culture
dance
dance March 14, 2020
The Australian Ballet’s Alice Topp
As a homesick teenager from Bendigo, Alice Topp dreamed of dancing with The Australian Ballet. Now she is also a resident choreographer with the company, and only the second woman to hold the title. She speaks about the creative collaboration of her latest work, Logos. “We are in a vulnerable space together, and it’s a safe space and we’re free to have our own voice and it’s a really special journey for me. I can’t imagine creating any other way.”
dance February 29, 2020
Community has always been important to dancer and artist Bhenji Ra, who found solidarity in New York’s ballroom culture. In the wake of this summer’s devastating bushfires, she turned her focus back home, to the NSW south coast community that supported her to pursue her dreams. “It was the most incredible New Year’s Eve I’ve had. I’d never felt so intimate with my family. We were all there together – except for my older sister, who lives in Los Angeles – and with our community as well.”
dance February 15, 2020
Using dance, Shelley Lasica’s ongoing collaborative project The Design Plot maps the space between the performers and the audience, examining the macro and the micro as part of a whole.
dance October 5, 2019
Chinese cultural hero Yang Liping
At age 60, dancer and choreographer Yang Liping is still going strong, determined to keep the cultural traditions of China’s ethnic minorities alive. She speaks about her 50-year career and her striking new version of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. “I want to fill the movement with traditional culture and art to make it more solid, more relevant, and more how I think contemporary dance should be.”
dance August 24, 2019
Producer Hooi Ping Angela Flynn
A catch-up at an art fair with producer Hooi Ping Angela Flynn.
dance March 30, 2019
The perpetual motion of choreographer Amrita Hepi
For First Nations choreographer and dancer Amrita Hepi, the body is the first point of memory. Her new show, The Tender, interweaves oppression and connection. “Dancing is about being unashamed in our physical forms, and that’s tough shit when you’re a person of colour ’cause we’re constantly being looked at.”
dance January 26, 2019
Wiradjuri dancer Joel Bray’s platypus identity
As a gay Aboriginal Australian who grew up in a largely white world, Joel Bray found purpose and identity through dance. His latest work – the intimate solo performance Biladurang – blends choreography and theatre in a raw exploration of his own very personal journey. “I’ve had people hug me, I’ve had people crying, I’ve had people share their stories of discovering their Aboriginality late in life.”
dance September 29, 2018
Choreographer Liam Scarlett, a former dancer with the Royal Ballet whose Midsummer Night’s Dream will soon tour China, seems destined to join the ranks of the all-time greats. “With every premiere you sit back and watch it for what it is. You think I could tweak this or I could tweak that. But I was happy with it, it was such a relief when it was over but it’s probably the thing I’ve done which I felt most proud of.”
dance September 1, 2018
Bangarra’s Stephen Page on the language of dance
Stephen Page has known acclaim and accolades as head of Bangarra Dance Theatre. Off stage he’s had more than his fair share of personal tragedy. Here, he talks to about family, his latest show, Dark Emu, and the power of language to change Australia. “Through this symbolism of visual art and story, under that came this kinship idea of connection to land, people and story. That’s why lore and customs exist.”
dance December 9, 2017
Choreographer Lucy Guerin says ballet’s physical perfectionism may see off young girls from their passion for dance, leaving headstrong boys to take the reins in later life. “Women have really defined dance through the ages, especially in America, with a lot of female choreographers, and in Europe. Yet it feels like it’s going backwards a little bit.”
dance May 6, 2017
Li Cunxin brings Ben Stevenson’s ‘Swan Lake’ to Queensland
Li Cunxin has waited for the right time to stage Swan Lake at the Queensland Ballet, to be prepared for a visit from his mentor and veteran choreographer Ben Stevenson.
