Expressions Dance Company

Last updated

Expressions Dance Company
TypeTheatre group
PurposeContemporary Dance
Location
  • Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts,Level 3/420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, QLD, 4006
Membership
Elise May, Richard Causer, Alana Sargent, Jake McLarnon, Isabella Hood and Scott Ewen
Artistic director(s)
Natalie Weir

Expressions Dance Company is an Australian contemporary dance company based in the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, in Fortitude Valley. [1] It was founded in 1984 by Maggi Sietsma, artistic director and Abel Valls, general manager (and composer for many works). [2] [3] Natalie Weir took over as Artistic Director in January 2009. [4]

Contemporary dance form of dance that developed in the mid twentieth century

Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in the U.S. and Europe. Although originally informed by and borrowing from classical, modern, and jazz styles, it has since come to incorporate elements from many styles of dance. Due to its technical similarities, it is often perceived to be closely related to modern dance, ballet, and other classical concert dance styles.

Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts

The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts is a performing arts center in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, Queensland. The venue was renovated and re-opened as an arts centre in October 2001. The Centre is named after Judith Wright, who was a celebrated Queensland poet and an advocate for Indigenous rights and an environmental activist. Wright was one of two Australian poets considered for the Nobel Prize for Literature. She died June 25, 2000 in Canberra.

Fortitude Valley, Queensland Suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Fortitude Valley is a suburb of central Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. The suburb lies immediately northeast of the Brisbane central business district, and is one of the hubs of Brisbane's nightlife, renowned for its nightclubs, bars and adult entertainment. At the 2016 Australian Census Fortitude Valley recorded a population of 6,978. In the 1950s, the suburb was the largest shopping precinct outside a central business district in Australia.

Contents

Between 1984 and 1989, the company has danced the work of a number of choreographers. These choreographers include Natalie Weir, Don Aske, [2] Shaaron Boughen, Eleanor Brickhill, Jacqui Carroll, Julie Chenery, Rosetta Cook, Michelle Ferrier, Garry Lester, Brian Luca], Angus Lugsdin, Gail McIntosh, John Nobbs, Rober Osmotherly, Sue Peacock, Cathy Quinn, Deborah Saxon, Garry Stewart, Jonathan Taylor, Graeme Watson and Margaret Wilson; in later years, Kristen Bell, Guy Detot, Jennifer Flowers, Nik Hills, Ross Hounslow, Jane Pirani, Jaime Redfern and John Utans.
By the 2000s, Expressions Dance Company had performed works of Tiina Alinen, Emily Amisano, Tsung Lung Cheng, Dan Crestani, Peter Furness, Luke Hockley, Vanessa Mafe-Keane, Elise May, Justin Rutzou, Zaimon & Elizabeth Vilmanis, Jim Vile, Sally Wicks and Lisa Wilson.

Tours and Festivals

Expressions Dance Company has toured extensively and performed internationally, including:

Apart from performing, Expressions Dance Company also undertakes significant school and community dance education activities. [2] The beginning of a groundbreaking partnership, Queensland University of Technology Creative Industries was recognised as Expression Dancer Company's training partner in 2010. In the same year, the Brisbane Contemporary Dance Intensive (BCDI) and up-skilling day (Focus) for high school teachers were introduced, and remain respected programmes for the dance industry.

Dance education

Dance education is the transferring of dance performance skills and knowledge of dance to students through teaching and training, or acquiring such knowledge and skills through dance research.

Broader impact

Expressions Dance Company has employed many people within Australia's cultural industry. These include critically acclaimed dancers, choreographers, designers and dramaturgs:

Cate Blanchett Australian actress

Catherine Elise Blanchett, is an Australian actress and theatre director. She has received many accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and three BAFTA Awards. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007, and in 2018, she was ranked among the highest-paid actresses in the world.

Awards

The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards were created in 1984 by the Trustees of the Sidney Myer Fund to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Sidney Myer. The awards were created to commemorate his life and his love for the arts. They intend primarily to enhance the status of performing arts in Australia and recognise outstanding achievements in dance, drama, comedy, music, opera, circus and puppetry.

Works

Works performed by Expressions Dance Company include:

Other Productions

Launch Pad

'Launch Pad' provides emerging choreographers with the opportunity to create new short works with the professional dancers in a professional company situation.

The choreographers for the 2010 season were:


The choreographers for the 2011 season were:

The choreographers for the 2012 season were:

Propel (the next step)

The choreographers for the 2013 season [10] were:

SOLO Festival of Dance

Related Research Articles

Lar Lubovitch American choreographer, founder of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company

Lar Lubovitch is an American choreographer. He founded his own dance company, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in 1968. Based in New York City, the company has performed in all 50 American states as well as in more than 30 countries. As of 2005, he had choreographed more than 100 dances for the company. In addition to the company, Lubovitch has also done creative work in ballet, ice-skating venues, and musical theater notably "Into the Woods". He has played a key role in raising funds to fight AIDS.

Mark Morris (choreographer) American ballet dancer and choreographer

Mark William Morris is an American dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments. Morris is popular among dance aficionados, the music world, as well as mainstream audiences.

Stephen George Page is the Artistic Director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre. He is descended from the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali clan of the Yugambeh tribe from southeast Queensland. In 2015 his directorial debut film Spear was shown at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.

Australian Dance Theatre

Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) is a contemporary dance company based in Adelaide, South Australia established in 1965 by Dr. Elizabeth Cameron Dalman OAM. Dalman sought to "open the horizons for provocative contemporary and cutting edge dance". The ADT was the first modern dance company in Australia and drew on the techniques of Martha Graham for its inspiration. Eleo Pomare was an early collaborator and the songs of Peter, Paul and Mary featured strongly in their early works, such as This Train.

Dancenorth is a contemporary dance company based in Townsville, North Queensland, Australia. It began as the North Queensland Ballet Company in 1969 and receives Australia Council triennial funding as one of "Australia's outstanding arts organisations". Dancenorth perform for regional, national and international audiences. Since 2002, they have toured to a multitude of regional centres and internationally, including to London's Barbican Theatre in 2007. It is one of only a handful of regional dance companies in Australia.

Meryl Tankard is an Australian dancer and choreographer who has a wide national and international reputation.

Tanja Liedtke was a German-born professional choreographer and dancer. She was most noted as a dancer, choreographer and director of contemporary dance in Australia and Europe.

Kate Champion is a director and choreographer with over thirty years' experience across multiple art forms. She was the founding Artistic Director of Force Majeure (2002-2015), a dance theatre company based in Sydney, Australia. Her initial training was in Sydney with Karen Kerkhoven with subsequent formative years spent in Munich with the Iwanson Dance Company and continued with Kai Tai Chan's One Extra Company in Sydney. She was a founding member of Dance North in Townsville and was a dancer with Australian Dance Theatre from 1988 to 1989.

Jodie-Anne White-Bivona was an Australian dancer, choreographer and artistic director of the Ballet Theatre of Queensland.

Garry Stewart has been the artistic director of the Australian Dance Theatre since 1999, following Meryl Tankard.

Laura Dean is an American dancer, choreographer and composer. She is known for her collaborations with Steve Reich, a number of commissioned works for the Joffrey Ballet, and works for her own dance companies. Dean's earliest works were marked by a minimalist approach and an affinity for spinning; her later work saw more use of traditional dance methods.

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.

Maggi Sietsma AM is the founding artistic director of the multiple-award winning Brisbane contemporary dance company, Expressions Dance Company, and regarded as one of Australia's leading choreographers. Maggi Sietsma has choreographed multiple international dance works during her career and has contributed extensively to dance and dance education in Australia.

Natalie Weir is an Australian choreographer, and Artistic Director for the Expressions Dance Company in Australia.

Greg Horsman is an Australian dancer, choreographer & teacher. He was born in Victoria, studied ballet in Geelong, Victoria, Australia with Peter Dickinson as a child before training at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School (V.C.A.S.S.) with Anne Woolliams. Whilst at V.C.A.S.S. he was a guest artist with the Philippine Ballet Theatre in Manila and with the North Queensland Ballet.

Phoenix Dance Theatre dance troupe

Phoenix Dance Theatre is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, that has grown from small beginnings in inner-city Leeds to be one of Britain’s leading contemporary dance companies. The company tours nationally and internationally.

Edward Clug is an international renowned choreographer in the field of contemporary ballet and a director of Maribor Ballet. Clug studied classical ballet in Cluj-Napoca.

Goyo Montero Morell is a Spanish ballet dancer, a ballet director and a choreographer.

Raewyn Hill is an Australian choreographer and dancer.

References

  1. ↑ The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts. "Resident Cultural Organisations". The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 National Library of Australia (24 September 2008). "Australia Dancing – Expressions Dance Company, (1985 – )" (text). Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  3. ↑ Clarke, Suzanna (23 September 2008). "New artistic director for Expressions". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 4 October 2008.[ dead link ]
  4. ↑ Clarke, Suzanna (27 September 2008). "Natalie Weir is Expressions Dance Company artistic director". The Courier-Mail. ISSN   1322-5235 . Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  5. ↑ Sorensen, Rosemary (24 August 2007). "Maker of Unconventional Moves". The Australian. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  6. ↑ "Award Winners' Showcase" (flash). Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  7. ↑ "2007 Drover Winners". Australian Performing Arts Centres Association. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  8. ↑ Anderson, Jack (12 July 1999). "DANCE REVIEW; No Escape From Solitude Despite Close Encounters". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  9. ↑ Stewart, Olivia (25 August 2007). "Double bill one to remember". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  10. ↑ Wills, Gillian (3 May 2013). "Propel (the next step)" . Retrieved 23 June 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.