I asked two community dance
practitioners - Annette Carmichael and Lee Pemberton - from opposite
sides of Australia, to share their views on some 'bigger picture'
questions relating to community dance, as a way of providing an overview
for this edition of Animated. Annette and Lee did not wish to
speak for others or for the sector as a whole, but their answers, sent
to me from the individual communities where they live and work, 4000
kilometres apart, are revealing of the diverse range of practices and
approaches that make up Australian community dance today. Our
conversation unfolded over email and telephone, and some of the
questions I initially posed have faded into the background in favour of
more interesting material, which arose as we went.
About Annette Carmichael (AC)
"In
my community practice I am creating work within the community I live,
Denmark (Kwoorabup) on the southern coast of Western Australia (WA). It
is a town of 5,000 people with a 'white' history of tree harvesting,
farming and, now tourism. I facilitate the men's contemporary dance
project, moveMENt, and create community performance works, that explore
contemporary issues surrounding the non-Indigenous settlement of
Australia. I also work as the State's Regional Contemporary Dance
Facilitator for Ausdance WA and the Future Moves initiative (1)."
About Lee Pemberton (LP)
"I
am a dancer, choreographer and educationalist living on the beautiful
far south coast in New South Wales, Australia in a town, Bega, of
approximately 38,000 inhabitants. I began working here twelve years ago
after completing postgraduate studies in choreography at The University
of Melbourne, Victorian College of the Arts. I am the founding Artistic
Director of fLiNG Physical Theatre Inc."
We used the recent
National Dance Forum (NDF) (2) as one of our jumping-off points for our
dialogue. Held in March 2011 in Melbourne, this was the first gathering
of its kind since the late 1990s. Community dance was represented at the
NDF through a dedicated session called Dance Practice in Communities
(video of this and other sessions may be viewed at
http://nationaldanceforum.net.au).
The community dance sector had its last dedicated forum, Dance in the
Landscape, in 2002 (3). Looking at discussion at the two forums seemed
like one good place to begin.
My first questions to Lee and
Annette were: What did the picture of Australian community dance
practice look like to you when you started? What does it look like now?
Are changes driven by practice, the environment or both?
(AC):
"The Dance in the Landscape forum (2002) had an intense focus on the
question 'what is community dance?' This inquiry dominated discussions
along with its sister question 'what isn't community dance?' and
informally an exploration of the dichotomy of professional vs. community
practice. I was surprised at the time by the preoccupation of defining
community dance as a practice distinct from the rest of the Australian
dance sector. The division of professional and community was not helpful
or meaningful to me, as inspiration struck in a variety of places
regardless of the label attached. However I understood that at this time
funding was being divided up along these lines and perhaps driving this
need for division.
Almost a decade later I found myself speaking
on the community dance panel at the NDF. This was a forum that embraced
a range of Australian contemporary practice, not just community dance.
In the session I spoke at there was no longer a preoccupation with
defining community dance, although it was clear that practitioners were
still seeking recognition and respect from the wider dance sector.
At
the NDF I deeply appreciated community dance being part of the broader
national discussion on contemporary dance. There was recognition that
the ecology of dance in Australia needs diversity of practitioners and
environments to be healthy."
When the three of us compared notes
over the phone recently, Lee agreed with Annette's assessment of the
NDF, but noted that for her the community panel was the only one where
'the heart of the session related to me'. Both spoke of the need for
more gatherings specific to community dance. In such a big country there
is a host of issues to sift through. (The Australian dance sector is
simultaneously dispersed, and tightly knit).
(LP): "There
are no theatres, no practising dancers and few dance studios here in
Bega. Moving here I found myself alone in my work; I had no peers, no
classes to attend or performances to see. I stumbled into regional dance
practice as a way of making a living and in a short period of time
became hooked with a vision that from a small regional centre I could
produce work that would be unusual, relevant and stand up against the
best of youth dance in the country.
fLiNG Physical Theatre is
successful beyond my initial intention and has been a lifeline for my
work and for many young emerging dancers who have grown up within the
company. After 12 years and a huge learning curve we have seen many
keen and excellent dancers use fLiNG to springboard to greater things.
Over
that time, things have not changed that much and any changes that have
occurred are probably mostly within myself. I am continually developing
in my knowledge of the cultural landscape in which I work, I have been
able to develop a depth in practice and I also have the benefit of
hindsight with me now developed from the length of time I have spent in
one practice.
As a company we still struggle to support many of
our needs, to build or find a permanent home, supply enough studio time
to individual dancers, offer enough community classes to adults, expand
our program to younger children or the Indigenous community and at the
end of the day after ten years the company still only has one full-time
employee.
Currently my greatest concern is sustainability and
that fLiNG does not cease when I decide to leave. We are currently
working on a succession plan that will enable a new artistic director to
take my place with the additional support of a second employee. The
potential for fLiNG to grow is huge but a lot depends on being able to
attract the right people of a high calibre and build the business that
surrounds them.
fLiNG is also beginning to embrace new technology
as an economical, practical way to advance in regional Australia. We
have recently held our first Skype rehearsal and started our first
online project. Watching 22 kids absorbed in online tutorage with a
Melbourne choreographer was eye-opening."
Annette's practice is
evolving to embrace more political content over time: "One of my more
recent works, Our Secret River, started from a strong urge to contribute
to the body of 'sorry' works being created in Australia - the works
that are apologies to Aboriginal Australians for their suffering as a
result of white settlement. It showed me how an individual and honest
exploration could seed a project that became an experience for the
broader community and a way for our community to challenge and
complicate our town's recorded history. From my viewpoint community arts
practice is playing an important role in opening up complex, difficult
and contradictory issues. During my career I have come to experience
community practice that engages in political discussion, something
discussed by Indigenous artist Wesley Enoch, all those years ago at
Dance in the Landscape."
During our telephone discussions, the
role of independent artists and the aforementioned (fictional?)
professional/ community divide caught our interest. It seems that little
attention has been paid to the fact that independent artists are
playing a large role in community practice, for the benefit of all.
Lee
noted that: "Collaboration with the independent artists I have been
able to engage over the years benefits all parties. It gives the
independents an opportunity for paid work where they can test their
creative material with a large cast of reasonably skilled dancers. In
exchange the energy that they bring breathes some fresh-air into the
culture of the company and offers the company members a much needed
taste for the smorgasbord of classes, workshops and performances
available in urban environments. Being a sole operator, the exchange
supports me through providing a much needed conversation about the
practice of dance with another professional, observation of new
techniques, 'steps' or styles and a creative mind to bounce ideas with."
Annette echoed Lee's views about the benefit of collaborating or guest artists, and added:
"In
Denmark, moveMENt - the community's men's dance project, is developing
relationships with a few independent artists, namely Sete Tele and Jacob
Lehrer. These two incredible male dancers support the group in simple
ways, offering the occasional workshop, coming to view rehearsals and
performances and most importantly socialising with the men. The
conversations around coffee or a beer at the pub have a big impact on
how the community participants approach and value the project."
She
also spoke about surprises: "After a workshop with 15 community
participants to generate choreographic ideas for a new work, the
visiting independent artist leading the workshop told me she had enough
content from this one workshop to feed her for years. Quite simply she
had not had the opportunity to work with so many bodies, being limited
in her practice to just the few dancers she could afford. In community
workshops, artists also have access to performers from a range of
movement backgrounds with cultural and life histories more diverse than
the monoculture that sometimes exists within a group of trained
dancers."
Annette Carmichael
contact regional.wa@ausdance.org.au
Lee Pemberton
visit www.flingphysicaltheatre.com.au
References
(1) Future Landings and Annette's work as a regional contemporary dance facilitator is an interesting story in itself. visit
www.ausdancewa.org.au/pages/future_landings/about_future_landings.php
(2)
The National Dance Forum was a partnership of the Australia Council for
the Arts and Ausdance National and took place in Melbourne in 2011
(3)
'Dance in the Landscape' community dance forum was facilitated by
Ausdance Queensland and presented at Brisbane Powerhouse in 2002.