Accolades were in abundance at this year’s Australian Dance Awards, held at the Playhouse at Arts Centre Melbourne on Sunday night. So too were tears, affection, laughter and warmth.
This celebration, now in its 20th year, has become an annual highlight and honours the achievements of some of the most dedicated and talented of Australia’s dancers and allied dance practitioners.
One of the most emotional of those honoured was Noel Tovey, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. His career – the first Indigenous ballet dancer in Australia who went on to work in theatre overseas and in Australia – is surely the very definition of the term “extra-ordinary”. In accepting his honour, he could scarcely hold back his tears as he recounted how his first ballet teacher, Jean Alexander, on learning he couldn’t afford his lessons, let him learn for free in exchange for cleaning her studio. (For more on Noel Tovey, see here)
As with Tovey, Helen Herbertson’s Award for Lifetime Achievement had already been announced. She accepted her award not just with a speech, but with a few danced steps on the stage as well. (For more on Helen Herbertson, see here.)
Her award was presented by a former pupil of hers – Lucy Guerin, who was clearly delighted to be honouring her ongoing mentor. It was Guerin’s second appearance that night, as she was also the winner of the Most Outstanding Choreography Award for her Melbourne Festival work, Dark Chorus.
Coincidentally, the winner of the Most Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer went to Benjamin Hancock for his performance in the same work. If anyone in the audience was unfamiliar with Hancock’s unique talents, he also happened to be one of the hosts for the night, stalking the stage in a conical sky-high hat and platform heels, his lean, pliable frame clad in allover gold. Together, he and his co-host, Sarah Ward (the latter as her alter-ego Yana Alana), kept the audience giggling.
But to recount the evening in order:
The winner of Outstanding Achievement in Youth Dance was Catapult Dance, the Flipside Project, from Maitland, NSW, for In Search of Lost Things, which had been presented at the Maitland Regional Art Gallery and inspired by the art of Shaun Tan. In accepting her award, a delighted Cadi McCarthy said that youth dance provided young people with a chance to speak of the world as they see it “in a secure environment away from competition and criticism”.
The award for Outstanding Achievement in Community Dance was presented by Emma Cochran, chair of Ausdance Victoria, and Paul Selwyn Norton, the director of Strut Dance in Perth. It went to Great Sport, a combined effort in which director Liz Lea brought together Canberra Dance Theare, the National Museum of Australia, Dance for Parkinson’s ACT and Melbourne-based KAGE.
David McAllister (artistic director of the Australian Ballet) and Associate Professor Jenny Kinder presented the award for Services to Dance Education. It went to Kim Walker, for “his impact on many generations of young performers" as Director of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus and his current role as CEO of NAISDA. In a passionate speech, he acknowledged his mother, the folkdance pioneer Margaret Walker, saying “I grew up in a household where the mantra was every child in Australia should dance,” a mantra he is now passing on to the next generation.
The Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in Film went to the Samaya Wives, for The Knowledge Between Us, and the award for Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Dance, Musicals or Physical Theatre went to Jack Chambers, for his showstopping performance as Cosmo Brown in Singin’ in the Rain.
The award for Services to Dance, presented by Veronika Karatovic, the chief executive of AON Australia/Pacific, and veteran dance photographer Jeff Busby, went to costume designer Jennifer Irwin, while the award for Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance went to Liesel Zink, for her site-specific dance and sound work, The Stance. Her award was presented by Angela Conquet, artistic director and CEO of Melbourne’s Dancehouse, who took the opportunity to sing the praises of her co-presenter, Angharad Wynne Jones, the artistic director of Artshouse in North Melbourne.
The winner of the Most Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer went to Ako Kondo, principal dancer of the Australian Ballet, for her “world class and captivating performance” as Swanilda in Coppelia.
The Award for Outstanding Performance by a Company went to Bangarra Dance Theatre for its double bill, OUR Land People Stories. It was presented by Merindah Donnelly and Carla McGrath, representatives of Blakdance, and Mark Rasmussen of Harlequin Floors.
The ADAs are also the event where the Peggy van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship is announced. The lucky winner of the $10,000 was Kristina Chan, who plans to use the award toward studies of Butoh in Japan.
Amid the celebrations, however, came a note of sadness and warning from Julie Dyson, the former director of Ausdance National (and now chair of the National Advocates for Arts Education). After 40 years of advocacy, Ausdance National is "facing the prospect of having that voice in Canberra altered", she said. "Loss of Key Organisations funding last year has thrust us into this new reality where national Ausdance leadership could be solely dependent on the wonderful work of its voluntary board and the ongoing work of the Ausdance network."
Nonetheless, this night was all about celebrating the highs, not the lows. Next year’s ADAs will be held in Brisbane.
– KAREN VAN ULZEN
For an article on Jack Chambers, see here.