NO fewer than 1,400 dancers from 35 participating Canberra region high school and colleges are gathering for three big nights at the Canberra Theatre in Ausdance ACT’s 31st Youth Dance Festival, starting tonight.
Creative director and choreographic mentor Jamie Winbank with festival director Danielle White
With the chosen theme this year of ‘Explorations’ , the annual Dance Fest, as it is popularly known, provides the youth of Canberra with the opportunity to dance in a professional theatre environment, but most important, it is non-competitive.
This year’s creative director and choreographic mentor is young choreographer Jamie Winbank, while the festival director is Danielle White, Education and Administration officer at Ausdance. Both say the theme can be applied in many exciting ways. In previous years, themes have included ‘Beyond Imagination’, ‘Moove’, ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Unity’.
According to White, the festival, which is older than either of them, has been refreshed this year, with exciting new elements and ‘surprises’. But the emphasis in this celebration is still as always on embracing differences, creativity, team work and building relationships in a safe and supportive environment while creating original dance works.
Winbank, who studied at NIDA and graduated from WAAPA, has taught for Ausdance ACT Master School, FILEX (the largest fitness industry educational event in the Southern Hemisphere), for Bangkok Dance Academy and at the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival in Glasgow 2014. He’s been busy visiting every single dance work before it gets to the Canberra Theatre
And in the end, what it all about? Best of all, the Ausdance teams asserts, it’s a heap of fun!
‘Explorations’ – Ausdance ACT’s Youth Dance Festival 2015, Canberra Theatre, September 16, 17, 18, bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.
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