australians. There are theatrical and dramatic aspects to a number of Indigenous Australian ceremonies such as the corroboree. During its colonial period, Australian theatrical arts were generally linked to the broader traditions of English literature and to British and Irish theatre. Australian literature and theatrical artists have over the last two centuries introduced the culture of Australia and the character of a new continent to the world stage.
Pol-Art is a Polish cultural event held in the State capital cities around Australia. The last event took place between 27 December 2018 and 6 January 2019 and was held in Brisbane, Victoria. Sydney hosts the next Pol-Art.
John Rodgers is a Brisbane-based Australian composer, improviser, violinist, pianist and guitarist.
The National Black Theatre was a theatre company run by a small group of Aboriginal people based in the Sydney suburb of Redfern and which operated from 1972 to 1977. The original concept for the theatre grew out of political struggles, especially the land rights demonstrations, which at the time were being organised by the Black Moratorium Committee. The centre held workshops in modern dancing, tribal dancing, writing for theatre, karate and photography, and provided a venue for new Aboriginal drama. It also ran drama classes under Brian Syron, whose students included Jack Davis, Freddie Reynolds, Maureen Watson, Lillian Crombie, and Hyllus Maris.
Garry Stewart is an Australian dancer and choreographer. He was the longest-serving artistic director of the Australian Dance Theatre, taking over from Meryl Tankard in 1999 and finishing his term at the end of 2021. He is renowned for his unusual, post-modern interpretations of classical ballets.
The Awesome Festival is an arts event in Perth, Western Australia held annually since 1995. The participation and interaction of younger visitors is encouraged by street theatre, interactive art, dance workshops, film screenings and musical performances. It is organised and run by Awesome Arts Australia, a not-for-profit company based in Perth.
Gideon Obarzanek is an Australian choreographer, director and performing arts curator. He was Artistic Associate with the Melbourne Festival (2015-2017), co-curator and director of 'XO State' at the inaugural Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts (2015-2017). Obarzanek was appointed Chair of the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2015 and Strategic Cultural Engagement Manager at Chancellery at the University of Melbourne in 2018.
STUDIO was a subscription television arts channels available in Australia on the FOXTEL and AUSTAR platforms.
MKA: Theatre of New Writing(often shortened to 'MK-Alpha' or 'MKA') is based in Richmond, in the Melbourne City of Yarra. It was established in March, 2010 as 'MKA Richmond', swiftly outgrowing the name to become one of the most celebrated contemporary theatre companies in Australia. A champion for new performance writers, an increasing number of which, in the company's short history, have become established names in the industry. Productions such as The Economist, sex.violence.blood.gore a recurring season of new plays Open Season - and in 2014 the HYPRTXT Festival - and relationships with larger organisations such as Playwriting Australia have confirmed the company's position within the industry. The company's mission includes a focus on international, though in particular Australian and Asian works. From 2014-2016 the company was supported by Creative Victoria through the triennial funding, operational investment scheme.
Brett Joseph Sheehy AO is an Australian artistic director, producer and curator. He is currently Artistic Director and CEO of the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC), and is the only person to be appointed to direct three of the five international arts festivals in Australia's State capital cities being Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival and Melbourne Festival.
Swing on This is made up of musical theatre leading men, Michael Falzon, Luke Kennedy, Matt Lee, Rob Mills and Ben Mingay, singing a collection of classic swing songs reworked with a more contemporary style, as well as more recent popular music arranged for an 18 piece big band. Although songs range from Irving Berlin and Cole Porter through to more recent influences like Oasis, Swing On This embraces a more contemporary style of swing, with Falzon comparing it more to Michael Buble and Robbie Williams. Swing on This includes a medley of Australian classic rock and pop.
The 14th Annual Helpmann Awards for Australian live performance were held on 18 August 2014 at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney.
Melbourne City Ballet was a ballet company based in Melbourne, Australia. The company was founded in 2013 by artistic director Michael Pappalardo and experienced significant growth throughout the years. Originally created as a neoclassical/contemporary project based company, Melbourne City Ballet developed quickly to become a full-time operating arts organisation with an increasing focus bring classical ballet works to regional and remote communities across Australia. Melbourne City Ballet was a registered charity with the Australian Charity & Not for Profit Commission under the name MCB Incorporated and was overseen by a board of professionals. MCB seized operations in July 2019 due to lack of funding.