Susan Bendall reports on the National Dance Forum, held March 15-17 in Melbourne.
Last weekend, delegates from around Australia and overseas gathered for the second National Dance Forum. Coinciding with Dance Massive, this event, organised as a collaboration between the Australia Council and Ausdance National, explored the broad topic of "Why Dance?". Being such a cleverly expansive starting point, there was ample space for discussion around a plethora of issues. Panels and plenaries covered diverse areas including indigenous dance, dramaturgy, dance education, what it means to be an independent artist and a great deal more. High-profile dancers and dance-makers, shared space with emerging artists, teachers, funders and other organisations.
There were a number of parallel sessions which meant that delegates couldn't experience all facets of the treasures on offer but some of the highlights for me were the keynote artist-conversations: Dalisa Pigram speaking about her work across a very diverse cultural landscape and particularly her new work, Gudirr Gudirr. She spoke of making in Broome and the particular challenges and rewards that brings. Garry Stewart (ADT) spoke about his collaborations with theoretical physicists and psychologists as ways of thinking about dance. A panel of independent artists spoke with incredible articulacy about their involvement in dance, the challenges of being independent and the imperative for growing a practice through collaboration. Byron Perry, Paea Leach, Kristina Chan, Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal, Sam Chester and Jo Pollit were all generous, wise and reflective in their articulation of what dancers and makers are doing and what their responsibilities are. They all revealed themselves to be rigorous thinkers and interrogators of their own practice and that of others. The conference was also incredibly participatory and an unusually fertile forum for delegates to be heard and to share ideas.
Above all, what I took away from the second National Dance Forum was that dancers are remarkably articulate and well-able to account for themselves, their practice and the values they bring to what they do. The myth of the dancer who doesn't verbalise or write well should be firmly dismissed. Fears that embodied modes of knowledge may somehow be lost seem unfounded if practitioners of this calibre are the custodians of such histories.
- SUSAN BENDALL
National Dance Forum keynote speaker, Dalisa Pigram performing her work Gudirr Gudirr at Dance Massive. Photo: Ponch Hawkes.