Held at The Playhouse
Monday 5 August 2013
Reported by Samara Purnell
The Australian Dance Awards were held on Monday night with a bevvy of local and interstate dance identities attending. Sequinned dresses and stage kisses were everywhere on the “night of nights” on the
Australian dance calendar, where attendees were treated to performances by the
West Australian Ballet, Ghenoa Gela, Broome dancer Dalisa Pigram and a lively number
from “Candy Man” to name but a few.
Andrea Close
hosted the evening, presented by Ausdance and Harlequin Floors, overseen by Artistic
Director Ruth Osborne, with multimedia by Bearcage.
Winners were presented with a
beautiful glass trophy created by artist Matthew Day Perez.
A Welcome to
Country from Paul House followed by a performance of QL2’s “Hit thefloor
together”, choreographed by Bangarra’s Daniel Riley McKinley kicked off the
night and footage shot at landmarks around Canberra and showcasing local talent
set the tone for the evening, held in Canberra for the first time in this, its
Centenary year.
Ronne Arnold was
this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Born in Philadelphia, Arnold
came to Australia in 1960 to perform in “West Side Story” and subsequently made
Australia his home. He worked as a performer, choreographer and teacher, before
founding the Australian Contemporary Dance Company. He developed a love and
admiration for indigenous dance during this time and currently works at the
Wesley Institute of Arts as a teacher.
In his acceptance
speech, Arnold said “This – dance – is what I was born to do” and spoke of how
proud he was to have a dance company in Australia. He also said that he was
told that if he ever wanted to get money from the Government he’d better put
“Australian” in the name of the company - advice he took on board.
The Ausdance
Peggy van Praagh fellowship grant was presented to Kay Armstrong, to pursue
her mid-career choreography.
“Eight to
Eighty” won Outstanding Achievement in Youth or Community Dance, and a visibly
moved Jackie Hallahan, of the Canberra Dance Development Centre, was presented
with the award for Services to Dance Education.
Rafael Bonachela
was awarded for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography, for Sydney Dance
Company’s “2 One Another” which he said was “Purely inspired by the dancers”.
Sue Healey
received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance on Film or New Media
for her feature length documentary “Virtuosi” before Tap Dogs Creator Dein
Perry accepted the award for Outstanding Performance in Musical Theatre or Commercial
Dance on behalf of The Company, now in their 19th year.
Shane Carroll
was awarded for Services to Dance and despite a declaration that “I don’t exactly
know what I do”, she extended her thanks to a “Great bunch of do-ers”.
Force Majeure
entertained the audience with a snippet of its physical theatre before “Black
Project 1” saw Antony Hamilton win Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance.
Ex-Canberra
dancer Paul Knobloch co-presented the award for Outstanding Performance by a
Female Dancer to Charmene Yap for “2 One Another”, who, somewhat speechless,
accepted her award moments performing an excerpt from “Project Rameau” with The
Sydney Dance Company, in a highlight of the evening. “Project Rameau” will be
seen in its entirety in Canberra in September.
Outstanding Performance
by a Male Dancer was taken out by Kimball Wong for his “science defying” work
in “Proximity”. The category was hotly contested by Daniel Riley McKinley for
Bangarra’s “Terrain”, Chen Wen for “2 One Another”, Paul White – “Anatomy of an
Afternoon” and James O’Hara for the Australian Ballet’s “There’s definitely a
Prince involved”.
Dr Alan
Brissenden AM was inducted into the Hall of Fame by presenters Robyn Archer and
Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet Company, David McAllister AM, in
recognition of his distinguished services to the dance profession. He has decades
of dance criticism and scholarly writings to his name.
Dr Brissenden
regaled the audience with stories from his extensive theatre experiences and travels,
including the first ballet he saw with his wife, Elizabeth, in 1959. He asked
whether his induction to the Hall of Fame could mean that “the pen was as
powerful as the pointe shoe”.
Dr Brissenden
joins previous inductees including Graeme Murphy and Ross
Stretton.
The final
award of the evening was to the Sydney Dance Company’s “2 One Another” for
Outstanding Performance by a Company. Rafael Bonachela and dancers, in varying
stages of undress, having just performed, accepted the award.
The night
concluded with an entertaining and energetic performance by Phly Crew with a rockabilly
– b boy style routine, which got everyone toe-tapping and primed for the afterparty.
The full list of nominees was:
OUTSTANDING
ACHIEVEMENT IN YOUTH OR COMMUNITY DANCE
*Dancenorth
for Small Dance//Big Stories
*fLing
Physical Theatre for The idea of South
*Steps
Youth Dance for TRY HARD
*Tracks
Dance Company for Eight to Eighty - Architecture of Age
SERVICES
TO DANCE EDUCATION
*Dancenorth
& Raewyn Hill
*Jackie
Hallahan
*Vicki
Thompson
OUTSTANDING
ACHIEVEMENT IN CHOREOGRAPHY
*Rafael
Bonachela for 2 One Another [Sydney Dance Company]
*Kate
Champion for Never Did Me Any Harm [Force Majeure and Sydney Theatre Company]
*Anouk
van Dijk for An Act of Now [Chunky Move]
*Antony
Hamilton for Black Project 1 [Antony Hamilton Projects]
*Frances
Rings for Terrain [Bangarra Dance Theatre]
OUTSTANDING
ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE ON FILM OR NEW MEDIA
*Richard
Allen for Monk: Reloaded
*Peter
Greig for Sharing Spaces: A Day In The Life
*Sue
Healey for Virtuosi
*Claire
Marshall for Pulse
OUTSTANDING
PERFORMANCE IN COMMERCIAL DANCE OR MUSICAL THEATRE
*Leah
Howard for Mary Poppins
*Sian
Johnson for A Chorus Line
*The
Company for Tap Dogs
SERVICES
TO DANCE
*Shane
Carroll
*Geoff
Cobham
*David
McAllister AM
*Michael
Pearce
OUTSTANDING
ACHIEVEMENT IN INDEPENDENT DANCE
*Antony
Hamilton for Black Project 1
*Sue
Healey for Variant
*Jade
Dewi Tyas Tunggal for Opal Vapour
*Lisa
Wilson for Lake
OUTSTANDING
PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE DANCER
*Sue
Peacock for Harakiri [STRUT Dance]
*Rachel
Rawlins for Swan Lake [The Australian Ballet]
*Vivienne
Wong for Warumuk – In the dark night [The Australian Ballet]
*Charmene
Yap for 2 One Another [Sydney Dance Company]
OUTSTANDING
PERFORMANCE BY A MALE DANCER
*Wen
Chen for 2 One Another [Sydney Dance Company]
*Daniel
Riley McKinley for Terrain [Bangarra Dance Theatre]
*James
O'Hara for There's Definitely a Prince Involved [The Australian Ballet]
*Paul
White for Anatomy of an Afternoon [Martin del Amo and Performing Lines]
*Kimball
Wong for Proximity [Australian Dance Theatre]
OUTSTANDING
PERFORMANCE BY A COMPANY
*Australian
Dance Theatre for Proximity
*Australian
Dance Theatre for Be Your Self
*Bangarra
Dance Theatre for Terrain
*Sydney
Dance Company for 2 One Another
A variation of this report appeared on the City News website on 6 August
