Ausdance Youth Dance Festival returns to the stage to create entertainment – and change

Posted on 26 September, 2023

Is dance pure entertainment or a catalyst for change? Can it be both?

Exploring this thought-provoking question and the unique theme Bread & Circuses, the student led Ausdance ACT Youth Dance Festival, affectionately referred to as Dance Fest, is taking to the stage once again to empower young people in the arts.

Presenting an exciting mix of live performance and dance film made by secondary schools from all over Canberra and surrounding regions for two nights at Canberra Theatre Centre (taking place this year on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 October), the festival has long been known as a Canberra success story – and for many, it’s a chance to step onto the theatre stage for the first time, shaping potential artistic careers.

Creating this year’s theme as a provocation to inspire and engage the students, according to Director Dr. Cathy Adamek, she was drawn to the concept due to her passion for history, her love of Neo Circus and the role of performing arts in modern society.

“Bread & Circuses very literally taps into the idea of exciting and very cool entertainment, and we have an abundance of that nowadays. We almost have an excessive amount of entertainment coming at us digitally,” she says. “Live performance has to compete with that a bit.”

“In the Roman Empire we know they were experts at the big extravaganza. One of the philosophers of the day coined the term ‘bread and circuses’ meaning give the public food and entertainment and they won’t notice what’s going on politically…that was the provocation I wanted the students to think about because it’s very easy nowadays to switch off.”

2022 Youth Dance Festival Melba Copland Senior School. Credit: Art Atelier Photography.

Using the phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal as her main source of inspiration, for this year’s show Cathy decided to pose the students a question: Is dance pure entertainment or a catalyst for change? Can it be both?

“My personal position is that entertainment is both – I think the Barbie movie is actually a great example of how something can be really entertaining and appeals to everyone but is a satirical piece that’s also a reflection on our society,” says Cathy.

“That’s a perfect example of my position about the role of entertainment in art…that you can still do those educational and entertaining things.”

Tasking each of the schools participating to reimagine the theme, Cathy says as students prepare for the show in mid-October, audiences can expect to see a lot of strong messages about feminism, identity, and conformity interwoven to create some provocative pieces of work.

“The great thing about engaging in the arts and dance is that it’s such a way of breaking free from or starting to question the society that you’re living in. Dance itself is a liberating activity,” she says.

“That’s particularly coming through in the choreographic choices that they’re [the students] making as well, the ideas they’re playing with.”

2021 Youth Dance Festival Black Mountain School. Credit: Art Atelier Photography.

A long-term feature on the Canberra arts and education calendar since 1985, this year’s Dance Fest sees 750 students (an increase of 100 from the previous year) and over 30 schools participating.

Hoping that this opportunity for a shared artistic experience will become a cherished memory for all involved, Cathy is thrilled to see more gender diversity on the stage – and with three to six minutes to express their interpretation of what dance is through both performance and film, she’s excited to see what they come up with.

“They constantly amaze me…I can’t wait to see the films and live performances run together.”

Feature image: Art Atelier.