Dance News

Descendance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dance Theatre has toured Hawaii for seven successive years, but the 2011 tour will now be remembered for the tsunami which was due to hit the islands on Friday March 11th at 3am, in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake. Honolulu was in a state of frenzy as sirens and public announcements roared throughout the city with warnings of the coming tsunami. Descendance performers kept their composure throughout the ordeal and the wave eventually lost momentum on its journey across the Pacific before it reached the shores of Waikiki.

The Australian Dance Festival has announced its dates for this year's event.
16th– 18th Sept, 2011
Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre
With dance workshops, performances and dance competitions, the CLEAN&CLEAR® Australian Dance Festival at Sydney Olympic Park promises to be a celebration of Australia's best in dance.  

Did you know that Dance Informa is Australia’s most popular dance magazine, with the largest dance subscription base in the country?

Dance Informa is now the leading dance information source in Australia.
Dance Informa is also home to Australia’s most popular dance media website!

Liaoning Ballet’s exquisite balletic retelling of The Last Emperor, based on the astonishing life of China’s Last Emperor Puyi and choreographed by Ivan Cavallari, is touring Australia throughout June and July this year.

After fifteen years as Artistic Director and CEO of leading Australian and world-renowned dance company, Chunky Move, Gideon Obarzanek has announced that he will be stepping down at the end of 2011 to pursue other freelance opportunities in dance and other art forms. While he will continue to work on touring productions in an associate director capacity the following year, he will hand over to a new Artistic Director and CEO at the beginning of 2012.

Gideon Obarzanek, Artistic Director says, “Chunky Move has literally been the greater part of my adult life. The organisation has allowed me extraordinary creative flexibility on so many different, unique and exciting projects with an array of inspiring artists. So now, having considered my future departure, it feels as though I will be strangely uncoupling from a significant part of myself. I do however want to realise some future ideas and adventures independently and it is time for me to create that opportunity. Dance has been such an inspiring art form for me and it is my hope that Chunky Move continues to reinvent and push the boundaries of what dance can be within our ever-evolving contemporary culture.”

Daniel Huet aka Dan Hu, Hip Hop extraordinaire is now teaching at Jason Coleman's Ministry of Dance.
On Tuesday February 8 an amazing group of Hip Hop enthusiasts enjoyed Daniels first class at MOD.
Originally from France, Daniel has travelled the world dancing for the last 10 years. Recently back from LA
and Tokyo, where he spent 2 years, Daniel has found a new home in Melbourne.

With the new school year commencing, The McDonald Performing Arts College International Summer School is over for yet another year. But what a successful program it was! Over the course of two weeks, some 300 students were given the opportunity to improve their skills in a range of genres including classical ballet, contemporary, jazz, repertoire, and pointe. But more importantly, the young aspiring dancers got the opportunity to meet, and be taught by, one of their ballet idols, Ms Darcey Bussell. Ms Bussell, who was a former Principal Ballerina with The Royal Ballet, is widely regarded as one of the greatest English ballerinas of all time.

Dancenorth, Townsville and regional Queensland’s only professional dance company, has a new General Manager – Peter Helft. Peter brings a diverse set of skills to the role having worked in corporate roles in Australia that include Advertising Director of The Age newspaper, Melbourne; GM of Staging Connections, Sydney; and CEO of Brite Australia. Prior to these roles Peter was an actor for 10 years in the UK.

The flood waters may have receded in Brisbane, but the consequences of the floods in January will continue to be felt for many months. Almost three metres of water inundated the Playhouse Theatre at QPAC, and on 10 February Queensland Ballet announced that their season of Carmen was postponed, because of the delayed reopening of the Playhouse. Queensland Ballet were disappointed, but they have rescheduled their 2011 season and are thrilled to still be able to perform the entire season without cancelling any productions!