Australian Dance Week 2016 coming up!

Attention all Aussie dancers, dance teachers and studio owners! Australian Dance Week is only a few weeks away! Set for April 30-May 8, it kicks off immediately following International Dance Day on Friday, April 29. With little time left, everyone should confirm their plans for how they’re going to celebrate!

Australian Dance Week (ADW) has been celebrated since 1982. Starting off as a lunchtime performance facilitated by Ausdance NSW in Sydney, it eventually combined with the Dancers’ Picnic, an annual event held to celebrate the birthday of influential ballet master Jean Georges Noverre. Now it is a full-blown national celebration, with many events organised or supported by Ausdance regional offices.

The Ausdance network celebrates and promotes local dance in all its forms throughout the year but ADW is a special opportunity to garner even more awareness of professional dance and recreational dance in the community.

Studio owners and artistic directors, one idea for celebrating ADW is hosting a free dance event for your community, with the goal of raising awareness for dance amongst people who might not typically engage in the art form. You can host a workshop, organise a talk, offer a dance film screening and/or show, or facilitate a dance networking session.

Dancers, you can support these events and help lead them, or you can get out on your own with some friends and lead a flash mob, film a dance flick or enjoy a photoshoot.

All dance fans can attend a local performance and support the performers. They can also seek to share dance-related articles and/or interesting research via social media to promote dance to their networks of friends.

Check in with your regional Ausdance office on festivities happening in your area. If you are hosting an event, be sure to contact them to have it listed. Also, dance fans are welcome to submit their articles and films before April 20 to possibly be featured throughout Dance Week.

Image courtesy of CkPhotography.