The reforming of FORM
Geraldine Higginson talks to Paul Selwyn Norton, the new Artistic Director of Form Dance Projects, about his plans for this important organisation.
Initially founded in 2000 by Riverside Theatres and Ausdance NSW, Western Sydney Dance Action became an incorporated association in 2004 and was relaunched as FORM Dance Projects in 2011 by Annette McLernon. It has developed considerably over the years from a small service provider into a professional arts organisation. Now under Creative Director Paul Selwyn Norton (who signed on just over a year ago), and following a recently completed six-month review of the dance sector, FORM is continuing to be reshaped and, indeed, "re-formed". He sees it filling a crucial gap in the Sydney dance scene. There are very few opportunities for emerging graduates to grow into early and then mid-career artists – most inevitably end up moving overseas for work or, if they stay, transitioning into more sustainable careers.
To that end, FORM Dance projects has launched IDEA’24 – a new initiative which this year is running from August 26 to September 14. IDEA stands for Independent Dance Exchange Australia and the aim is to provide a pipeline of opportunity within the Sydney dance sector by supporting recent graduates and mid-career artists. Delivered in partnership with Riverside Theatres, the Sydney Opera House, Critical Path, Brand X and Qtopia, IDEA will host workshop programs and facilitate the development, presentation and touring of new works into the future. This year the workshop hosts include leading Australian and international choreographers such as Crystal Pite, Gabrielle Nankivell, Hofesh Shechter and Vicki Van Hout.
Norton speaks with energy and enthusiasm about his plans for IDEA and his belief that it can revitalise the Sydney scene. “I think the producing, presenting and touring model will evolve organically from the seeds that are planted in these initial workshops – enabling us to kickstart them to the next level,” he says. Taking the analogy further, he explains, “I’m a gardener – I grow my own food and I’m a big believer in watering the garden you’re in and putting in the ladder, or the stepping stones, to enable artists to grow and develop their works here, then to tour them, regionally or even overseas.”
Norton’s emphasis at FORM is not just on developing new works, but on producing, presenting and touring them as well. His own career demonstrates just how far this entrepreneurial approach can take you. While not formally trained as a dancer – he gained notice as a talented breakdancer in his early 20s (“I learned my moves in the discotheque!”). From there he moved into contemporary dance first as a choreographer, and then as a dancer, performing with Batsheva and William Forsythe / Ballet Frankfurt for 12 years. He went on to set up his own production company in the Netherlands and toured leading Dutch entertainers across Europe and North America. He moved permanently to Australia in 2014 and was director of STRUT Dance in Perth from 2014 to 2021.
It’s fair to say the arts are slowly coming back from a downswing. On the state of independent dance in Sydney, he says: “currently the architecture or 'tensegrity', if you will, is thin and rather breakable. Everyone is doing their best with what they have, but I want to pull those pieces together to create robust connections and conversations.
“I see dance as one of the earliest, oldest arts of our civilisation," he continues. "We are hardwired to assemble and dance is such a poetic and powerful expression of that. Screen based media is powerful, but online performance should not be prioritised to the detriment of the lived experience of live theatre … when the artist brings a proposition and the audience a context – it is where these collide that the performance takes place in real space and real time.”
Norton is supported in his vision for FORM Dance Projects by two recent appointments: Naomi Hibberd, who stepped up to the role of Creative Producer in January 2024 and Lewis Major, who joined as Executive Director in April. "As a trio we’re all practising artists, and I think it’s important that we are an artist-led organisation so that we can put them (artists) at the centre of what we do.”
2025 will be FORM Dance Projects’ 25th anniversary – yet the new executive team is looking ahead to its own substantial changes as FORM’s home base at Parramatta Riverside Theatres is set for redevelopment and will soon be out of action until 2028. However, when it reopens FORM will be closely allied to the revamped Riverside Theatre and Norton is enthused about the exciting possibilities of a new cultural precinct in Parramatta that will include the Powerhouse Parramatta (currently under construction) and maybe even the re-opening of Parramatta’s heritage Roxy Theatre as a new music venue in years to come. The new L4 Light Rail line to Parramatta is now in its final testing phase, giving Sydneysiders more public transport options for travel to and from Parramatta.
To read more of Paul’s own take on the Sydney dance scene and what can be done to improve it, I recommend his opinion piece.
You can find out more about FORM Dance Projects and IDEA’24 here.