WAAPA presents ‘Verge’ & promotes auditions

Verge Dance Season 2017 at WAAPAThe Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) will present its next dance season, Verge, on November 18-25 in the Geoff Gibbs Theatre at Edith Cowan University (ECU), Mount Lawley. This program of two original contemporary works and a timeless ballet classic celebrates the skill and artistry of the graduating students as they prepare to embark on their professional careers.

 

Verge will feature 2nd and 3rd Year Dance Students in works by Richard Cilli, Brooke Leeder, Kim McCarthy and Danielle Hunt.

 

WAAPA alumnus Richard Cilli, whose exceptional talent led Sydney Dance Company to hire him upon graduation, won a 2010 Helpmann Award for his performance in Rafael Bonachela’s We Unfold. After a break of two years, during which he danced with Sweden’s K. Kvarnström & Co and choreographed for The Australian Ballet, Cilli is dancing with SDC again.

 

Perth-based Brooke Leeder won the 2014 WA Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for her work Mechanic, and was commissioned to create a new work for the 2015 launch season of Co3 Youth Company.

 

Rounding out the program, WAAPA lecturers Kim McCarthy and Danielle Hunt reimagine Marius Petipa’s whimsical Don Quixote Suite, based on Miguel de Cervantes’ acclaimed novel. Watch WAAPA student dancers Kirsty Shaye and Billy Halton rehearse for Don Quixote Suite here.

 

To book tickets to Verge call 9370 6895 or go to www.waapa.ecu.edu.au.

 

In other WAAPA news, local dancers are being invited to audition for WAAPA’s 2018 Propel Dance program, an after-school, part-time course designed for 16-year-old students intending to pursue dance as a career. Students are taught by WAAPA’s acclaimed teaching staff over 28 weeks throughout the year. Skills include classical ballet technique, contemporary technique, choreographic and compositions skills, improvisation and duo. Entry is by audition on Tuesday, December 5 at ECU. Apply here.